What is a Party Cracker?
The ‘Party Cracker’ is a party favor product that was invented in the mid-1840’s by a British baker named Tom Smith. In England, crackers have been used for the last 150 years to celebrate Christmas and other major holidays and festive occasions. In it’s simplest form a cracker is a small cardboard tube wrapped in decorative paper and enclosing a small gift, paper party hat, and fortune or joke. When the cracker is ‘pulled’ from each end, the friction creates a small ‘pop’ and the cracker tears open to reveal the surprise gifts inside. The popping sound is actually a small explosion produced by a narrow strip of chemically treated paper usually referred to as a ‘cracker snap’ .
