Christmas Crackers – Easy DIY

I have wanted to make my own Christmas Crackers for a number of years now, but have never quite got around to it. This year though when I was looking for crackers to match my blue, white and bird theme (you can see more ideas for Christmas Themes in this post), I couldn’t find Christmas Crackers in the right colour for a reasonable price, so used this as motivation to finally make my own!

Christmas Crackers – Easy DIY

Christmas Crackers DSC07774
You will need:

  • Cardboard tubes
  • Christmas cracker snaps
  • Wrapping paper
  • Twine
  • Toys / trinkets to go inside cracker
  • Printed out jokes

You can buy pre-made DIY Christmas Cracker Kits from places like Riot Art. The sets of 6 I purchased were on sale for only $3.99. You can just buy the parts individually of course, like these Christmas Cracker snaps from e-bay – a pack of $24 is currently $4.80 plus $2 postage.

I made up my first batch of six during the day with the kids and then later that night I made the remaining 18 using a slightly different process which was more efficient and easier for building of the Christmas Crackers. (Hence you will notice the change in light in the photos for the ones I made at night!)

DSC07753
Measure the length of paper you will need and cut out enough paper lengths, I made 24. Make sure you keep enough width in the paper so it goes around the cardboard roll more then once, to give it extra thickness.

DSC07757
Ask the kids for their favourite jokes, type them up and print them out, cut them into sizes that will fit easily into the cracker. While you cannot see it on these jokes, I actually wrote the child’s name and age next to the joke.

Christmas Crackers IMG_8616
Fold back the edge of the paper, so when you seal the Christmas Cracker the edge looks neat. Add a Christmas Cracker snap to each cardboard roll. I used about 2cms of sticky tape to gently tape the snap in place.

Christmas Crackers IMG_8615
Sort out the trinkets and jokes into groups, so you can quickly fill the Christmas Crackers. I bought some gel pens ($12.95) and then a tub of mixed stationary items ($4.99) from Officeworks.

Christmas Crackers DSC07765
I used seals to stick the paper together around the cardboard tube.

Christmas Crackers DSC07768
Then tie and one end with the twine. Make sure you do the tie tight enough so that the trinkets cannot fall out of the hole that is left. Fill each tube with the trinket. To get the rubber bands to go in properly I needed to shake the tube, so they fell to the bottom. The magnetic clips where a tight squeeze and needed a little push to get them to fit in. When choosing items to put in the Christmas Crackers make sure they will fit in the tube!

Christmas Crackers DSC07814
Christmas Crackers are now ready to adorn the Christmas table on Christmas Day.

Christmas Crackers DSC07812

Have you made your own Christmas Crackers before?