Yeah, a time or two. I’d known what they are, from reading various books. When I saw them at a party store, I picked up several boxes, and when I spent the winter holidays with my family, I reinforced my status as “cool aunt” with my nephews because I brought something that was NEW (to us), made noise, and had interesting stuff in it.
And remember, wearing of the paper hats is mandatory.
Only when there’s a gun pointed at me.
And don’t forget the cracker jokes :-
What do you call Santa’s little helpers?
Subordinate clauses!
What sort of sentence would you get if you broke the law of gravity?
A suspended one!
What do you get if you cross a hen with a bedside clock?
An alarm cluck!
Who hides in the bakery at Christmas?
A mince spy!
What do you get if you cross a cowboy with an octopus?
Billy the squid!
Etc. Etc.
We didn’t use to pull Christmas crackers, but we’ve started now that my brother is marrying into a family who does.
Where would you go to weigh your whale?
The Whale Weigh Station.
I’ve never heard of them until now! Sounds like a fun tradition.
I learn so much stuff from the Dope.
I’m 37 and my Ma still gets me a selection box every year. She’ll do it till she drops and I’m very happy with the situation 
Last year she got me a Beano annual as well 
The first time I did was when I was in Scotland, a few days before Christmas over a decade ago (although I knew about them long before that). I’ve done it several times since.
Christmas crackers aren’t well known in the US, but they’re surprisingly common in stores. I’ve seen them all over in recen weeks, including at salvage-type stores. But they don’t feature in US books, comics, movies, TV shows and the like. Until they do, they’re going to remain reatively obscure.
People only seem to buy the Beano annuals for adults nowadays.
And they buy the Viz annual for children.
I bought them a couple of years ago and took them to the family Christmas dinner. My niece, who then was about five, was so obnoxious about when were we going to do it and why couldn’t we do it now and could she have more than one and if anybody didn’t want one could she have that one too that I haven’t bought them since. Pain in the ass.
We pull them every year. My mom found some a few years back and my daughter loved them, so now they’re a tradition. I usually pick them up at World Market when it’s my turn to get them, Mom gets them at TJ Maxx, and this year I saw them at Target as well.
Yes, we wear the hats. For a few minutes, at least.