Well I guess the point is that each cracker contains a gift, so the value of that gift is going to have a pretty momentous impact on the price of the cracker. I can imagine the Harrods’ ones have decent value jewelry/cufflinks/nut crackers and the like. And I bet the hats are a step above the normal tissue paper variety.
My Mum has always bought cheap crackers and then stuffed them with better value gifts. My friend has an annual Christmas get together meal for friends and stuffs her crackers with spliffs.
I don’t think I would shell out 500 £ or $ for a cracker, edible or otherwise, but I’ve occasionally gone out with friends for the so-called “hundred dollar hamburger” which is actually just as likely to be a full restaurant meal as a fast-food snack, and which actually costs more like $150 to $200 at today’s prices.
Not necessarily. My grandmother, at whose house we had Christmas dinner when I was a child, would buy the most expensive Christmas crackers she could find. The gifts inside the crackers reflected that. While the gifts in Grandma’s crackers were nothing like Harrod’s onyx cufflinks or gold-plated bangles, I do recall finding a 2-inch diameter magnifying glass (made of glass), in a metal frame, with a knurled metal handle, in my cracker one Christmas. Not quite what you’d find in a box of Cracker Jacks.
They’re out there. My mom was from the UK, so these things (cheap crackers, not the ridiculous ones from Harrod’s) have been a tradition in my extended family for years. More info:
Was amused to discover upon reading that link, that you are not allowed to bring those things on commercial flights in the US, thanks to the tiny amount of explosive they use to produce their cracking sound when you rip them open
Well I just returned from Cost Plus World Market with my (wait for it) Thanksgiving Crackers! I don’t know what all is in the ones I bought. They had two kinds for Thanksgiving; one kind said each cracker contained a joke, a hat and a wind-up plastic turkey so your guests could have a race. I got the other ones because I like to be surprised.
This one shows the possibilities. The wooden items can be purchased for less than a dollar at aliexpress. The nicest I would say is the magnifying glass; I’ve seen similar ones for $3 at American Science and Surplus.
All in all, buy empty ones and fill them as you like. It is another way to be creative in gift-giving.
In other news, I finished my Christmas shopping yesterday.
A friend and I were discussing these crackers this morning and we feel there is a market for Adult Crackers. Like, a dirty joke, a pack of condoms/dildo; and what could be the hat? If you decide to go into manufacturing you may have this idea for free but you must send us a box of crackers.
I hate these things. My wife festoons the tree with them every year, and every year they get ignored and put back in the box for the next year. I think we’ve opened one or two, and everything inside and the packaging went straight into the trash.
Waste paper. Can’t even wipe your arse with the paper crown.