Cracker sweatshop… I mean production line!
Before I begin this post, if you bought The Telegraph today you might have notice a rather substantial article about our efforts for a handmade Christmas. You can find an image here>>>
Back to the blog….
The snap of Christmas crackers is the signal, in households across the land, that your festive feast has begun. Out come the fragile tissue paper hats, some of the corniest jokes known to man and the obligatory pair of nail clippers. The festivities would not be the same without them. Our efforts to hand make our Christmas this year simply had to include the crackers. In fact they are surprisingly easy to make and actually a lot of fun for the whole family. But be warned – you need plenty of time!
Your basic cracker is made using a single sheet of A4 card. This card is then cut using a template (which you can find here) using a sharp craft knife. The cutting out really is the time consuming bit as it is so fiddly. You simply fold the cracker body into the correct shape and fill with your treats.
2 of the 8 crackers we made
With our internals we remained as traditional as we could. I made some tissue paper hats, wrote some cheesy jokes (provided by our Twitter followers), added charades for some after dinner amusements and I made personalised leather key rings for our prizes. The only thing missing is the snap. I will advise our guests that they must produce their own manual bang as they pull them.
Decorating the crackers was a real family event. Lots of glue and glitter got us all feeling really Christmassy. I really do recommend that you give making crackers a try.
Because we had all of the supplies already this addition to Christmas cost us absolutely nothing.
The British made Cracker
We know that not everyone will have the patience for this but you will be relieved to find our that you can still buy British made crackers. Simply Crackers are based in Nottingham and produce a wide range of crackers for every occasion. They even have a bespoke service and sell their own cracker kits.
Simply Crackers can be found here>>>
– James
The last Sunday before Advent is traditionally called stir up Sunday. On this day it is a British tradition for families to get together and prepare their Christmas treats. Christmas pudding, Christmas cake and mince meat ready for your mince pies essentially use the same basic ingredients. As such if you are going to make one of these festive favourites you might as well make them all at the same time.
