What is the history behind the Christmas Cracker?
The Christmas cracker was invented by an English baker called Tom Smith. He took the simple principal of the wrapped sweet or ‘bon bon’ and added first a love motto then, after much experimenting, a strip of paper impregnated with a compound which would ‘crack’ when opened. Over the course of time he dropped the sweet, lengthened the wrapper and introduced small novelty gifts. The first Christmas crackers went on sale in London in 1847. They rose in popularity, being produced for any major event and not just for Christmas time. It was the crackle sound of a log that he threw onto a fire, that gave Smith the inspiration to create the cracking chemical compound that propelled the humble cracker into its popular current form. A team of writers was employed to compose witty sayings or jokes and his son, Walter, started including paper hats. Many crackers were commissioned with gifts ranging from the expensive to the ridiculous and also ‘By Appointment to The Crown’. Australians held the wo
