I Tried the Little Elf Wrapping Paper Cutter Everyone’s Talking About

I love wrapping presents. I’m one of those people who really get into it with handmade gift tags, matching ribbon, and all the trimmings. But there’s one thing about wrapping presents that drives me nuts.

Paper torn while you’re cutting it.

It’s so satisfying when you get your scissors just right, and you’re cruising along and then – BAM – you get a horrible ugly tear. As a perfectionist, I can’t tell you what this does to my nerves.

I’m always on the lookout for the perfect wrapping paper cutter. Remember these things? They were worse than the scissors. I may have been added to the naughty list from all the swearing over torn wrapping paper trying to use them. Then these guys showed up one Christmas, and they were great, but that’s about how long the blade lasted – one Christmas.  

So, when a clip from Shark Tank about this cool little wrapping paper gadget showed up in my feed, I slowed my roll. The creator, Brian Perla, came up with the idea for the Little Elf Paper Cutter when he was a senior in high school, and he’s been selling them since. This handy little gadget supposedly makes cutting wrapping paper straight, without tears, super easy.

Two days later, my Little Elf Paper Cutters arrived (thank you, Amazon Prime). I got a two-pack and gave one to my daughter to try as well. I grabbed a couple of gifts hanging out in my closet that needed to be wrapped and gave this thing a try.

There’s a bit of a learning curve. It took me a few tries to wrap (no pun intended) my head around which direction my wrapping paper had to be coming off the roll to line it up with the Little Elf. But once I figured that out, I was off and running.

This thing definitely delivers on clean, straight cuts!

My paper no longer looks like a drunken Tyrannosaurus Rex cut it.

You can also easily cut perpendicular to the roll. Again, it took me a hot second to figure out how to line the Little Elf up with my paper, but once I got going, it worked great.

Here are a few tips to get great cuts:

• Work on a hard surface like a table. Having a flat, firm surface is key here.
• Give yourself plenty of room. You’ll need both hands to slide the Little Elf paper cutter and the other to hold down the edge of the paper.

A couple of concerns

After zipping my way through several packages, I got a good rhythm going and was able to use the Little Elf with ease. However, two concerns came to mind the more I used it.

I worry about paper thickness.

I always buy medium—to heavyweight wrapping paper, and the cutter worked great. But you can tell by the way it feels when cutting that it needs a little resistance. I’m wondering if you might struggle with thinner paper, like the kind sold at most dollar stores.

You can’t replace the blade.

Here’s the thing: paper is notorious for dulling blades quickly. Don’t believe me? Go use someone’s good sewing scissors to cut wrapping paper with and see if you live to tell the tail.

No matter what you use, the blade is going to dull with prolonged use and start snagging and tearing paper. Your options are to use scissors that can be sharpened or to replace the blade on your cutting device. Unfortunately, the Little Elf doesn’t allow you to replace the blade, so once it’s dull, you need to buy a new one. I’ve become much more conscious about plastic waste over the years, and for me, that’s a big hunk of plastic to pitch every time I need a new Little Elf.

In the end, it’s a great design and makes cutting wrapping paper super simple. But this will be the last Little Elf paper cutter I’ll buy until you can replace the blades.