What makes crackers bang

There are a number of very good YouTube videos on making Christmas crackers. Three of the more informative videos, each using a slightly different technique, can be accessed at the following links:. There are several companies that provide all inclusive kits for making Christmas crackers. These kits typically contain tabbed and slotted colored card stock that rolls and slots together to form a cylinder.

The card stock is also slotted where the cracker gathers so that it easily folds into the three part design that is typical of crackers. The outlet with the largest selection of cracker making kits for purchase is the UK company, Simply Crackers. Ebay also has cracker kits available for purchase throughout much of the year. Many of the materials needed for making your own Christmas crackers can be purchased at stationary or craft stores i.

For the hard to find items such as cracker snaps and tissue hats, as well as other cracker making components try Olde English Crackers Inc. They should not be used on their own as noisemakers, or employed in the construction of other craft items. In particular, cracker snaps should never be pulled near the face and eyes. Where can I buy Christmas cracker snaps? This product is also available year round from our online store.

Crowns are folded tissue paper hats that when unfolded and placed on the head have the appearance of a crown worn by royalty. The tissue crowns are usually placed on the head immediately after pulling the cracker and worn throughout dinner and often into the evening. However, the tradition of wearing festive hats is believed to date back to Roman times. Christmas cracker hats and other cracker making components can be purchased online.

Christmas crackers traditionally contain a tissue crown paper party hat , a motto joke, riddle or trivia question and a small gift item. The gift contents are usually fairly inexpensive and range from plastic toys and noisemakers to magic tricks and edible treats.

During the Holiday season, a few higher end retailers will be selling crackers made specifically for their customers see the previous section on the most expensive Christmas crackers. Customers can also personalize the gift contents of their crackers by purchasing fully assembled, ready to fill crackers that they fill and finish themselves.

A nice selection of fill your own crackers are available in the UK from the following online stores:. Where do I purchase the fillers or gifts to go inside Christmas crackers? Dollar stores are excellent places to purchase inexpensive items to go inside your handmade or fill your own crackers. If purchasing in larger quantities, some of the online novelty wholesalers such as the Oriental Trading Company and Rhode Island Novelty are good sources of an extensive range of inexpensive toys and novelty items.

When purchasing items to go inside your crackers the most important thing to know and remember is the size of the fillable space of the cracker. All About Christmas Crackers. What materials are used to make Christmas crackers? How do Christmas crackers work? Who invented the Christmas cracker? What is the history of Christmas crackers? The idea of wearing a paper crown may have originated from the Twelfth Night celebrations , where a King or Queen was appointed to look over the proceedings.

The twelve days of Christmas would have been a most welcome break for the workers on the land, which in Tudor times would have been the majority of the people.

How was Christmas celebrated in the Georgian and Regency era? Perhaps we can find out from the works of Jane Austen…. Christmas trees, carol singers, Christmas cards, Father Christmas and crackers - integral parts of a traditional Christmas, but why? The Victorians Related articles. A Tudor Christmas. A Georgian Christmas. A Medieval Christmas. A cracker consists of a cardboard tube with bright coloured paper wrapped around it and tied at each end.

Running through the centre of the cracker is a very small explosive mechanism called a snap, which is glued to either end of the cracker. The snap is made from two strips of card whose ends are glued together. One strip is covered in silver fulminate, an explosive chemical compound, and the other is covered in sandpaper. When two people pull the cracker in opposing directions, the pressure exerted on the wrapping paper causes it to tear at it's weakest point, which is at either end of the central chamber.

This leaves one person holding the central chamber as well as their end. One strip of the cracker's snap is impregnated with a tiny amount of silver fulminate and the other strip is covered with abrasive sandpaper. When the cracker is pulled, the friction of the sandpaper creates sufficient heat to cause the silver fulminate to explode, producing the satisfying crack that we associate so closely with Christmas.

Silver fulminate is a highly unstable, explosive compound with the chemical formula AgCNO. It comprises a single molecule of four different elements: Silver Ag , Carbon C , Nitrogen N and Oxygen O and is made by mixing nitric acid with silver and ethanol. The CNO part of the compound, the fulminate ion, is very unstable and extremely combustible. In fact it is so explosive that it has little practical use apart from crackers and bangers, no more than a few milligrams of it can exist together at the same time or it's own weight would cause it to spontaneously combust.

You can't guarantee you'll always win the prize in a Christmas cracker because the wrapping paper may just be weaker at your end of the cracker. That said, you can maximise your chances of winning by following a few simple steps that reduce the pressure on the paper at your end of the cracker:.

World's longest Christmas cracker - measured