Whatever made me think this was a good idea!

I stopped all crackers a couple of years ago. Grandson hates the bang, nobody wanted to wear the hats especially DH it all just went in the bin. So I said no more. DH in his wisdom bought a kit of make your own crackers in the hope the Grandgirls might like to make them. They are still on the side. I think GS is coming tomorrow so I’m going to have a go at making them with him. They could still be sitting on the side after Christmas without being touched. Goodness knows why he bought them but the thought was there.

"I'll do my own stuff" resonates but it's usually" good idea - bad execution" viz homemade cards - glitter everywhere.
My younger sister is however really good at it. I have a set of lovely hand painted glasses that she made and hand-embroidered xmas napkins.
Horses for courses etc

These things always look straightforward until you actually come to do them. Fortunately my family are very forgiving.

Good luck with yours Whiteswan.

Labradora

"I'll do my own stuff" resonates but it's usually" good idea - bad execution" viz homemade cards - glitter everywhere.
My younger sister is however really good at it. I have a set of lovely hand painted glasses that she made and hand-embroidered xmas napkins.
Horses for courses etc

I paint my own Christmas cards and use liquid glitter, it’s fabulous and no mess!
My son calls loose glitter “Devil’s spawn”😁

Ooh liquid glitter!
That's going on a shopping list.

I've got a kit going free if anyone wants it. It's been in the wardrobe for about 5 years.

Oh yes! I made 12 crackers from a kit with little gifts. What a phaff and a half! Put them on the table today for a family dinner. The snaps kept falling out and I’d forgotten to fill some of them with the gifts. We had a laugh though. But a five minute laugh for all the phaffing! Note to self to for next year …… just don’t!

Yes! I’ve done them before and they are not worth the aggravation! I understand! My headache was a level 10 out of 10!

"Liquid Glitter". Who knew ,????
Thanks Hollysteers.

I feel better knowing I’m not on my own in finding these crackers a pain.

Meghan shows us the way to make crackers in her ‘holiday’ Netflix show😁

I work in retail and Christmas Crackers are age restricted 🚫 along with knifes and solvents etc and may require proof you are over 18!
It “cracks me up” every time I ring one into the till. Apparently it’s the tiny bit of “explosive” in them.🙄

Yes, I made my own crackers one year. Bought the snaps and used loo roll insides and christmas paper. Bought the gifts and even made the hats. Not worth the effort and never again....

When our children were young and we had no money, I made crackers out of toilet roll tubes and newspaper. I think I put a wrapped sweetie inside them. We just had to shout bang!

I used to make crackers some years ago from a YouTube demo. It took a bit of practise ie always two wonky crackers at the end 😁but was quite good fun.

When family were spending Christmas here I would make personalized ones with appropriate gifts like keyrings, bookmarks, hair slides, etc. The main problem was finding things small enough to go in the crackers, especially for young children when it couldn't be too small. Most worked quite well but every now and again there would be a duff one that didn't even snap but that would just add to the fun. I used to make two or three a night while watching TV so it wasn't too bad. I still wear a small snowman brooch that DH bought to put in my cracker one year.

I was rather pleased with myself for making these. Three were already made up and I just had to add the little gifts I bought, tie up the ends and put on some stickers I bought. I struggled with the first one but that’s because I hadn’t noticed that there was a little tag on the end that you slotted in.

I’ve never made Christmas crackers but I admit I think they’re fun however my two-year-old granddaughter and I did something wonderful as a surprise for her parents. We put beads together on burlap string and then we wrapped them. She chose the little beads. I got a nice selection and I put them on then we wrapped them together and she put them under the tree and still has not told her parents what the present from her is at two years old. I was really surprised.😂

I have learnt, from bitter experience, that the best trick is to buy them readymade, open one end, slot in anything you would like to add, then reclose.
Weirdly, it's cheaper to buy inexpensive made crackers than a kit for making.

I agree, mine were from Lakeland and cost over £20.

I’m with you chocolatelovinggran. We got so fed up with cracker tat that we decided to go down this route. I’ve previously got them from JL but used Amazon this year. Once you have bought the small gifts it doesn’t take long at all and they come with a name tag. If you can’t think of what to put in them there are plenty of websites with suggestions.

Yes I saw one of those Christmas crafty programmes where they said buy cheap crackers and put your own gifts inside ( taking out the crappy plastic tat) , tie the ends with some nice ribbon and attach a name tag- put them as place markers on people’s place settings. I put things like lip balm, lottery scratch cards etc inside. Not doing it this year mind!

When my children were young many years ago, one year we made crackers. It took a long time! We got toilet roll centres and added paper hats the children made, and they also made decorations to go on the outside. I think they also wrote jokes. We got paper for the outsides and I sneaked in small gifts which the did not see, so they would be a surprise. It did not matter that it took a long time because they enjoyed it - and now they are parents, they still remember doing it.
I did not include the bit that goes snap because I have a friend who was blinded by one of these as a child. So I have never allowed children to take the snap out to pull separately.

made 12 christmas crackers from a kit last year, and loved doing them. They were a bit fiddly but i put my own 'gifts' inside, with hats and jokes collected over the previous few years. The family loved them, mainly fornthe gifts inside!!

teabagwoman the kit making crackers went down like a lead balloon. I made one lol never mind maybe next year.