MOST of the time, the stuff contained in Christmas crackers can kindly be defined as rubbish. No-one needs a plastic fish keyring or mini set of playing cards for ants. Make Christmas more fun and create your own bon-bons at home and fill them with personalised, useful and quality trinkets.
Here’s how to make your own Christmas crackers:
You will need:
A4 piece of patterned paper, wallpaper or plain paper to decorate
Cardboard tubes (e.g. toilet roll or kitchen roll holders)
Washi tape or paints to decorate if using plain crackers
Ribbon or string to tie
Craft knife
Scissors
Glue
Fillings – tissue paper hats, toys, games, non-terrible jokes
To make:
Begin by decorating the outside of your cracker as you wish, then set aside until it’s dry. If you’re using patterned paper you can leave this step out.
Make sure your A4 piece of paper is positioned face down on a table so that the longest sides are at the top and bottom. Position your cardboard tube in the centre of the paper, lengthwise, cutting to shape if necessary.
At each end of the tube, score your paper softly with a pair of scissors, making sure not to cut through the paper. Alternatively, cut small diamond shapes out (templates can be found online). This will make it easier to create your cracker ends.
Wrap your paper around the cardboard tube, overlapping the edges slightly and gluing in place to create one wide tube. The cardboard tube will give your cracker extra structure so it won’t fall apart.
Carefully twist one side of your cracker around the ends of the cardboard tube, secure it with festive ribbon and feed your cracker snap through.
Gently add your cracker fillings, being careful not to overfill, and secure the other side of your cracker with a ribbon. Then place on your table to welcome guests, it’s the perfect finishing touch to your Christmas spread.
A great tip is to use your handmade crackers as place names; it’s perfect if you’re hosting guests over the festive season. You could draw or paint the names on, or alternatively, string a small tag to the end of the cracker with the name printed on it. Your guests will love the extra effort you’ve gone to and appreciate the nicer prizes.
