Earl Tupper’s refined plastics, used in Second World War gas masks, created a classic American brand among postwar families who relied on its airtight storage containers for food storage between shopping trips. Unsuccessful in stores, by the late 1940s, Tupperware developed direct distributors and Tupperware parties, which mingled cooking and entertaining demonstrations, games, snacks, sociability and sales for female buyers. The company sells more than $1 billion annually in household, educational and related goods; 85 percent of sales occur outside the US. After fifty years of parties, it has experimented with mall kiosks, corporate-controlled online sales, commer cials and Disney tie-ins to reach working parents and new consumers.