How to make: Christmas crackers

Fed up of peculiar plastic shapes, bad jokes and pricey shop-bought Christmas crackers? The options for making your own are endless. Forget cheap key rings and tacky treasures and instead fill them with thoughtful gifts from the kitchen, include jokes that actually make you laugh or pop in a festive fact alongside your personalised party hats.

Looking for more ways to DIY this Christmas? Go all out with decorating with these 3D Christmas tree decorations, Christmas tree napkins and many more festive table decorations. We also have an easy DIY Christmas cards guide full of useful tips to spark your creativity.

We also have an impressive guide on our top 10 festive DIY Christmas crafts which will prove a great winter's day activity and spark inspiration for gift-giving this season.

How to make easy Christmas crackers

What you'll need:

• Leftover thick wrapping paper
• Empty toilet rolls
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Cracker snapper strip
• Sticky tape
• String or ribbon
• Small gifts or sweets, to fill

Method:

1) Cut out a 30 x 20cm rectangle of wrapping paper. Flip the paper over so the reverse side is on show with one of the longer ends closest to you. Place a toilet roll, vertically, midway down one end. Mark the paper at either end of the toilet roll, then set the toilet roll aside and fold the paper in at the marks. Snip into the folds using scissors. Unfold the paper and stick the toilet roll in its original position with glue. Fold in the ends to just beneath snipped parts, if you want to hide the reverse of the wrapping paper. Put a cracker snapper strip through the toilet roll and trim, if you need to. Attach each end to the paper using sticky tape.

2) Roll the paper around the toilet roll and stick it in place with glue. Scrunch the paper around one end of the roll, being careful not to tear the cuts you’ve made, then secure with string or ribbon. Tip in jokes you have written (try our suggestions, below) and sweets, or other treats, through the open end of the cracker, then secure that end with more string or ribbon.

Our favourite festive food jokes

Q Why was the turkey asked to be in a rock band?
A Because he was the only one with drumsticks!

Q What do you call a train loaded with toffee?
A Chew chew train

Q Who hides in the bakery at Christmas?
A Mince spy

Q What do snowmen eat for lunch?
A Burrr-itos

Q What do you get if you cross a Christmas tree with an apple?
A Pineapple

Q What’s the best thing to put into a Christmas cake?
A Your teeth!

How to fill your crackers

Homemade Spanish fig & almond balls will make lovely after dinner treats, as will individually-wrapped fruity Christmas biscotti, espresso & dark chocolate biscotti and simple star biscuits – ideal alongside coffee cocktails.

For surprises that won't keep for too long, pre-make your crackers and, a couple of days before Christmas, fill with indulgent sweets like mince pie truffles, white chocolate chip fudge or bramble marshmallows. Find more festive treats in our edible gift collection.

If you're making your own crackers this year, share your efforts with us on Facebook or tell us how you got on below.