General Information	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2011
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
GENERAL INFORMATION	GENERAL INFORMATION Nature of Business and Basis of Presentation Graphic Packaging Holding Company (“GPHC” and, together with its subsidiaries, the “Company”) is a leading provider of packaging solutions for a wide variety of products to food, beverage and other consumer products companies. The Company is the largest U.S. producer of folding cartons and holds a leading market position in coated unbleached kraft paperboard, coated-recycled boxboard and flexible packaging. The Company’s customers include some of the most widely recognized companies in the world. The Company strives to provide its customers with packaging solutions designed to deliver marketing and performance benefits at a competitive cost by capitalizing on its low-cost paperboard mills and converting plants, its proprietary carton and packaging designs, and its commitment to customer service. GPHC and Graphic Packaging Corporation (“GPC”) conduct no significant business and have no independent assets or operations other than GPHC’s ownership of all of GPC’s outstanding common stock, and GPC’s ownership of all of the outstanding common stock of Graphic Packaging International, Inc. (“GPII”). The Company’s Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements include all subsidiaries in which the Company has the ability to exercise direct or indirect control over operating and financial policies. Intercompany transactions and balances are eliminated in consolidation. In the Company’s opinion, the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements contain all normal recurring adjustments necessary to present fairly the financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the interim periods. The Company’s year end Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet data was derived from audited financial statements. The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with instructions to Form 10-Q and Rule 10-01 of Regulation S-X and do not include all the information required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) for complete financial statements. Therefore, these Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with GPHC’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010. In addition, the preparation of the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual amounts could differ from those estimates and changes in these statements are recorded as known. For a summary of the Company’s significant accounting policies, please refer to GPHC’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010. Equity Offering On April 20, 2011, the Company completed a 47.0 million share public offering of its common stock, par value $0.01 per share, priced at $4.75 per share. The offering resulted in net proceeds of $213.2 million, after deducting offering expenses. The Company used $29.5 million of the net proceeds from the offering to repurchase and subsequently retire 6.5 million shares of common stock held by the Grover C. Coors Trust (“Coors Trust”). In addition, the Company granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 7.05 million shares to cover over-allotments, if any. At the end of the 30-day option period, on May 18, 2011, the Company issued an additional 5.5 million shares of its common stock at $4.75 per share and received net proceeds of $25.1 million after deducting offering expenses. The Company used $3.4 million of such additional net proceeds to repurchase at $4.75 per share and subsequently retire an additional 764,922 shares of the common stock held by the Coors Trust. On April 29, 2011, the Company used $51.9 million of the proceeds from the offering to acquire substantially all of the assets of Sierra Pacific Packaging, Inc. (“Sierra”), a producer of folding cartons, beverage carriers and corrugated boxes for the consumer packaged goods industry. The purchase price was preliminarily allocated to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on estimated fair values as of the purchase date. During the third quarter, the Company finalized the purchase price allocation. The excess of the total purchase consideration over the aggregate fair value of identifiable net assets of $14.1 million was allocated to goodwill and the Company expects to deduct approximately $24 million of goodwill for tax purposes. The acquisition is included in the paperboard packaging segment. The Company used the remaining net proceeds from its stock offerings to reduce its indebtedness and for general corporate purposes. Adoption of New Accounting Standards Effective January 1, 2011, the Company adopted revised guidance as required by the Revenue Recognition topic of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“the FASB Codification”) which requires vendors to account for transactions with the same customer involving multiple products or services (deliverables) separately rather than as a combined unit. The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows. Accounting Standards Not Yet Adopted In September 2011, the FASB issued guidance amending the Intangibles – Goodwill and Other topic of the FASB Codification. This amendment allows an entity to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform the two-step quantitative impairment test. This guidance will be effective for the Company in the fourth quarter of 2011, to be applied prospectively, and is not expected to have an impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows. In September 2011, the FASB issued guidance amending the Compensation – Retirement Benefits – Multiemployer Plans topic of the FASB Codification. This amendment requires employers participating in material multiemployer pension and other postretirement benefits plans to provide additional quantitative and qualitative disclosures to provide users with more detailed information regarding an employer's involvement in multiemployer plans. This guidance will be effective for the Company in the fourth quarter of 2011 and is not expected to have an impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows. In June 2011, the FASB issued guidance amending the Other Comprehensive Income topic of the FASB Codification. The guidance provides an entity the option to present the total of comprehensive income, the components of net income, and the components of other comprehensive income either in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements. This guidance will be effective for the Company in the first quarter of 2012 and is not expected to have an impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows. In May 2011, the FASB issued guidance amending the Fair Value Measurement topic of the FASB Codification. This amendment represents the converged guidance of the FASB and the International Accounting Standard Board on fair value measurement, resulting in common requirements for measuring fair value and for disclosing information about fair value measurements. This guidance will be effective for the Company in the first quarter of 2012, to be applied prospectively, and is not expected to have an impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Nature of Business and Basis of Presentation

Graphic Packaging Holding Company (“GPHC” and, together with its subsidiaries, the “Company”) is a leading provider of packaging solutions for a wide variety of products to food, beverage and other consumer products companies. The Company is the largest U.S. producer of folding cartons and holds a leading market position in coated unbleached kraft paperboard, coated-recycled boxboard and flexible packaging. The Company’s customers include some of the most widely recognized companies in the world. The Company strives to provide its customers with packaging solutions designed to deliver marketing and performance benefits at a competitive cost by capitalizing on its low-cost paperboard mills and converting plants, its proprietary carton and packaging designs, and its commitment to customer service.

GPHC and Graphic Packaging Corporation (“GPC”) conduct no significant business and have no independent assets or operations other than GPHC’s ownership of all of GPC’s outstanding common stock, and GPC’s ownership of all of the outstanding common stock of Graphic Packaging International, Inc. (“GPII”).

The Company’s Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements include all subsidiaries in which the Company has the ability to exercise direct or indirect control over operating and financial policies. Intercompany transactions and balances are eliminated in consolidation.

In the Company’s opinion, the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements contain all normal recurring adjustments necessary to present fairly the financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the interim periods. The Company’s year end Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet data was derived from audited financial statements. The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with instructions to Form 10-Q and Rule 10-01 of Regulation

S-X and do not include all the information required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) for complete financial statements. Therefore, these Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with GPHC’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010. In addition, the preparation of the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual amounts could differ from those estimates and changes in these statements are recorded as known.

For a summary of the Company’s significant accounting policies, please refer to GPHC’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010.

Equity Offering

On April 20, 2011, the Company completed a 47.0 million share public offering of its common stock, par value $0.01 per share, priced at $4.75 per share. The offering resulted in net proceeds of $213.2 million, after deducting offering expenses. The Company used $29.5 million of the net proceeds from the offering to repurchase and subsequently retire 6.5 million shares of common stock held by the Grover C. Coors Trust (“Coors Trust”). In addition, the Company granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 7.05 million shares to cover over-allotments, if any. At the end of the 30-day option period, on May 18, 2011, the Company issued an additional 5.5 million shares of its common stock at $4.75 per share and received net proceeds of $25.1 million after deducting offering expenses. The Company used $3.4 million of such additional net proceeds to repurchase at $4.75 per share and subsequently retire an additional 764,922 shares of the common stock held by the Coors Trust.

On April 29, 2011, the Company used $51.9 million of the proceeds from the offering to acquire substantially all of the assets of Sierra Pacific Packaging, Inc. (“Sierra”), a producer of folding cartons, beverage carriers and corrugated boxes for the consumer packaged goods industry. The purchase price was preliminarily allocated to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on estimated fair values as of the purchase date. During the third quarter, the Company finalized the purchase price allocation. The excess of the total purchase consideration over the aggregate fair value of identifiable net assets of $14.1 million was allocated to goodwill and the Company expects to deduct approximately $24 million of goodwill for tax purposes. The acquisition is included in the paperboard packaging segment.

The Company used the remaining net proceeds from its stock offerings to reduce its indebtedness and for general corporate purposes.

Adoption of New Accounting Standards

Effective January 1, 2011, the Company adopted revised guidance as required by the Revenue Recognition topic of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“the FASB Codification”) which requires vendors to account for transactions with the same customer involving multiple products or services (deliverables) separately rather than as a combined unit. The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Accounting Standards Not Yet Adopted

In September 2011, the FASB issued guidance amending the Intangibles – Goodwill and Other topic of the FASB Codification. This amendment allows an entity to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform the two-step quantitative impairment test. This guidance will be effective for the Company in the fourth quarter of 2011, to be applied prospectively, and is not expected to have an impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

In September 2011, the FASB issued guidance amending the Compensation – Retirement Benefits – Multiemployer Plans topic of the FASB Codification. This amendment requires employers participating in material multiemployer pension and other postretirement benefits plans to provide additional quantitative and qualitative disclosures to provide users with more detailed information regarding an employer's involvement in multiemployer plans. This guidance will be effective for the Company in the fourth quarter of 2011 and is not expected to have an impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

In June 2011, the FASB issued guidance amending the Other Comprehensive Income topic of the FASB Codification. The guidance provides an entity the option to present the total of comprehensive income, the components of net income, and the components of other comprehensive income either in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements. This guidance will be effective for the Company in the first quarter of 2012 and is not expected to have an impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

In May 2011, the FASB issued guidance amending the Fair Value Measurement topic of the FASB Codification. This amendment represents the converged guidance of the FASB and the International Accounting Standard Board on fair value measurement, resulting in common requirements for measuring fair value and for disclosing information about fair value measurements. This guidance will be effective for the Company in the first quarter of 2012, to be applied prospectively, and is not expected to have an impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.