How to make your own Christmas Crackers - easy and environmentally friendly too!







Christmas crackers are a fun holiday tradition but all that wasted paper that just gets torn apart and thrown out makes me cringe a little. So this year, I decided to make my own Christmas crackers out recycled and vintage paper I had around the house.  It's really easy and I like how they turned out. Simple and a little rustic.

I saved up toilet paper rolls for a few weeks to make these but you could also cut some heavier paper and make you own rolls.

I try to save tissue paper from gifts if it's in good condition to stash away for projects like this. 




Materials:

Tissue paper - I used 12" x 18" sheets of tissue folded in half lengthwise and 4" wide tubes.

Christmas cracker snaps (I found them at Michael's)

Tape or glue gun

Vintage book pages from an old book

Ribbon or baker's twine

Washi tape, kraft paper and star punch

Small gifts to hide inside the crackers such as chocolates, lip balms, mini flash lights, small toys etc..

Print out some jokes to put inside too. I found some good corny ones here.

Instructions:

Step 1: Tape or glue the cracker snap to the inside of the tube making sure it is in the middle of the tube.

Step 2: Wrap the tissue paper around the tube and secure it with tape or glue. 

Step 3: Wrap the vintage book page or other decorative paper around the tube. This paper should be approximately the same width as the tube. Mine were 4" wide.

Step 4: At this stage, I found it easier to tie one end of the cracker with the ribbon and then drop your treats inside. Then tie the other end with the ribbon. This way you don't have to deal with them falling out.

Step 5: Add a little embellishment or name tag to your cracker. I made these little stars using kraft paper, washi tape and a star punch. I secured this piece with glue.




Traditionally, Christmas crackers have paper hats but I didn't have time to make these and since I was trying to keep this project green, I didn't really want to buy them. I did come across instructions on how to make the hats here and on Pinterest I found a really pretty star head band that would work well inside these crackers too. 


So although these do take a little bit of time to put together they can also be a fun holiday craft to do with kids.


2 comments

  1. Fabulous idea! My husband is English and crackers are so popular over there but not so much in the US. I'm going to make some next year. Pinning this. x

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  2. Thanks Danielle! Yes they are a very British tradition :) and Christmas dinner wouldn't be the same without them in our family. Looking forward to see what you create next year!

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Thanks so much for your comments!