Best christmas crackers

[Pansypath]

So not into the ones that give you a paperclip and a spinning top. My kids not been fussed on the wind up toy ones before or even the musical ones. Any others people have seen? I'd not bother but I think there might be an outcry on christmas day if I didn't get any - they are primary age so can't get boozy ones, and don't want to make them myself.

I've never managed to find decent quality crackers. Even the Waitrose luxury ones have rubbish gifts. Sorry no help!

Check out the Robin Reed crackers on Amazon.

Sorry, they have racing crackers (reindeer or Santa’s) and ones with Nutcracker tree decorations:

Buy the cheapest there is and add something for the kids - whatever fits in. I did it once with (fake) lego mini figures and they now see it as our tradition. I’m getting my mum to see some reusable ones this year to avoid all the waste packaging.

sew

We’ve got some eco ones from RSPB - they are recyclable and have chocolates in.

I second Robin Reed, the last two years I got the ones with little tree ornaments in them which were a nice keepsake to be reused every Christmas ...

I’ve done all sorts over the years - fancy ones with those ceramic animal figures in, wooden nutcracker tree ornaments, made my own, good quality John Lewis, Robin Reed - all been good but this year I let my dd9 choose - she decided on a £5 box from Dunelm!! They have silly festive cardboard glasses and a ‘who am I’ guessing game in them fully recyclable too so it’s a win win

I am like others - done expensive ones , cheap ones - by and large i have come down on the side of crackers are just a part of lunch and as long as they bang and have a crap joke & a bit of rubbish plastic ( Oh except for those tiny screwdrivers which are very useful for mending specs ) you can exchange it doesn't actually matter,

@snowmanshoes

I’ve done all sorts over the years - fancy ones with those ceramic animal figures in, wooden nutcracker tree ornaments, made my own, good quality John Lewis, Robin Reed - all been good but this year I let my dd9 choose - she decided on a £5 box from Dunelm!! They have silly festive cardboard glasses and a ‘who am I’ guessing game in them fully recyclable too so it’s a win win

£5? was that a typo? they usually sell the who am I ones with cardboard glasses in poundland for 50p

I’m planning on buying some from Lakeland. They have a set of musical ones and polar bear racer ones too.

We stayed with my rich brother ( sadly now deceased) one Christmas and his GF had found crackers with quarter ( not Mini) bottles of spirits in them.
We were delighted, DSs, then about 9 and 10, were less entranced.

Bought kit this year to add to pre Christmas fun since not a lot going on in the usual way. They have hats and jokes but I wont be adding trinkets. Will give anyone who is there a Christmas scratch card instead

@TrickyD ha ha - I suspect Ds's would have been better pleased with small screwdriver s or what is the classic one - the curling fish - or dice - or tiny football - or jacks - whatever ................

Yes, Curling fish - haven’t seen them lately. Or marbles, they frequently turn up. Other aspects of that Christmas were presents not opened until after lunch, which didn’t go down too well with DSs and the brandy butter put on the sprouts rather than on the Christmas pudding. There was a beautiful tree bought from a posh shop ready decorated.

True. All about the bang

Kuckoo Crackers are my favourite - especially the ones with a model to build inside. Keeps impatient people (adults in our case!) busy before the next stage of lunch!

So far in subsequent years we have had the plastic Lego-like vehicle builds, the animal builds, the Meccano-type vehicles and the Consequences game (surprisingly fun.)

Just a warning, the Meccano-style ones were excellent quality with a good-sized model, but quite a tricky build and defeated a couple of the adults! might lead to frustration among little ones.

Waitrose/JL sell fill your own crackers that are ready assembled with hat, joke and cracker, you just pop the gift in and tie a bow around the unsealed end. They are £8 but they are usually reduced to half price in the run up to Christmas.

I put a small gift in that I know will be appreciated/used by the recipient and then fill with wrapped sweets. You could just go with sweets if you can't be bothered to find gifts.

No not a typo unfortunately! My dad chose them and I was happy to pay the fiver. Coincidentally they match the table colour scheme perfectly and tbh I can walk Dunelm but closest Poundland is a small drive and car park fee away (2.70) so not much in it it really - however you live and learn! So thanks for the heads up

Dd

Thanks @ApplesinmyPocket just ordered some Kuckoo ones with spinning bugs inside

I've just bought some nice 100% recyclable ones from Dunelm, no plastic at all.

It's got an origami racing game in it and will open and add in some chocolates.

The racing ones are great, we get ours from Lakeland, no crappy gift but a game that can be played so much more fun between courses 😂

Best one we had was a cheapie with a racing sprout game in

Just seen these reusable tin Christmas Crackers. You can actually reuse them, saving money in the long run and also put what you want in them. So Vodka for me, Bramdy for him and toys for the kids. Sorted!!
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08K7RXXN5?ref=myi_title_dp&tag=mumsnetforu03-21