Jim and Tim - the Duct Tape Guys, have been promoting Duct Tape for seven Christmases now, and have gathered quite a few Holiday Uses for Duct Tape. This year, we are proud to introduce our alliance with the best darn duct tape company in the World! Duck® brand Tape. To celebrate the quality and full range of Duck® Tape colors, Jim and Tim invited your submission of creative Uses for Duck Tape. Page Index: See our holiday greeting ecard - turn up your speakers 12 Holiday Uses for Duct Tape Duct Shuiing Your Home for the Holidays Destressing the holidays with duct tape Your Holiday Uses of Duct Tape 12 Days of Duct Tape

Twelve Holiday Uses for Duct Tape: by Jim and Tim—the Duct Tape Guys authors of The Duct Tape Book(s) 12. Red duct tape with white duct tape trim covering a down ski jacket makes a cheap Santa outfit. 11. Hang stockings from the chimney with duct tape. 10. Fasten decorative lights to railings of house with duct tape. 9. Thin strips of Duct Tape make great self-adhering tinsel. 8. Cover the inevitable gift fruit cake with duct tape and use as door stop. 7. Wrap gifts in Duct Tape for the gift that says, “Open me... eventually.” 6. Cover Christmas tree boughs with green duct tape to prevent needles from dropping. 5. Cover your dead tree limbs with green duct tape and cut fringes in the tape. Presto! Perma-Christmas Tree! 4. Control that hideous holiday weight gain... Duct tape over your mouth. 3. Duct tape over the names in last year’s greeting cards and resend them. 2. Silver duct tape turns that old bride's maid dress into shiny holiday formal wear. 1. Duct tape great grandpa upright in his chair. Heck, let’s keep going, Tim! Okay, Jim... Make a lovely candle holder: Stick your pillar candles in rolls of duct tape with green and red duct tape holly leaves and berries attached around the perimeter of the roll. Or, make your own multi-wicked pillar candles by duct taping together a bunch of burned-down candle nubbins (usually found in the junk drawer). Speed holiday party clean-up duties by wrapping the feet of guests with duct tape, sticky-side-out, as they enter your house. All night long they will be picking up trash as they mill about. How about getting a bigger haul from Santa this year? Duct tape a dryer hose extention to the top of your stocking (shown in right column). Make your own Yule Logs out of old newspapers tightly rolled and bound with red and green duct tape. Where can you get colored duct tape? Look for Duck® brand tapes at your local hardware store, home improvement center, or at most Wal-Marts coast to coast. And finally, nothing will assure that you get your share of holiday kissing like this clever invention (successfully implemented by Tim at last year's holiday party): A mistletoe holder. Duct tape a stick to your head with mistletoe duct taped to the end of the stick hanging about six to eight inches in front of your face. Get ready for some rapid-fire smoochin’! From the Arizona Republic, this question: “Last year, sometime around the holidays, somewhere I read or heard the directions on how to make a Christmas wreath out of red and green duct tape. Now I don't remember how I heard or knew about this."... Can you help me?” Duct Tape Guys to the Rescue! While we don't know the exact duct tape Christmas wreath directions that this guy’s referring to, we would simply wrap green duct tape around an old tire and add a big red duct tape bow. However, if you are a Martha Stewart wannabe (have WAY too much time on your hands), rip four hundred twelve-inch strips of green duct tape, fold them over onto themselves, and cut fringes in each side of the six-inch strips. Duct tape the four hundred fringed green duct tape strips around a hoola hoop, add a big red duct tape bow, and presto - there you have a charming duct tape Christmas wreath that will surely gather lots of positive comments from your holiday guests. Duct tape: It's like Martha Stewart on a roll - only a lot less irritating! (Red and green duct tapes are available from Duck® brand and are available at most Wal-Mart stores nationwide.) Click here for our favorite, easy-to-make, Christmas Cookie (Peanut Butter Kiss) Recipe

#1 Duct tape great grandpa upright in his chair.

Where are you gonna get stocking stuffers for your duct tape loving family and friends? click the logo above to get our Holiday special books and video offer.

Prevent holiday tongue tragedies… This holiday season cover the tongues of anyone under 18 with duct tape to prevent flag pole licking accidents.

Below, cartoonist Glen McCoy borrows one of our ideas for this cartoon:

Duct Shuiing Your Home for the Holidays
To interview Tim, the Duct Tape Guy for this "Duct Shuiing Your Home for the Holidays" segment, e-mail Tim (mailto:tim@ducttapeguys.com) with a desired date and time and he will send a confirmation (or a suggested alternative date if your preferred time is already booked). The confirmation will have information about how you can get review and give-away copies of "Duct Shui" for your show.

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Duct Shuiing your Home for the Holidays:
Here is a starter list of just some of the many ways that you can apply the principals of Duct Shui to help you prepare for the upcoming holiday season. For those of you who are not familiar with "Duct Shui" (also the title of our fifth book - available in bookstores and at the Duct Tape Pro Shop now), it's our duct tape repaired version of the ancient Chinese philosophy of Feng Shui. "Duct Shui," the book, actually gives a good overview of Feng Shui principles, then slices and dices and puts them back together with duct tape. It's the perfect gift for the duct tape lover (or the Feng Shui practitioner) in your life.

Attract people to help you:
We all could use some extra help in preparing for the holidays. If it's getting our home ready for holiday entertaining, or just getting the shopping done.
In Feng Shui, you are instructed that a wind chime hanging outside the door of your home will attract people to help you.
In Duct Shui, we leave the quiet tinkle of wind chimes to the task of calming our nerves. It lulls us into a peaceful state. If you want to attact people to come to your aid, get duct tape tangled up in your hair and as you attempt to remove it, your screams will solicite all kinds of help!

Remove clutter:
In Feng Shui it is taught that clutter blocks "Chi" (positive energy) from circulating freely around your house. We can use all the positive energy that we can muster to get us through the winter holidays. So, remove clutter from your house. Duct tape can help by bundling up old newspapers and magazines and binding them with duct tape. If you roll them tightly before you bind them, they will make an excellent recycled "Yule Log" for your holiday fires. Red and green duct tape, or log-brown tape are available from Duck® brand and usually found at your local Wal-Mart or Ace Hardware.

Another clutter removal hint:
You can remove clutter as your family walks around the house by duct taping their feet sticky-side-out. As they walk around the house, they will be effortlessly picking up loose papers and trash. And, to make that horrific after-party cleanup easier. just duct tape the feet of your guests (sticky-side-out) as they enter your home. They will be effortlessly picking up party droppings as they mingle.

Keeping out negative Chi (negative Energy):
In Feng Shui a lot of time and effort is expended in the placement of objects to allow for the free entry and free flow of Chi (energy). But, there is both positive and negative energy. To diffuse the flow of negative energy Feng Shui suggests the use of a fountain at the entrance of your home or office. With the infusion of relatives that enter your home during the holiday season, there is plenty of bad Chi coming your way. Up here in the northland, all a fountain would do in the winter is freeze up. So, we recommend duct taping over your doors and windows - that way, nothing bad can enter your house. (Note: There may not be any oxygen entering your house either, so we suggest drilling small vent holes in your siding and disguising them with duct tape vent flaps.)

Food Problems:
In Feng Shui, a kitchen that is immediately visible upon entering the front door of the house can relate to a number of health problems such as indigestion and binge eating. The Feng Shui cure for this is to hang a wind chime over the stove. To us, food is a very important part of everyday life and even more so during the holiday season. Indigestion and binge eating are merely an indication that we are Americans and live in the land of plenty. Get indigestion? Take a Tums. In Duct Shui, we suggest that you point the way to the food immediately upon your guests' entry into your home. Just make big duct tape arrows with the word "To Food" or "To Kitchen" on the hallway walls leading to your kitchen.

Energize your Holiday Food:
In Feng Shui we are told that gas ovens and stoves put more energy into your food. In Duct Shui, we suggest that you energize your food with this simple plan: Duct tape one end of a copper wire to the food that you want to energize. Run the other end of the wire out your window and up the side of your house. Duct tape the other end to your chimney. Then, sit back and wait for an electrical storm.
Or, mix half a bottle of Tabasco sauce and a mess of sliced-up jalapeños into your food. To avoid having your tongue melt and a hole burned into your stomach lining, wrap your food in little duct tape packets prior to swallowing it.

Money and the Holidays:
Feng Shui says to prevent your finances from being drained by keeping your drains covered, your toilet lids down, and your bathtub doors shut. Duct Shui says that you can prevent your finances from being drained during the holidays by duct taping your wallet shut. This is a great way to prevent impulse spending. Or, guys, wrap your wife's credit card with three or four yards of duct tape so that magnetic strip is rendered unreadable.

Holiday Gifting:
And, for the perfect holiday gift - give a roll of duct tape and a Duct Tape book or apparel item from the Duct Tape Pro Shop. Duct Tape is the gift that keeps on giving all year long.

Read more about Duct Shui by clicking here: www.ductshui.com

Destressing the Holidays with Duct Tape

There is a lot of stress in preparing for the holidays. We can all use a little extra help:
In Feng Shui, they say if you hang a wind chime outside the front door of your house, it will attract people to help you. In Duct Shui, we recommend getting duct tape tangled up in your hair and standing outside the front door of your house. When removing the tape from your hair, your screams will bring all kinds of help.

Stress in decorating:
Tangled and malfunctioning lights:
Lights are cheap. Don't attempt to detangle them. Just get new lights and duct tape them permanently onto house in tape color that matches your siding.
Decorating idea: To display the barrage of greeting cards that will be coming to your house, cover an entire wall of your house with duct tape sticky-side for easy display of your holiday cards.

Shopping related stresses:
Lack of Parking.
Go find the ideal parking spot 3 to 4am and mark the curb with yellow duct tape so it appears to be a no parking zone. When you are ready to shop, you simply pull into the spot and rip up the yellow tape.
Crowded malls.
Maintain your personal space by duct taping a hulahoop around your middle. To create the illusion of serenity in the crowded mall, duct tape a scenic peaceful countryside panorama around the brim of your hat and put duct tape ear plugs in you ears.
Impulse buying.
The best way to prevent impulse spending is to wrap your wallet in six to eight layers of duct tape.
Large credit card bills after the holidays.
The best invention in the world of duct tape has been the Duck® brand Flat Pack. It's three yards of duct tape that is on a little credit card sized roll that fits easily into your pocket or purse (a great stocking stuffer by the way). The best way to prevent large credit card bills after the holidays is to make your own flat pack. Just wrap your wife's credit card with three yards of duct tape - it pretty much renders that magnetic strip on the credit card useless. You'll save thousands of dollars.

Stress from pressure that you'll buy that "they" will like.
No more stressing over whether the recipients of your gifts will like what you got them or not. Just shop at the Duct Tape Pro Shop - a roll of duct tape and a book or apparel from our Pro Shop is a gift that'll be loved by all.
Or, make your own gift - such as the multi-wicked pillar candle (old candle nubbins gathered together and secured with red duct tape) placed in a giant roll of duct tape which you have decorated with green and red duct tape holly. It's the gift that keeps on giving all year long.

Stress due to cleaning and preparing for the holidays.
Dusting the house for the upcoming parties can be time consuming. First, use duct tape to secure all of the nicknacks (and pets) in your house. Wrap your furnace filter with duct tape, sticky-side out. Turn the furnace blower on high. Then use a leaf blower to dust all household surfaces.

Stress due to clean up AFTER hosting holiday parties.
Make clean-up a snap by wrapping your guests feet in duct tape, sticky-side out. As they walk around the party they will be picking up napkins, pine tree needles, etc. minimizing your after-party clean up time.

Stress due to "nothing to wear" to holiday parties.
Nothing says fashionable holiday formal wear like duct tape. Gals: grab a roll of red duct tape cover last year's dress for a trendy latex-look garment. For the guys: black and white duct tape creates a handsome spill and stain-resistant tux.

Stress due to visiting relatives.
There's an old saying that after three days fish and overnight guests start to stink. Prevent your relatives from staying longer than one night by duct taping small stones and golf balls under the top sheet of the guest bed.

Stress due to holiday weight gain.
Prevent holiday weight gain with a strip of duct tape over the mouth.

Avoid all of the holiday stress - rig yourself up with these handy duct tape solutions and have a wonderfully stress-free holiday season.

And Now, YOUR Holiday Uses of Duct Tape:

I was thinking what I could do with duct tape to make something Christmasy. Then I came up with the idea to make an elf suit (photo on right). It took about five hours and I managed to get through it with only my thumbs sliced up from scissors (notice the tape on my thumb). Even my dog has a tape collar. I'll be sure to wear it to school before winter break. - Paula R., Vista, CA

Don't fight the cats over decorations while trimming the tree, place a small piece of duct tape on their tail & it's keeps them amused almost long enuff for you to finish the tree, if you can stop laughing that is. - Sweets2B...

My sister, who is 6 years old, is such a big Santa Fan. Every year my father dresses up as him. Last year, however, he has to work Christmas night. So I bought about 10 rolls of Duct Tape. I took plastic flower pots and stacked up ten for one leg, and ten for the other. I made a middle, arms and a head. I wrapped red duct tape all over them and trimmed them in white. Next I fashined a red dress and hat. Since I had extra I made a reindeer out of white duct tape and painted it brown. When she woke up the next morning she Mrs. Clause, Rudolf and Santa and I said to her that Santa was so stiff from the night before and so he can't move move much. She believed me! I was glad I made her day and I'm doing the same this year. - Nellie, Bronx, New York

Find out if Santa Clause really exists. Duct tape the inside of the chimney for an all-purpose Santa Catcher. --- Anne (the Skygirl)

In front of our house is a large evergreen tree, about forty feet tall. I wanted to put some Christmas lights all the way to the top, but my homemade poles kept bending and breaking. I couldn't reach even with the biggest extension ladder, and I didn't want to pay (!) somebody to do it. The solution? I tied a new roll of duct tape to a long piece of twine. Then I swung it around like a yo-yo and launched the duct tape into the air, over the top of the tree. Finally, I tied the end to my Christmas lights and pulled them up. This took a bit of practice
and a few false starts, but eventually I got pretty accurate. The tree looks great... thanks to duct tape. --- Ed M.

During preparations for Christmas dinner at the in-laws, the bulb on the top of the turkey baster had developed a crack from dry rot or old age. We tried super glue but that didn't work. A small piece of duct tape fixed the problem and saved the gravy. We never go anywhere without duct tape! --- Bill and Holly Hurt

I came across a new use for Duct Tape on Christmas Eve. I had a plumbing backup that required a plumber to rod out the sewer line. Unfortunately he had to break the cap off to gain access to the line. He did not have a replacement and all the stores were closed. We used Duct Tape and a paper plate to cover the opening until I could get a replacement. --- dave

I love duct tape! We have some ornaments on our tree, but there not really that cool. So I took out the good 'ol duct tape, and made some ornaments, like reinder. I made a pattern, and cut it out on the duck tape, stuck the sides together, with a paper clip in the middle, and bam an ornament --- Chris

Since the population has grown so much over the centuries, Santa Claus's sleigh must be full to the brim & over flowing. His little elves can roll out a roll of duct tape, adhere a toys & presents to it, duct tape a couple to the reindeer's antlers, then when Santa Claus flys through the night, he has numerous little trails of presents stuct (misspelled on purpose)to duct tape following him. When he gets to one of his destinations he can just snip off each the packages. Can you just picture that??? By the way, make sure you duct tape the inside of the chimney so Santa can slide down easier. --- Cheri

To get rid of those bright glares of light coming from your neighbors Christmas light display, cut a bunch of 1 in. strips of duct tape and place over lightbulbs. Also, make a curtain with duct tape to place over windows so carolers will think no one’s home. --- Mike Conroy

Repair your broken silverware with stylish silver duct tape before the relatives come over for dinner.
Make a tablecloth out of duct tape for easy clean-up.
Buy new, bigger clothes for the impending holiday weight-gain, and use duct tape suspenders until that time comes.
Give duct tape Christmas party invitations so that they can be adhered directly to the refrigerator. --- Amy Milvic

Duct tape pieces, sticky-side-up, around the Christmas tree will keep the cat out of tree. It works! --- Bonnie

While finishing off a very large Christmas wreath late one night, I realized she needed a very large bow. I quickly constructed the bow out of red duct tape wrapped over a core of "pig mats", which are essentially 1/4 inch thick industrial paper towels. As you can see from the photo (left), the bow is actually quite attractive (and large - see 12" ruler). - Suzy C., Castle Creek, NY

Take a roll of Duck Tape and put it in a fruit cake batter and bake it. No one will ever find it and you will save money on all that fruit cake stuff! Merry Christmas! --- Joe, from Brooklyn .... (living in Texas, it's much better!)

As I am only 13 years old, I don't have enough money to buy everyone presents. So I find that a high quality duct tape wallet brings a smile to the face. I’ve already got a few wrapped up. Also, make your stocking out of duct tape (Make them big so santa can fit the extra rolls of duct tape in). --- jim wright

As a joke, my brother used to hang a pair of panty hose over his fireplace before Christmas. He said all he wanted was for Santa to fill them. What they say about Santa checking the list twice must be true because every Christmas morning, although Jay's kids' stockings were overflowed, his poor panty hose hung sadly empty and grew increasingly threadbare.
One year I decided to make his dream come true. I put on sunglasses and a fake beard and went in search of an inflatable love doll. Of course, they don't sell those things at Wal-mart. I had to go to an adult bookstore downtown. I settled for Lovable Louise. She was at the bottom of the price scale. To call Louise a "doll" took a huge leap of imagination.
On Christmas Eve, with the help of an old bicycle pump, Louise came to life. My sister-in-law was in on the plan and cleverly left the front door key hidden under the mat. In the wee morning hours, long after Santa had come and gone, I snuck into the house and filled the dangling panty hose with Louise's pliant legs and bottom. I also ate some cookies and drank what remained of a glass of milk on a nearby tray. Then I let myself out, went home, and giggled for a couple of hours.
The next morning my brother called to say that Santa had been to his house and left a present that had made him VERY happy but had left the dog confused. He would bark, start to walk away, then come back and bark some more. I suggested he purchase an inflatable Lassie to set Rover straight.
We also agreed that Louise should remain in her panty hose so the rest of the family could admire her when they came over for the traditional Christmas dinner. It seemed like a great idea, except that we forgot that Grandma and Grandpa would be there.
My grandmother noticed Louise the moment she walked in the door.
"What the hell is that?" she asked. My brother quickly explained.
"It's a doll."
"Who would play with something like that?" Granny snapped. I had several candidates in mind, but kept my mouth shut. "Where are her clothes?" Granny continued.
"Boy, that turkey sure smells nice, Gran," Jay said, trying to steer her into the dining room. But Granny was relentless.
"Why doesn't she have any teeth?"
Again, I could have answered, but why would I? It was Christmas and no one wanted to ride in the back of the ambulance saying, "Hang on Granny, Hang on!"
My grandfather, a delightful old man with poor eyesight, sidled up to me and said," Hey, who's the naked gal by the fireplace?" I told him she was Jay's friend. A few minutes later I noticed Grandpa by the mantel, talking to Louise. Not just talking, but actually flirting. It was then that we realized this might be Grandpa's last Christmas at home.
The dinner went well. We made the usual small talk about who had died, who was dying, and who should be killed, when suddenly Louise made a noise that sounded a lot like my father in the bathroom in the morning. The she lurched from the panty hose, flew around the room twice, and fell in a heap in front of the sofa.
The cat screamed, I passed cranberry sauce through my nose, and Grandpa ran across the room, fell to his knees, and began administering mouth to mouth resuscitation. My brother wet his pants and Granny threw down her napkin, stomped out of the room, and sat in the car. It was indeed a Christmas to treasure and remember.
Later in my brother's garage, we conducted a thorough examination to decide the cause of Louise's collapse.
We discovered that Louise had suffered from a hot ember to the back of her right thigh. Fortunately, thanks to a wonder drug called DUCT TAPE, we restored her to perfect health. Louise went on to star in several bachelor party movies. I think Grandpa still calls her whenever he can get out of the house. --- Wes Leon

Phew! That was a long one! We knew it would get around to mentioning duct tape eventually!

I have been urged by friend and foe to report to you a duct tape project I made for a Christmas present for a friend in 2003. This friend and I have exchanged duct tape items each Christmas for several years--they range from t-shirts, sox, dispensers, neck ties to calendars and cartoon scrap books. For my project for Christmas 2003, I made a Duct Tape Mother Goose book. It contains 63 pages including a table of contents, introduction, epilogue and an ISBN info. page. It is hard-bound, has a stitched binding and, of
course, a duct tape cover. The Mother Goose rhymes are each carefully edited to reveal the true meaning (a duct tape meaning) and every page is illustrated with original Mother Goose drawings. It is titled, "The Original Duct Tape Mother Goose." The book ends with an original Mother Goose type rhyme I created for my friend--it's about him, which seemed
appropriate.

The picture (left) is of my friend holding up his book. Also a sample page from the book. There, now I've done it. - Larry Howard

'Quick Tack Tinsel' Create a festive mood ANYWHERE with 1 roll of Duct Tape and 1 office shredder. 'Quick Tack Tinsel' comes in two lengths: 3" and 75'. A wonderful gift idea! (Note: Add that upgraded office shredder you've been wanting to the top your Santa list immediately after!) --- Trip Uhalt

Good idea - then you can use duct tape to repair your shredder after you run the duct tape through it!

Cover every other board on your house’s siding with alternating red and green Duck Tape. It’s like vinyl siding on a roll and gives your house that “Those people are REALLY into Christmas!” look. --- Rob, Minnesota

Use Duck Tape as the perfect Christmas tree skirt. Sure to be a real conversation piece at your holiday parties. I can just hear the conversation now...
"Say, if i didn't know better, I would say that was a duct tape tree skirt!"
"Why, it is! It is a duct tape tree skirt!" --- Pamela, Michigan

I use Duct Tape and newspaper for my casserole carrier. It is insulated by the newspaper, held together with the duct tape. The last time I brought a dish to a holiday function, there were four ladies hanging around in the kitchen, waiting to see who was the ingenious one who brought her dish wrapped in newspaper and duct tape. --- Gloria

Since your decorative tree balls usually break when dropped, roll some duct tape into small balls and hang them on the tree. On artificial trees, you can avoid taking these balls off every year and putting them back on next year by duct taping them to the branches. --- Rod

"Christmas is here, and your Duck® Tape saved the day. Two years ago I bought a tree that had plastic holders for "limbs". I took the tree down last year and stored it away. This year I found 9 broken plastic holders and 9 limbs lying on the floor. I re-positioned the limbs and used your Duck® Tape to hold them in place. In about 45 minutes the tree looked like new. The tree is beautiful and Christmas is saved. Thanks, Manco!" --- Wade, Avondale Estates, GA

"We found that the only thing that would hold up our large Christmas wreath without defacing the door was Duck® Tape at the top and bottom. It held up through all our rain and though many door openings and closings." --- Theodore Sunnyvale, CA