I Just Learned How The Christmas Cracker Was Invented And It’s So Sweet

I will admit that some years, I am a real Grinch at Christmas. There’s too much weight of expectation and my routine going out the window leaves me spiralling, it’s all just a little too much for me.

However, whether I’m feeling festive or frowning through the season, one thing is guaranteed — I will actively look forward to and participate in Christmas crackers. The patterns on the crackers, the tension before that final snap, I bloody love it.

Even the naff jokes, sign me up!

That being said... where did they even come from?

The Parisian inspiration behind Christmas crackers

It all started with a trip to Paris.

According to the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), around 150 years ago, a confectioner from London named Tom Smith travelled to Paris where he discovered the ‘bon-bon’; a sugared almond wrapped in a twist of tissue paper. 

He brought this discovery home with him and found that these sweets were particularly popular at Christmas. To encourage customers to keep buying them year-round, Smith added ‘small love mottos’ inside the tissue paper. 

As for that famous cracking sound? It was apparently inspired by the crackling sound of log fires.

The V&A explained: “Smith patented his first cracker device in 1847 and perfected the mechanism in the 1860s. It used two narrow strips of paper layered together, with silver fulminate painted on one side and an abrasive surface on the other – when pulled, friction created a small explosion.

“To stave off competition, the company introduced a range of cracker designs, which were marketed as a novelty for use at a wide range of celebrations.”

His son designed the paper party hats and sourced the small toys inside of crackers from across Europe, America and Japan.

This contined until World War 2 caused paper rationing and restrictions on the manufacturing of cracker snaps, but the industry did recover.

The V&A said: “In the 1950s and 1960s, Tom Smith & Co. was making 30,000 crackers a week.

“Today Christmas crackers are produced for every pocket, from luxurious to fun-sized. And the Tom Smith brand continues to produce luxury crackers, including special crackers for the Royal Household.”

Merry Christmas!