A & E

Alice T. Carter

Just as the package-wrapping season gets under way, a new solution to a long-standing dilemma makes its appearance. The Duck brand One Handed Tape dispenser solves the perennial gift-wrapping problem of always feeling that you're one hand shy. The small tape dispenser mimics those industrial-strength packing-tape guns that deposit broad swaths of plastic packing tape on boxes bound for mailing or shipping. The One Handed dispenser allows you to secure a length of tape to gift-wrap or package without having to call in an assistant. Initial setup of the tape's pathway through the small plastic dispenser takes a minute or two of coordination and guidance. From there on, the task is pleasantly simple. Hold the dispenser in one hand while pressing tape to paper. Draw out an appropriate length of tape, then tilt the container into an upright 90-degree angle to cut the tape along the dispenser's sharp, toothy edge. Once the tape is threaded through the dispenser's pathway, it stays there, eliminating mini-dramas of fumbling for a heavy object to hold the paper in place when the tape re-sticks itself to the roll or breaking a fingernail while attempting to rediscover the tape's free end. It could become the best present a gift wrapper receives this year.

Vaunda Bonnett

Duck brand's new one-handed tape dispenser would seem to be the answer to my Christmas-wrapping nightmares: No more playing Twister with gift wrap and a box while trying to hold everything in place and get a piece of tape to keep the corners and seams in perfect shape. But I didn't have great luck with this Duck. While the company's similar dispenser for packaging tape works like a treat, I struggled to cut this tape while not either slicing the cutting blade into the wrapping paper or catching the tape on it. I ended up still needing two hands. Maybe with a little more practice, I could get it right. But with the cost of wrapping paper, I'm not sure it's worth it.

Sally Quinn

I like the concept -- a one-handed tape dispenser similar to the strapping tape gizmo that you tap on, roll out and cut with a built-in sharp edge. This one is lightweight and loaded with invisible tape to ease the burden of gift wrapping. But my little fingers can't quite seem to get the one-handed action down. Is it due to my left-handed awkwardness? My try-to-get-it-done-in-a-hurry clumsiness? Or am I taking the claim too literally? I had a hard time tearing off the tape with one hand once I rolled it on. But I will say, with a minimal one-finger touch from the other hand, this gift-wrap tool works great. It is simpler to roll the tape the correct length than with a standard pickup, cut-off, set-down and stick-on model. And your other hand is there in the neighborhood anyway to hold down the folded wrapping paper. This dispenser eliminates a couple of extra steps in the gift-wrap process. Anything that saves me time and irritation is all right by me. I'll be picking up a mass quantity before I start on my Christmas list.

• Most Read
• Most E-mailed
• Latest News