Christmas crackers

[kerst]

Question for our British friends....


Do you all pop Christmas crackers and wear those silly hats inside ???

I watch a lot of BBC and it just makes me giggle to see everybody around the Christmas table wearing paper crowns on their nice hair-do.


Where did this tradition come from ??

[frostrabbit]

I'm not sure where the tradition comes from but yup a lot of people do this. My family does it every year, before we start eating dinner we all pull a cracker each, wear the paper hat, read out the joke that comes with the cracker and have a look at the 'present' each cracker contains (usually something like a small puzzle, a mini pen knife, nail clippers, key ring, something like that).

The jokes are renowned for being pretty 'special', for example these two I remember from last week when my husband and I had a meal out together (each table at the restaurant had crackers, party poppers, and festive hats in addition to the ones provided in the crackers)

What do you get if you cross a snowman with a vampire? Frostbite
Why did Santa's helper see the doctor? Because he had low 'elf' esteem.

It's all good fun though and for my family it really adds something to Christmas dinner :)

[whychristmas]

It's gotta be done! (and I'm normally the person who forgets they're wearing one and goes out in it...)

For the tradition, see: http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/crackers.shtml
and for some more rather 'special' (like that frostrabbit!) jokes: http://www.whychristmas.com/fun/cracker_jokes.shtml

[Christmasstar]

we did that when we had a Christmas party with my girl friend and her family!
cheesy

[Mumof2]

I love them! have two boxes itching to be popped. :)

[kelly ann]

Yep we have xmas crackers!! Do you have them in the states??

[winterberry]

You need crackers, it just wouldn't be crimbo:) It makes your dinning table look special.

[Mumof2]

My family always did.Not sure about others.

[irishsnow]

We use them every year :tree:

[kerst]

Even in ireland ?? I didn't know that.

[Christmas-A-Holic]

I know this was a question for the British but I always wanted to buy those and do that here. I don't know of anyone personally who opens Christmas Crackers but they do sell them at some places here.

[mommytotwo]

My kids had received Christmas crackers, so we tried to "pop" them, but it did not work :(. We pulled the strings, but nothing happened, so we had to cut them open.

[Mumof2]

They are loads of fun.and some you can buy online they can get wicked Expensive.up to $70.00 for a pack.but the gifts inside are wicked nice.

[Annette1990]

I had to look this up. I had never heard of it before. They look really cool. And alot of fun to do. I watched a couple videos on You Tube on how to make these. What a fun idea and great tradition.

[kerst]

My kids had received Christmas crackers, so we tried to "pop" them, but it did not work :(. We pulled the strings, but nothing happened, so we had to cut them open.



I don't think you're supposed to pull the strings. You have to take both ends of the cracker and pull really hard. It's not easy though. It took me more than one to get it right cheesy. It's a great way to bring some laughter to your Christmas table

[whychristmas]

grip, pull, bang! Although kerst said, it can be very hard to pull sometimes. One trick is to pin the end of the 'snap' (that's the technical name for the bit that goes bang!) to the inside of the end with your finger and thumb, that way it can't slip when you're pulling!

Here endeth the cracker pulling lesson ;)

[Boogedy]

I'm not British but it is a tradition for my friends and I to open them on Christmas Eve Eve! :D We opened ours tonight and wore the crowns all night. Mine were Rudolph-themed (from the Rankin & Bass film). I love them--such a fun tradition!