DIY: Christmas Crackers

by gaby

Now that the wedding craziness of last week is over, it’s time to get the family festive celebrations on the road, so I hope you’ll forgive me if we’re not completely wedding focused this week! My mom asked if I would make us individual crackers for our Christmas dinner, and I thought I would share them as a holiday DIY. They’re a little fiddly and take a couple of hours, but really make things personal and extra fun at the Christmas table. And for South African readers I picked up most of the necessaries at my local CNA, so everything’s easily available locally for a spot of last-minute DIY. These would be great favours for a holiday wedding or even another time of year with different decoration!

What you’ll need:

  • Wrapping paper
  • Stiff paper (one A4 sheet per cracker)
  • Cracker snaps (I got mine from inside some cheap crackers)
  • Double sided tape
  • Ribbon, raffia or twine
  • Embellishments of your choice
  • Gifts for inside the crackers
  • Jokes (I found mine online, typed them up and printed them onto plain white paper, then cut them out and curled them)
  • Sweets
  • Scissors, craft knife, cutting board, glue, sticky tape

  1. Cut each sheet of paper into two 5cm x 21cm pieces and one 15cm x 21cm piece. Roll them into cylinders and attach with double sided tape.
  2. Centre the biggest cylinder on the wrapping paper, attaching it with double sided tape and then rolling, keeping taut. Be gentle with the wrapping paper as it can crease easily.

  1. Attach the end of the wrapping paper with more tape.

  1. Slide one of the two smaller cylinders into one end of the roll and leave a large gap between it and the central cylinder. Be sure that the end of the wrapping paper is secured with tape to keep the shape when tying it.
  2. Tie your ribbon around the gap and pull to gather. Secure with a bow. You can tuck in the ends of the wrapping paper and secure them with glue. If you do this, be sure to cut small slices into the paper to ensure it glues together smoothly.

  1. Remove the cracker snaps from the cheap crackers (if applicable). Apply sticky (Scotch) tape to each end.
  2. Using the sticky tape, secure the snap inside the cracker, allowing flexibility for tying the second side.

  1. Fill the cracker with sweets, a small gift and a joke (or whatever else you fancy).
  2. Embellish as you choose (I created labels using scrapbooking supplies (also from CNA) so we know which cracker belongs to which guest).

  1. Voila! Make as many crackers as you need – and enjoy!

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