The Harry Potter and the Philospoher’s Stone thread in Café Society reminded me of this.
Why did Christmas crackers never catch on in the U.S.? I like them.
my family uses them every year. i think they are starting to catch on.
Years ago, my sister and I used to make our own Christmas crackers using empty cardboard toilet paper rolls. They didn’t make any noise when you pulled them apart, of course, but we still put a paper hat (which we’d also made) and little prizes in them, and they were pretty fun. You can get the real ones several places now, including Wm. and Sonoma and Bombay Company, I think.
You can buy them in every Hallmark I’ve ever been in around Christmas/New Years(at least the ones I’ve visited in the past two years, anyway). A friend and I finally bought some this past Christmas, and they were pretty cute. I wonder if they’re as expensive in England though, they were 8 for $20 here.
Hey, those things! I’ve received some as Christmas presents, so they are still around.
F_X
You can get them all prices in the UK. The cheapest are about £3.00 for ten and the most expensive ( from Harrods ) can be over £100. The cost is determined by the quality of the materials and what things you find inside . The cheap ones usually only contain something like a plastic whistle or puzzle made in Hong Kong and the more expensive ones have much better ( and useful ) gifts.
This site has crackers for $14.33 for ten “eleven inch crackers contain a novelty gift, snap, hat and motto/joke” (plastic toys) to $103.59 for fifty “twelve and a half inch crackers contain a De Luxe novelty gift, snap, hat and motto/joke” (keychains and such).
I really liked getting crackers when I’d go to Christmas parties back in the 1980s. Nowadays there aren’t any parties and no crackers. 
If I mention them to people here they say, “Crackers? What are they?” I really wish they had caught on here.
I read somewhere that the little explosive is made by two card strips that have been impregnated or coated with saltpetre. I have some nitre around here (for my blackpowder hobby). I’ll have to experiment one of these days. It’d be really cool to put really nice gifts in them. (It would also be cool if you could make them sound like a firecracker going off. 
)
Slightly off-topic, we had Kinder Eggs at one Dopefest.
Ok so HOW do you use them? Do you put them in stockings? I think I saw in a movie once people had them on a dinner plate so I guess everyone opened one before Christmas dinner. I always want to get them but I have no idea how or when to distribute them.
Uh, what are Christmas crackers? I’m guessing they’re some sort of novelty noisemaker with a prize inside, but I’ve never heard of them before.
CrazyCatLady: This site has a history of crackers, as well as photos.
Zebra: We got them before dinner, on our plates. If it was just a party, without dinner, the hostess would distribute them once all of the guests had arrived. Two people pull a cracker from the ends.
We put them on every plate and then snap them by each person holding one end between 2 people (each person holds 1 end of 2 crackers). We get them at Party City, or The Big Party. One year, I waited too long to buy them, and ended up with Hanukah crackers. Which were fun, because my Irish Catholic family had never played with dreidels before:D They even supplied the gelt for betting!
Well, I’ve ordered my crackers. They’re coming from Absolutely Crackers (linked before) in England – £59 worth (including shipping). That’s four boxes of 12 crackers each. Of course I don’t have that many friends or family, but I may decide to be nice to my co-workers.
So does anyone remember the Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean episode, wherein he took out the strips from about ten crackers and put them all into one? Last shot: exterior of his apartment and window. The Fifty-Megaton Cracker.
Lousy American Fools! That’s what you get for running the British Loyalists out of your country back in the 1800s!
I, being the son of British immigrants to the Great White North, have been opening crackers and wearing paper hats at every Christmas ever. Even my Jewish relatives get into the act (and think it’s the kookiest thing ever).