Traditional Christmas Cracker Craft

In just about every house that celebrates Christmas in the United Kingdom and Ireland you will find Christmas Crackers. Christmas Crackers look much like a giant sweet and they a treat that is enjoyed by the entire family. The first Christmas Crackers appeared in London in 1847 in a confectioners shop owned by a man called Tom Smith. Tom Smith was experimenting with different and unique ways to promote his sweets. A Christmas Cracker is similar to a wishbone. Two people pick up a Christmas cracker, each holding an end and pull. The Christmas Cracker breaks with a popping sound and the person left holding it gets to keep its contents. This is a Christmas craft project that involves making a real English Christmas Cracker, minus the popping device. It is a great way to add a little extra fun and different element to your Christmas gathering.

To make your Christmas crackers you will need a number of items including the sought after goodies found inside. Traditional Christmas Crackers contain some of the same items in each one; these are a paper crown and a silly joke. You will want one of these for each Christmas Cracker. After that you can mix and match the items you include. Some of the goodies often found in Christmas Crackers are sweets, miniature playing cards, a key chain, nail clippers, small toy, stickers, barrettes, hair scrunches and more. You can pick and choose the items as you wish.

Besides the goodies you will need to fill your Christmas Crackers you will need to have certain materials to construct them. This includes paper towel tubes; estimate to have one cracker per person, a variety of wrapping paper, a variety of ribbon, festive decorations such a holly and berries and scissors.

Your fist step in creating your Christmas Crackers to cut each paper towel tube in half. After you have done that fill each tube with a selection of goodies including a paper crown and a joke. Next you will need to choose which wrapping paper you want to use on each cracker and cut out a piece that will fully wrap around the tube and leaves about three inches of paper hanging over each end of the tube.

Now take two pieces of ribbon to secure each cracker. Tie one piece of ribbon around the wrapping paper at the edge of the tube on each side. The length of the ribbon can be your own preference. You may want have a neat and tidy bow or a lavish bow with long curly tails. At this point you can leave your Christmas Crackers as is or make them more lavish. If you want to make them more lavish focus the centre of the tube. Here you can dress your Christmas Cracker with holly, red berries, bells, small gift boxes and other festive items.

On Christmas day when you serve dinner you will want to place one Christmas Cracker at each place setting. They will make a wonderful dressing to your festive table. Once all your guests have arrived at the dinner table begin your Christmas feast with your Christmas Crackers. Have each guest pick up a cracker and grab the end and pull. There is no doubt everyone will enjoy sharing what they got as goodies, reading their jokes and trying on their paper crowns.

This fairly simple Christmas craft will add a special unique touch to your Christmas atmosphere. Besides adding fun for your guests your Christmas Crackers can also act as an interesting topic of conversation, if they are not traditional where you live. Your guests will want to know what they are and some of their history. You cannot only impress them with your crafting skills you can impress them with your worldly knowledge!