The History of Christmas Crackers
We all love Christmas crackers, but few know the history of these festive treats. Let's start with the obvious in that Christmas Crackers are not originally from Hong Kong.
These little paper tubes are British from the mid 1840s created by a London pastry cook named Tom Smith. On a trip to Paris he had seen ‘bon bon’ sweets (generally almonds wrapped in pretty paper) and came home to London trying to sell sweets like that including a small motto or riddle with it. They didn’t sell very well so in 1861 he launched a whole new range of Christmas Crackers that he called “Bangs of expectation”. These were small cardboard tubes filled with small gifts such as marbles and small toy soldiers.
In 1865 he changed his name from Tom Smith to Thomas Smith & Sons and entered into partnership with John Wright & Sons who owned another sweet company called Wright & Co. The company then merged together in 1885 becoming Thomas Wright & Sons Ltd., which was later shortened to just Thomas Wright Ltd in 1910. By this time they had become world famous for making Christmas Crackers and began selling them worldwide including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.
We've been making Christmas Crackers for three years now, and we're so excited to continue to be doing something so unique. Our new designs for 2023 feature some of my favourite parts of Hong Kong and as our tradition continues instead of plastic toys insides we focus on sustainable prizes that can be kept and used for years to come.
We hope these Christmas Crackers will help you celebrate the season with friends and family, and that they'll become a new tradition in your home.