Friday, 16 December 2011

Random Christmas Stuff Number 15


Christmas crackers are a big part of British Christmas dinners, we buy millions of them every year. They were invented by Tom Smith, inspired by bon bon wrappers in France, they usually contain, a paper party hat, a rubbish novelty (you'll be lucky to actually be able to use any of the things that you find in a cracker, but I still have one or two things that came from crackers) and a really bad joke!! along the lines of  'what do polar bears like to eat? - Arctic Roll!'

Do any other countries use Christmas Crackers?

They are often quite expensive, it's not unusual to see them for £25-£30, but I have never seen them at the price these crackers are selling for before...


YES! £599.00 for 6 crackers, utter madness!!!
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8 comments:

  1. Elga16 December 2011 at 13:24

    Yes, but then South Africa follow a lot of the British traditions for Christmas, some shops do have crackers with something decent inside, but then they cost a fortune, but for sure not £600. We still have Woolworths here and they sell ones with chocolates, yummy!!!

    Just baked my very traditional fruit cake filled with cherries, nuts,etc. on a hot summers Christmas day eating it with ice cream makes for a really delicious pudding!!!!

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  2. Simon16 December 2011 at 14:30

    I love the colours Andy, they have such vibrancy yet a real antique look about them. £600 on crackers! THAT'S crackers!!

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  3. Andy16 December 2011 at 18:12

    Ah! thanks Elga, nice to hear that Christmas crackers are used in South Africa too. I've seen chocolate crackers here too, sound like a good idea!

    Your cake sounds yummy! ;)

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  4. Andy16 December 2011 at 18:13

    Hi Si, yes, those vintage cracker boxes look great, shame the modern boxes aren't so attractive!

    I take it that that means you won't be rushing to Harrods for a box of crackers Simon!? lol!

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  5. Simon16 December 2011 at 20:53

    LOL that's a NO from me! Honestly? How could you justify it, apart forrm the good deeds you could do,think of all the mniniature things you could spend the money on!

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  6. Fi.P16 December 2011 at 23:05

    I want to know whats inside those crackers!!! The out side leaves a lot to be desired.

    The vintage packaging is lovely,so much more attractive than the 600 pound crackers.

    Elga, your Christmas sounds similar to ours in Australia. British traditions in sweltering heat. We do the Crackers with a Turkey roast dinner on 35 Celsius day. A lot of Australians opt for a Seafood Lunch which makes more sense.

    And Si I'm with you on the cracker thing....but how about crackers filled with miniatures......wouldn't we all love that...... ; )

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  7. John17 December 2011 at 14:11

    Crackers are only a novelty in the US --guess that's why they're so much more inexpensive. I saw a box of them the other day for $20 (plus they were on sale). They looked like the expensive ones you showed, not the lovely antique versions.

    I think I saw a Martha Stewart where she made her own & it didn't seem too hard. There's a marketing opportunity for you!

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  8. Andy17 December 2011 at 21:50

    I don't know how anyone would want to pay that sort of money for a novelty, guess if you're a millionaire it's only small change, I saw teh gifts inside, nothing particularly special, a silver pen, leather note book keyring, some earrings, that sort of thing, better than the average contents, but still likely to be thrown into a drawer and forgotten about!

    Now I would buy crackers with some decent miniatures in them! Perhaps you could get Sue Cook to make some special ones for you Si! ;)

    I have to say I think Harrods is one of the most tasteless, tacky stores in Britain, it sells some lovely things, but in general, I hate being in there, and avoid at all costs!

    A lot of peopel in the UK have prawns or salmon at Christmas, my mother always insists on Prawn Cocktail (and not even in a 70's retro way!) so I guess that could be classed as seafood salad too Fi!!

    Perhaps if we used Martha Stewart's (I've vaguely heard of her) guide to making crackers and filled them with our favourite miniatures, we could sell them and become so rich we could all go to Harrods to buy the ugly £600 ones!

    sorry, very tired, been a long day!! ;)

    thanks for all your comments everyone, very interesting! xx

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