Who Invented Christmas Crackers?

Christmas crackers were invented by Tom J. Smith, an Englishman, in 1846. He was a sweets seller and sales were going down. He was desperately looking for something that could increase his sales. It was then that he came up with the idea of crackers that appear like candies or sweets, although slightly bigger! It was an accidental discovery.

Christmas crackers are a small cardboard tube enveloped in bright-colored paper. When a cracker is pulled from both ends, the friction causes a small explosive in the cardboard tube to explode with a pop and reveal the gift hidden inside. The gift can be anything from a balloon to an expensive gift.

The crackers were an instant success. Soon, the inventor realized others had also jumped into the field. Tom Smith decided to patent his design and he named his crackers ‘Cosaques’. Later, the names Christmas crackers and bon-bon became popular. Although the crackers are named after Christmas, it is not uncommon to find Christmas crackers on occasions such as St. Valentines’ Day, New Year Day etc.

The tradition of Christmas crackers is especially popular in England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and other commonwealth nations. The Soviet Government was never keen on encouraging religious festivities but since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Christianity is reviving in Russia. Russian Christmas crackers, or ‘khlopushka’ as they call them, are more powerful than the ones used in Commonwealth nation or England and they are usually fired up in an open area.

 Print This Page