The History Of The Christmas Cracker

We are reflecting on our Christmas Craft Parties and Events last year. Our most popular session was Christmas Cracker Making. It is a great crafty activity to do with work colleagues, friends or family. During our sessions everyone learns how to make handmade crackers with all of the trimmings!

During one of our Christmas Cracker Making sessions one of the participants asked us the history of the Cracker, and much to my embarrassment I didn't know! So I thought I would rectify this and do some research into its history. 

Apparently according to Historic UK Christmas Crackers are a British tradition dating way back to Victorian times. In the early 1850s, a London confectioner Tom Smith started adding a motto to his sugared almond bon-bons (yummy) which he sold wrapped in a twisted paper package. 

​He was inspired to add the “bang” when he heard the crackle of a log he had just put on the fire, which gives us all the festive feels. He decided to make a log shaped package that would produce a surprise bang and inside would be an almond and a motto. Later the sugared almond was replaced with a small gift. Originally sold as the Cosaque it soon became known by the public as the ‘cracker’.

The paper hat was added to the cracker in the early 1900s by his sons and by the end of the 1930s, the love poems had been replaced by jokes or limericks. The cracker was soon adopted as a traditional festive custom.

So there we go, the history of the Cracker thanks to Historic UK! We love the tradition, and how they are still loved and used in peoples homes across the UK today. We couldn't imagine Christmas Day without the Cracker!

If you would like to add the handmade touch to your Christmas Day, why not book one of our Christmas Cracker Making Workshops, we are sure it will go off with a bang!