Celebrating Birthday Month 2016: Our Hibiscus History

Brownie Wise Birthday Month

“I suppose some people wonder why a company should celebrate a birthday. Too many companies, of course, celebrating a birthday—unless it’s a fiftieth or one-hundredth—would seem ridiculous because a company that deals only with things really has nothing to celebrate on its birthday. A company such as yours, however, that is made up of people…and progressing because of people…has something significant to celebrate when its birthday rolls around. We are celebrating birthdays for a great many people. It is your birthday and mine as well as Tupperware’s, and each successive birthday marks a star of growth—not just company growth, but growth of the individuals who make up our company. Tupperware’s growth is your growth. You too, can have, in Tupperware, ‘More Than You Ever Dreamed.’” –Brownie Wise, Sparks Newsletter (to Tupperware Sales Force), April 1956

…we’re celebrating Brownie’s love of all things tropical and glamorous.

Each May, we celebrate our Birthday Month, mostly because Brownie Wise’s birthday was May 25, 1913. This year, as we celebrate 68 years of the Tupperware party, we’re celebrating Brownie’s love of all things tropical and glamorous. Brownie herself moved (with her son and her mother, Rose Humphrey) from Detroit to the Miami area in 1950, selling Tupperware and a variety of other products through a company called Patio Parties.

Brownie Wise Cake

When Earl Tupper appointed her as general sales manager of Tupperware Home Parties on May 7, 1951, she began her work on convincing him to locate the headquarters in beautiful Florida. She would have preferred being nearer the beach, and personally sought out land along the coast, but Earl preferred the cheaper lands of Central Florida.

Brownie could see the appeal of a budding tourism industry along the Orange Blossom Trail. Gatorland, which remains next door neighbor to the headquarters, had just opened in 1949. Brownie wanted the headquarters, and surrounding areas, to be a real vacation destination for all the Tupperware dealers to enjoy coming with their families.

Brownie Wise Florida Tupperware Office

On May 30, 1952, the land deal for the Orlando property was announced. From the beginning, Brownie knew the importance of making the headquarters beautiful, hiring master landscaper M.J. Daetwyler. In 1955, he bred a very special bloom for Brownie: the Brownie Wise Hibiscus.

Why a hibiscus? In the early 1940s, Brownie Wise contributed regularly to the Detroit News’ Experience Column (is there anything she couldn’t do?!). Her pen name was Hibiscus. In 1954, when her mother, Rose Humphrey, who relocated Patio Parties from South Florida to Orlando, it took on the name Hibiscus Sales.

Brownie Wise Hibiscus

What would your pen name be?

#MyPenNameWouldBe

Today, we continue to honor Brownie’s memory and remarkable impact on women around the world. If you’ve ever been to a Tupperware party, you’re part of this legacy. And now you know why, if you Host a party this month, your amazing, exclusive rewards bear the tropical symbol of our beloved Brownie.

Tropical Glamour Bag GIF

Tropical Glamour Lunch Set Giveaway – What would your pen name be?

Comment on our May 10, 2016 Facebook post (http://facebook.com/tupperwareusca), answering the question “what would your pen name be?” for your chance to win a Tropical Glamour Lunch Set. Comments must be submitted by May 12, 2016 at 12:01am ET.

No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Open to legal residents of the United States or Canada. Entrants must be 18 years of age or older. Total prize value is $35 USD/$42 CAD. Three winners will be randomly selected. Winners will be announced by May 13, 2016.

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

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