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This collection of basics on cellophane bags is written primarily with the party planner or business owner in mind. We answer the introductory questions about cellophane and what options are available with cellophane bags as either party favour bags or as packaging for your product.

1. What is cellophane?

Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose from cotton or wood pulp. It is generally biodegradable. However, the term cellophane has become interchangeable, at least in the US, and is often used informally to refer to many different kinds of plastic film products, including those not made of cellulose.

2. What are some benefits of cellophane bags?

Making bags from cellophane gives them a high clarity, light weight, and a pretty low permeability to moisture and air. This works very well when using them to seal and store food.

3. How are cellophane bags typically used?

Food storage is one of the most common. This includes baked goods (think little bags of a few cookies each with a ribbon tied around the bag), nuts, dried fruits, as well as greasy or oily products. Candy is a big one as well. The bags you use to gather your own candy at Jelly Belly and Sweet Factory are this kind of bag. Chocolate shops that allow you to buy chocolates by the piece also tend to give you your purchase in these bags. And finally, cellophane is also used to wrap the large gift baskets that people usually win as prizes during raffles, the ones that consist of a wicker basket, lots of straw, and say, several beauty products filling the inside.

4. What should I watch out for when buying?

In the past, clear cellophane bags were manufactured much more frequently. Nowadays, what’s called “cello bags” are made more often. These are actually made of polypropylene (PP, type 5 plastic) as opposed to cellulose from plant material, and so are not biodegradable. There are also cellophane bags that are “reinforced” (coated) with other plastics to make them stronger, but that compromises their biodegradability as well. Make sure you know what you’re getting before ordering.

A potential issue with genuine biodegradable cellophane bags is that because their all natural nature, they also turn yellow with age. If this is a problem you may want to order PP bags instead. Polypropylene may not be biodegradable, but it is a standard household recyclable plastic in municipalities that have curbside recycling programs.

5. What kinds of bags are available?

Bottom gusset bags are the ones that typically hold a small amount of cookies or chocolates. Flat, zip-sealed bags are the ones you usually find containing a sealed greeting card. They tend to have a hole in the top for hanging on display shelves. Very common also is plastic CD packaging that has a resealable flap on top. You can get all these bags custom printed with a personal design or a company logo and slogan.

6. Where can I find them?

You can look in the yellow pages under “plastic bag suppliers” or find wholesalers online that offer bulk cellophane bags. There are companies that offer the eco-friendly fully biodegradable cellophane bags. In fact, one supplier that we’ve come across offers cellophane bags that are sustainably harvested from renewable forest, and the production of them has even been made carbon neutral. They also make printed party bags for special occasions.