The Christmas Cracker Story

The Invention of the Christmas Cracker

To put it simply, the Christmas cracker is a table decoration that goes on the table during the Christmas feast, which is mainly a British tradition. I know that my own table at Christmas wouldn’t be the same without them. You can either pull them at the start or the end of your meal. It has long been a tradition in the UK that the patriarch of the family pulls their cracker and proceeds to keep their hat on for the remainder of the day.

The Christmas cracker was invented by a London confectioner and baker Tom Smith. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Smith_(confectioner)

On a trip to Paris in in the early 1840’s, Tom came across the French sweet the Bon Bon . A sugared almond wrapped in a twist of paper.

A Love Note

Tom wanted to recreate the French Bon Bon that was wrapped in a twist of paper. He always intended this to be a sweet. He added a small love note in the inside of the twist of paper, which became immensely popular for lovers around the festive season. It is thought that Tom was inspired to add the pop one winters evening when he was sat warming himself by the fire. The pop was made by adding two narrow strips of paper layered together, with painted silver filament on one side and an abrasive surface on the other. Then when pulled this creates a small explosion.  Tom patented his fabulous new invention in 1847.

Keep it in the Family

To try and put a stop to the competition that was building quite quickly the company introduced a range of cracker designs, which were marketed as a novelty item over the Christmas period. In the 1860s Tom’s son Walter Smith was responsible for adding small gifts, hats and jokes, making the crackers that we know today, Tom Smith’s crackers are still available for us to purchase 170 years after the confectioner first had the idea.

Links below to Tom Smith Christmas Crackers that you can still by today. These are affiliate links, so when you click on it and go on to buy, I may get a small commission