Christmas Crackers, how much do you spend ?

[FAQs]

I usually buy standard crackers with usual tat or possibly a game version but wanted to buy some with a bit more use but this raises the cost so any suggestions?

Looking to spend around £40 ish

Also if money was no object what would you choose.

Usually whatever is on sale after Christmas. Even the expensive ones just contain cheap tat.

Wish I’d done that!

I have bought fill your own crackers (John Lewis have some nice holly patterned ones this year) and put in a little gift for everyone. Novelty USB sticks were popular. I got a bit fed up as they seemed to come in boxes of 6 or 12 and there are 5 of us.

This year I wasn't going to bother but found Hotel Chocolat ones that came in a box of 10. They weren't cheap though (£17 I think) but chocolate is always a winner and they will be both place markers and after dinner chocolate.

Making my own this year - nice holly pack was £3 from The Works

Putting miniature port and baileys in them - the idea being that people might drink them after dinner

Disney face cloths for the kids

I don't buy them, I find them awkward!

I make them and put a scratch card inside.

I've never yet had a cracker with contents worth keeping, other than the little China animals ones, don't know if they still do them.
So now I get the absolute cheapest ones, about 3 quid at Asda, people are really only bothered about a joke and a hat. I've bought more expensive ones in the past , but still no one really wants more tat.
Having said that, I bought ones containing handbells a few years back, which everyone seemed to enjoy, and we played carols with them for about 20 minutes. Still ended up chucking them out after Xmas, so not really eco-friendly .
I think making your own is probably the best idea.

Oh I like the idea of scratch cards!

I get them in the January sales for £1 and hope I get the psychic fish

Sainsbury's have some entirely recyclable ones- but the co tents isn't clear and I think it might just be a charade card.

I love crackers so am going to invest in some reusable ones and fill them. www.keepthiscracker.com. Though I do worry they might be a bit shit.

I make my own with scratch cards, sweets and last ten year’s recycled tat which inevitably gets abandoned around the house. The dc take their responsibility to provide jokes very seriously.

I usually buy them in January so you get more for your money. However this year I want Lakeland crackers. My friend bought them a few years ago and they have plastic tat BUT it is racing plastic tat. She said their family had so much fun(she has about 15 for Christmas) as they had heats then a prize for the winner of the Grand Final. She said some of the adults became very competitive.

Last year I bought these Build and Play crackers which each contained a meccano-like vehicle to build, good quality, and I thought good value for money since they could be played with or rebuilt afterwards.

We enjoyed them a lot so I've got a different set by the same makers (Kuckoo) for this year, though I did buy them in January at only £15-ish instead of the usual price of £21, which is a lot for crackers, but we thought worth it, as not tat!

They were quite tricky to make though and we are all adults so not sure if suitable for young children if you want a happy-humoured Christmas day! We made a little competition of it with a small prize for the fastest builder.

Thank you everyone, I really like the Build and Play ones! Also going to put a scratch card each on the table. Already bought some Hotel choc boxes of chocs :)