How to Make Christmas Crackers

A great way to get the family to do something together is to make your own Christmas crackers. It is so easy to do and it definitely saves you money whilst doing something fun with the children.

Crackers can get expensive and when you finally get to open them, the gifts inside are a little dull but opening crackers on Christmas is fun and part of the tradition.

You can personalise them and make them unique to your family. They complete the Christmas table and it is so lovely to see one's that are made by you and your children.

A great way to make your Christmas table interesting is to add personalised crackers to it. It can have a message on the front or the names of the people at the table and the gift inside can be bought to suit each person. The jokes inside can be found on the internet or you can make up your own, you can even write specific messages to each member of the family.

There are many home items that you can use to make your own crackers and if you don't have anything to use from home, then buying will not be expensive.

Wrapping paper, crinkle paper or any paper that is shiny and says "Christmas."

Scissors, tape, ribbon

Cardboard can be bought either soft or you can use the cardboard from a toilet roll or the cardboard from foil

Paper for you to write jokes or personal messages on

Christmas labels to write the names of the people at the table

Glue

Cheap gifts that you can buy from a pound, dollar or crazy store

When thinking of the paper, remember that it needs to be strong enough and if it is just for décor purposes than crinkle paper will do but if you want them to be used as crackers, stronger paper is needed.

The gifts should be light and small but it is up to you. Good examples of a gift is a small nail polish for the girls and a keyring for the guys.

Use your imagination and be creative!

The paper should be about 30cm in length and 15cm wide. You can use any type of wrapping paper as long as it is Christmas paper and depending on what you are putting into it, it must be strong enough to hold the objects inside.

I used crinkle paper for table décor crackers, which do not even have to have the snapper inside.

For ones that you would like people to open and snap, you will need stronger paper.

Place the paper onto a flat surface

The cardboard should be soft but you can use the cardboard from a toilet roll too.

It should be 15cm in length and 10cm wide.

Take the two ends and with a piece of tape stick one side to the other with a 5cm overlap.

These are already made to put into the cracker and if you can't find any in a cheap store, hardware store or an old cracker then you can do without them but it is fun to have them snap.

Place this snapper onto your flat paper on the table.

Add your rolled cardboard onto the paper after you have placed the snapper.

You can find jokes on the internet or you can try to make up your own! You can even write personal messages onto the paper.

The paper must be able to fit into your rolled cardboard and it should be about 10cm wide.

Print the jokes out or you can write them using a dark pen or fineliner.

The gift can be found in cheap stores like dollar, pound or crazy stores and you can put anything into it. It is just for the fun of snapping the cracker so it doesn't matter what is inside.

For a personal touch you can add speciality gifts; nailpolish for girls and keyrings for guys.

For these gifts you need to ensure that the paper you choose is strong enough.

Once you have established what gift to put inside the cracker, add it into the rolled cardboard.

This can be tricky with everything inside but you just need to be patient and have a steady hand.

Once everything is in the cracker take the two ends of the wrapping paper and with sticky tape fold it over the rolled cardboard, overlapping the two sides and stick it with tape.

Now that the cracker is closed you have the two ends open.

Take some ribbon and wrap it around the two ends of the rolled cardboard gently to prevent the paper from tearing.

Do this with both ends and make sure that your cracker is sealed properly with the tape.

Use clear tape to prevent it from looking tacky.

You can use Christmas gift labels to put onto the fron of the cracker, with the name of your guest written on it in fineliner, or you can get ones that say "Merry Christmas."

Don't forget to write on the label before you stick it to the cracker or you will end up squashing the cracker and tearing the paper.

The message you add can be whatever you want it to be, it is entirely up to you!

While there are so many things to think about during Christmas décor, crackers are probably the easiest thing to buy but they are getting expensive and the gifts inside are not worth it.

You can make your own crackers and I personally love to see the look on everyone's faces when they see mine on the table with their names on it.

The joke inside is personal and relates to the person sitting there and the gift is also a small something that they can use.

I would love to get to a table and find my name on a cracker with a joke relating to me in it.

A personal cracker for me please!!!

Your crackers are now ready to be placed onto the table for your guests to have fun with at Christmas.

You can use your imagination and add any gift, use any paper and write any message onto them. The label can be repalced with a home- made cross or anything that you can think of that would look great.

I hope you enjoy making them and it is fun and easy to do and your guests will love them.

Merry Christmas and have a "Cracker" of a time!