The Extraordinary elastic band also known as a rubber band or lackey band was invented in 1845 by a man named Stephen Perry. Obviously made using rubber, the band also contains latex and is ordinarily used to hold multiple things together; however there are many other uses for them too! The Royal Mail and delivery workers use their symbolic red rubber band in order to bundle letters and packages together and lately they’ve received some pretty awful publicity of what happens to them next!

Nearly 2 million red rubber bands are used a day by delivery workers

The Royal Mail has bought four billion red rubber bands over the past five years at a cost of almost £5 million! This means that, if laid end to end, the three inch bands brought by Royal Mail during the period would stretch eight times around the world!

In 2009 members of the public collected more than 13,000 red rubber bands from the streets as part of the Keep Britain Tidy Campaign; they then forwarded the mound to the Royal Mail.

So why not work together to help the Royal Mail and to play our part in keeping the streets clean of these little lackey loops? If you see a band, pick it up, ther’se plenty that can be done with them! Why not consider creating your own giant rubber band ball, you could even work toward beating the World Record which weighs a staggering 3,500 lbs! Not your thing? Fair enough, collect the bands to be used around the home or the office, they always come in handy. Alternatively you could keep them as cheaper versions of Kabbalah bands which are worn on the wrist and are said to protect the wearer from unfriendly or Evil Eyes. Gather them up yourself and give them back to the Royal Mail or encourage your kids to collect them while they scooter around, wrapping them around the T-Bar or central column of their scooters, challenge them to who can find the most!

Alternatively of course you can always find elastic bands and coloured rubber bands here at Office 365 where we just refuse to be beaten on price. Take a look at the various different types, colours and sizes we have, and if we can be of any help to you, please don’t hesitate to call on 0870 766 1624.

Ever heard of the rubber band ball? It seems to be a bit of a craze in some parts of the world, particularly in areas of America! But who makes these things? Well after a little research, it seems everybody and anybody! Do you have a little time on your hands? Are you suffering with intense boredom (symptoms can include talking to yourself, singing inane made up songs, talking to objects – and befriending them!)? Are you looking for companionship? Or maybe you’d like to break the record for the largest rubber band balls? Bought a watermelon but haven’t got a knife – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98TEBk0jOzI? If any of these sound like you, then maybe you should consider starting a rubber band ball for yourself; a companion like this will always bounce back, no matter how board or insane you are!

“Doctor, Doctor I think I’m a rubber band.”

“Why don’t you stretch yourself out on the couch there and tell me all about it!” …sorry…

To make your rubber bands rubber balls get yourself some 5 Star Assorted Elastic Bands as featured to your right.

• Contain 90 percent pure rubber taken from sustainable resources to protect the environment
• Packed in resealable grip bag
• 0.45kg (1lb)
• Assorted sizes
• 82% Off!!
• Now just £2.32!

Some products just don’t need to cost the earth; when it comes to buying rubber bands, it’s not essential to spend a fortune. This is why we recommend our 5 Star range, guaranteed value for money, whatever the budget. 5 Star products are affordable and with over 1,200 products to choose from, you’re bound to find the item that you’re looking for!

It’s not easy to keep your staff happy and working to the best of their ability. As an employer you must not only manage your staff and be an excellent communicator, but you must also be able to keep your team driven and feeling valued. One of the best ways to keep your office motivated is to take part in seasonal celebrations. Let’s face it; it’s not easy going into work over the Christmas season and as Christmas day draws nearer and nearer, we all tend to want to be with our families and friends celebrating. However if you bring a little Christmas into the office, your staff we feel as though they are celebrating the moment too. Have you ever worked in an office where the decorations where adequate for such an occasion? More often than not, offices are decorated with very little in the way of holiday decorations; however we can help you make a tree which will be sure to impress even the most demanding of Christmas enthusiasts.

You Will Need

• Christmas tree – artificial is best
• Paper clips
• Various other office supplies
• CD’s
• Shredded Paper

Firstly you will need to put together your tree using the instructions provided. Remember, the best time to add lights on any Christmas tree is now. It is pretty much impossible to add lights in an effective way when you have already loaded the tree with decorations.

Next you will need to decide on an object to go on top of the tree which is symbolic to your office, some kind of mascot maybe. This would have been hopeless in the case of one of my previous jobs; our office mascot was my 2 year old daughter! Take a look around the office, maybe there’s a teddy that you all believe brings you luck, a stapler which has been lost and found a ridiculous amount of times and has become some kind of a joke, or maybe there’s a giant rubber band ball which everyone has been adding too. Whatever seems appropriate for your office, use it. You may need to use paper clips to help secure your object to the top of the tree.

Your next stage would be to decorate your tree with a tinsel substitute, remember, this is an office Christmas tree. You could link paper clips to make shiny silver chains or join CD’s using rubber bands to make a giant shiny length of tinsel. Alternatively, cut sticky strips from Post-it Notes to make paper chains (this works best with various different coloured Post-it Notes). Drape your tinsel substitutes around the tree making sure to evenly cover the tree.

Using paper clips or tape, hang various office products from your tree as bauble substitutes. Use items such as staple removers, pens, staple strips, rubber stamps, glue sticks, you get the idea. You could even go all out there and throw on some shredded paper or hole punch confetti as artificial snow.

Last but not least stick some pressies under the tree. Maybe you could organise some kind of secret Santa where everyone picks a name out of a hat and buys a present (up to a certain value) for that person. Your tree is now complete – enjoy!

Take the pinch off a monotonous 9-5 job and liven things up a little. All you need is enough party tricks up your sleeve, the craving to be under the spotlight and a little charisma. We have a few simple corkers here that will amaze your co-workers, wow them through magical ability and leave them wanting more. Become the entertainer in your office with our ‘Rubber Band Magic Trick’. All you’ll need to carry this one out is 2 different-coloured rubber bands, manual agility and a perfected presentation.

1. Choose two different coloured bands. Wrap one band around the index and middle fingers (index/middle band) on your right hand once and the other band around your ring and little fingers (ring/little band), also once. Please note that you can use any two colours for this trick, as long as they’re different from each other.
2. Raise your hand so that your palm faces you. Use all four fingers of your left hand to pull the index/middle rubber band toward you.
3. Reach underneath the index/middle band to grab the ring/little band. Pull both rubber bands together with your left hand.
4. Close your right hand in a fist and stretch the portion of the rubber bands that you have pulled toward you around the closed fingers of your right hand.
5. Announce to your audience that you are about to snap your fingers and make the rubber bands change places so that the index/middle rubber band will appear on the bottom around your ring and little fingers and the ring/little rubber band will move to your index and middle fingers.
6. Dramatically snap the fingers of your left hand and open your right hand at the same time. Remember to practice well because if you have positioned the rubber bands correctly, they will now be reversed as if by magic!

Tips

When setting up, pull the rubber bands and place them into position quickly and subtly so that your audience will not guess that you are setting up the trick.

If for some reason you cannot get 2 different coloured rubber bands, draw a ring around one of them with a marker so that it can be distinguished from the other rubber band. However we do have a selection of different coloured bands here at Office 365, so take a peek at our prices first.

At Office 365, you’ll find that we have a rather extensive range of rubber bands, in particular from our 5 Star range. With this in mind, remember that it’s vital that you carefully select the correct size. If you are trying to find a band that matches your current band size, then this measuring guide may help:

A rubber band has three basic dimensions: Length, width, and thickness. A rubber band’s length is half its circumference. Its thickness is the distance from the inner circle to the outer circle. To measure your rubber bands, first you must lay it down so that it makes a rectangle. The band’s width is the height of that band. If you can for a moment imagine a rubber band in manufacture, that is, a long tube of rubber on a mandrel before it is sliced into rubber bands; the band’s width is how far apart the slices are cut.

Generally, rubber bands are numbered from smallest to largest, width first. For example, rubber bands numbered 8-19 are all 1/16 inch wide, with length going from 7/8 inch to 3 1/2 inches. Rubber band numbers 30-34 are for width of 1/8 inch, going again from shorter to longer. For even longer bands, the numbering starts over for numbers above 100, again starting at width 1/16 inch. See the table below for reference.

Interesting Uses For Rubber Bands

• Restore Your Broom – No need to toss out that broom because the bristles have become splayed with use. Just wrap a rubber band around the broom a few inches from the bottom. Leave it for a day or so to get the bristles back in shape.
• Economical Child Proofing – A fantastic way to childproof your cupboards without the extra cost is to wrap the bands tightly around pairs of handles in your kitchen and bathroom.
• Expecting a Baby or Gained a Little Weight? – Expand the waist band on your trousers or skirt by looping the rubber band through the button hole and fastening it to the button, this will give you some extra breathing space!
• Make a Sling Shot – A tradition that’s been going on for years.
• Make a Pencil Eraser – Fold a rubber band in half a few times and use it to erase pencil markings.  This technique works surprisingly well!
• Fasten Your Wallet – Manila wallets are a common tool for filing papers. Some can be fastened, however if you have the ‘flap’ manila wallets, then these do not secure shut. Use a large rubber band to secure your paperwork in these files.
• Make a Propeller – Fix a rubber band to the propeller shaft of your toy plane and the other end of the rubber band to back edge of the body and then attach the propeller. Rotate the propeller backward until the rubber band gets stretched, then release the propeller and release your plane!

Laufer, one of the most well known elastic band producers are a German brand who manufacture office stationery products. Laufer have been one of Gutenberg’s leading marketers for more than 80 years, producing high quality products in the stationery industry. With the establishment of Laufer GmbH & Gutenberg in 2004, the two traditional brands have been united to create an international winner.

Laufer rubber bands are known to be indispensable aids in sorting, bundling, storing and organising. These much talked about rubber bands can be found in any office and are also present in almost every household across the globe. With us you will find a selection of Laufer products including the Rondella Rubberball (featured below) which holds approximately 200 assorted colourful rubber bands in a range of different sizes and is made from natural rubber. It is a handy way of keeping elastic bands close to hand, plus a great way of keeping them together, neat and tidy.

Did you know that on March 27^th 2003, a 2,600lb rubberband ball failed to bounce for TV cameras? The record breaking rubber ball was dropped from an airplane a mile up to see if it would bounce when it landed. Unfortunately however, things didn’t go exactly according to plan. The ball was sent plunging to earth and instead of its expected 100 feet leap back into the air, the gigantic ball made a 14ft 8in crater in the Mojave Desert in Arizona! The ball that was large enough to make it into the Guinness Book of Records was created by Tony Evans from Swansea, who knotted together six million elastic bands over five years.

How to Create Your Own Gigantic Rubber Ball

• Once the ball gets too big to fit a single rubber band around it, tie two or more rubber bands together.
• Keep saving rubber bands wherever you find them.
• You can also buy packages of rubber bands, but make sure that they are not the very small ones. Size 64 is a good size to make a decent sized rubber band ball.
• Ask your friends to save rubber bands and give them to you.
• Make sure that the rubberbands are wound very tightly to help keep them in place
• Don’t group too many in the same place, change rubberbands to more open spaces
• You can keep your rubber band ball in the refrigerator as this will help them last longer
• Be careful as rubber bands can snap back and hit you.

Laufer also produce the super Laufer X-band which is named after its special design that stretches 4-ways and is the optimal choice for transporting and storing bundles of CDs, magazines, files and disks. Packing and unpacking with these colourful bands is quick, easy and fun.