I’m starting to think that half the fun of getting new things is wrestling the packaging open, especially if you’re the person doing the watching. This occurred to me whilst watching my husband try to open the packaging around one of his new gaming toys, of course I was covertly watching from the corner of my eye whilst I sorted out a nearby cupboard. He eventually gave up wrestling with it and turned to me for help, I was only too happy to try out a few of the ways I’d been told to open a blister pack.
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The Obvious Way
Ladies, we are lucky. Our hygiene products that get blister packed often have a special serrated section at the back, most people don’t even bother to look for it though, they just go straight in and start tearing fruitlessly at the sealed corners( I hold up my hands, I have done this in the past, I have even used my teeth a couple of times). So the first way to open a blister pack with skill is to check the reverse for opening instructions. Weird how that simple and obvious solution seems to pass us by, I put it down to our egos telling us we can totally do this with our strength alone.
The Way of The Scissors
Using scissors to open blister packaging is a fine art, I always think there are two schools of thought in the Way of the Scissors. The first its to just keep sawing at the edge until you have your first cut, then you’re home free, just keep going and try not to do a crazy line. The second way, and my personal favourite, is to choose a spot in the packaging where it is just plastic and very carefully stab your kitchen shears through to make an entry point, then cut back towards the edge. Then you can usually display your strength (doing a He-man style roar of power is optional) as you shred the plastic away from your prize.
The Canny Way
A method that is fast becoming popular amongst those who read “life hacks” or time saving tips on-line is to use your tin-opener. Make sure it’s one of the puncture and twist ones, obviously, and you can easily open up the plastic prison. To use the tin-opener method you use it like you would taking the top off of a can of beans, puncture through, grip tightly and keep twisting until you’ve cut your way through all the packaging. This is the way I got my husband to open his recent purchase, after telling me it wouldn’t work, searching for the kitchen shears just in case it didn’t work (we can’t find them, we think gremlins stole them) we tried it and I got to hide a smug smile in a glass of juice.
That’s a new trick he won’t be forgetting any time soon.
Have you got any other ingenious ways of getting into troublesome blister packaging? Share your methods with us below.
Vari Wright loves trying out new methods and is all too happy to attack clam shell packaging with everything she has, especially if she gets a prize at the end.
About Douglas Smythe
