Another one of my family’s Christmas traditions is having Christmas crackers as our party favor for Christmas dinner each year. Christmas crackers were invented by Tom Smith of London in 1847. He added the “crackle” sound because he wanted them to sound like a log that had been put in a fireplace. Tom Smith sold sweets called bonbons and even today, some people call Christmas crackers bonbons.
They are brightly colored cardboard tubes that usually contain a paper crown, a joke or riddle, and a prize. You open them by pulling on both ends of the tube. Christmas crackers also contain a small strip with a chemical that, when pulled, makes a popping noise.
This year, we thought it would be fun to try and make our own. It was really fun, and we were even able to peanut/tree nut safe candy inside, so everyone will get an extra surprise when they open theirs this year.
We bought some prizes, like little fortune teller fish and metal wire puzzles to put inside of them, along with some Hershey kisses, and Canadian Smarties, which are like M&Ms, except they are peanut/tree nut safe.
My mom, my sister and I spent all morning making them, and I actually like them more then the ones we used to buy at the store. It’s really getting me in the Christmas spirit!
I put some pictures of my sister and I making them below if you want to see how we did it.
Until next time!
Gary
PS. If you have any questions about how to make these, feel free to comment and I’ll answer your questions the best that I can!