Christmas Crackers

You may be surprised to learn that there is speculation about the Ancient Romans wearing festive hats during their winter solstice celebrations. Seems like a fair few of these traditions date back to their winter solstice!

With 99% of people in the UK throwing the gifts in the crackers away after 1 night, and 150 million crackers pulled each festive season, these are such a wasteful aspect to Christmas. BUT there are some really amazing options out there that means we can still pull those crackers and share the super lame but always requested Christmas joke, whilst being kinder to out planet.

In the UK, the Christmas Cracker has been a staple decoration on our tables since the late 1800s. They were created by a British sweet maker in the 1840s, called Tom Smith. Sales of bon bons were drying up so he wanted to try something new. He visited Paris and loved that French bon bons were wrapped up beautifully in a twist of coloured paper. He brought them back and had limited success, so when sales were drying up again, he tried adding little love notes to the tissue wrapping. This picked up in sales and as bon bons were generally a seasonal item, he wanted to find a way to make his stand out more. Inspiration hit him to add the BANG to the cracker after listening to the crackle of his log fire.

His son, Walter Smith, added the hats to the cracker - “many of which were elaborate and made of the best tissue and decorative paper on proper hatmakers stands" (Olde English Crackers). He also went round the world to source new and unusual ideas for the gifts. Some of these items included tiny wooden barrels from America and scarf pins from Saxony.

The Tom Smith Company grew enough that they could complete bespoke orders for individuals and companies. According to Olde English Crackers, “…Records show an order for a six foot cracker to decorate Euston Station in London, and in 1927 a gentleman wrote to the company enclosing a diamond engagement ring and 10 shilling note as payment for the ring to be put in a special cracker for his fiancee. Unfortunately he did not enclose an address and never contacted the Company again. The ring, letter and 10 shilling note are apparently still in the companies possession today.”

And now, let’s get cracking! Welcome to my 12 Days of Christmas, #ecoedition continuing with Day 7! Check out the quiz question at the bottom of the page and stay tuned for the answer tomorrow!

QUIZ ANSWER FROM DAY 6: What were postmen in Victorian England called? Robins because their uniform was red!

Did you know:

Some (not so) cracking facts:

• Waitrose, John Lewis and Morrisons have banned glitter from their own range festive products

• More than 150 million crackers are pulled each festive season

• This means over 150 million hats, jokes and largely cheap plastic toys will also appear

• 99% of people in the UK throw out the cracker gifts after 1 night

• Over 40 millions crackers end up in the bin on 25th December

• Not all airlines will let you travel with Christmas Crackers

fun and Eco friendly alternatives

Why not making them at home a fun activity for the kids to do or try one or more of the below ideas:

• Buy a reusable cracker - e.g Keep This Cracker or Kate Sproston or 2GreenMonkeys

• Fill them up with reusable hats e.g Hat For Life

• Buy Christmas crackers you can craft at home - e.g Dorothy Days

• If buying them from a shop, make sure there is no glitter or plastic or random materials in them which makes them non recyclable. For example RSPB crackers HERE and this list crafted by WHICH

• Make your own from loo rolls - find out how HERE or HERE and get some snaps for them HERE

• Fill them up with some classic Christmas jokes, homemade chocolate treats, and simple gifts they can either eat (like biscuits) or items such as a reusable handkerchief or mini beeswax or rapeseed candle, or seeds, maybe a recipe or little container of homemade lotion or coffee / tea…something they can use or keep

• Alternatively you could fill them with pre-made hats and jokes, but these will likely end up in your bin

FUN QUIZ QUESTION - find out the answer tomorrow!

Which city did Tom Smith create the cracker in?

Good luck and let’s get cracking with your Christmas plans!

Please note, I am not affiliated with any company mentioned in this post.