What’s a social box?

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A social box is a type of business that can be associated with dating, auctions or personal selling. It is a time-honored means of providing a healthy atmosphere for young people to meet and socialize, and has evolved to include fundraising efforts for non-profit organizations. The social box aids in the development and practice of social skills.

A social box is a term that is used to describe different types of businesses in different parts of the world. In some places, the social box is more closely associated with dating situations. In other places and times, this type of business can be part of an auction strategy or even some sort of personal selling scheme. The basic idea for the social box in most cases is that consumers are unaware of what is actually in the container or box and make efforts to protect the box based on what they hope to achieve by doing so.

As far as dating situations are concerned, the social box is a time-honored means of providing a healthy atmosphere for young people to meet and socialize, possibly progressing to finding that they enjoy each other’s company and decide to go out on a date. The usual approach is for a box social event to be sponsored by a community club, civic organization, or house of worship. The young women would pack the boxes by decorating the exteriors with a variety of ornaments such as ribbons, beads, or any original design they wished. Inside the box would be a meal of some sort. Young men would bid on the boxes, hoping not to win the one prepared by a young lady of interest, but also the one that contained something tasty to eat. The winner of the bid would then have the chance to share the canned meal with the young woman who prepared it and possibly impress the young woman enough for her to arrange a date at a later date.

While once popular in many areas of the United States and the United Kingdom, this type of socializing event for young people has begun to wane somewhat in the latter part of the 20th century. There are still communities where this type of event takes place, although some changes have been made. More recent incarnations of the social box allow men and women to prepare packed lunches for presentation and sale as a fundraising effort for a non-profit organization, with a focus on social networking and less on the ability to conduct to a dating situation.

The concept of the social box developed during an era where the dating activities of young people were watched more closely by their elders. While that level of oversight is not generally present in modern social boxes, planned events of this type can be helpful in creating safe environments for people to meet and determine whether they are mutually supportive of spending more time together. As a tool that aids in the development and practice of social skills, the social box still has a lot to offer.




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