My Favourite Eco-Friendly Christmas Crackers In The UK
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Looking for reusable, plastic-free, or sustainable Christmas crackers this festive season? Here are my favourite eco-friendly crackers in the UK so that your Christmas goes with a bang!
Christmas crackers have a long history, dating back to the 1840s. However, with statistics showing that an extra 30% of waste is produced and discarded throughout the festive period, attention has turned to the humble Christmas cracker as one element of that waste mountain. In fact, it is estimated that over 40 million Christmas crackers end up in the bin on Christmas Day each year.
In response, some forward-thinking retailers have stopped putting plastic toys inside Christmas crackers. Instead, they favour paper, metal, or wooden trinkets as a more eco-friendly Christmas cracker option. However, for some, this isn’t enough. Some people have been calling for Christmas crackers to be banned altogether.
If Christmas just isn’t Christmas in your household without a Christmas cracker to pop before dinner, then worry not. Some clever retailers and crafters have come up with eco-friendly Christmas crackers that can be used time and time again.
Other retailers have started to produce fully recyclable and plastic-free crackers. This means the outer wrappers can go straight into your recycling bin, and the contents are plastic-free too. So you can still have a cracking Christmas, without contributing to landfill.
Guide To Eco-Friendly Christmas Crackers In The UK
Don’t worry – it’s not hard to track down Christmas crackers that are kind to the planet. Here are eight top sustainable picks in the UK to get you started, catering to a range of budgets.
And if you opt for refillable crackers, then I’ve also got ideas for what to put in them. I’ve even got some top-tier jokes to go in them at the bottom of this post, so keep scrolling for those too!
Oxfam Online
These woodland Christmas crackers (£10 for six at Oxfam Online) are fully plastic-free and fully recyclable for a waste-free Christmas. As well as looking lovely on your table, each cracker contains a hat, a joke, and 72 charade challenges to help get the party started. They’re also made from recycled paper.
As well as being fun, these crackers are charitable too. Each purchase supports Oxfam’s work in alleviating global poverty.
Keep This Cracker
If you are looking for something environmentally friendly that still performs like a traditional Christmas cracker, then try Keep This Cracker (£22 – £24.95 at Not On The High Street for six reusable crackers).
These cardboard crackers, available in a range of colours and patterns, are ones that you can pull again and again. All you need to do is replace the snap each time. At £2.50 for 12 snaps, it’s not prohibitively expensive to replace them. What’s more, the snaps are recyclable and compostable.
The Christmas crackers themselves are recyclable and compostable. Plus, they are printed in the UK with water/vegetable-based inks on cardboard from responsible sources. Even though they are made of cardboard, they are durable. We’ve found you can pull them quite hard, and they don’t tear.
What I also like is that even the ribbon has been carefully considered. These are woven in the UK using yarns made from 100% recycled plastic bottles.
The crackers come flat-packed and in plastic-free packaging, ready to pop into shape and fill with your own special gifts. And cleverly, the crackers can then be flat-packed and stored away for next year’s celebrations.
I’ve found they can be a bit tricky to pull apart (it sometimes turns into a game of tug of war!), but it’s only ever added to the fun around the Christmas table!
Marks & Spencer
Big-name retailers are also coming around to the idea of more sustainable crackers. Marks & Spencer, for example, offers a wide range of plastic-free Christmas crackers, from £7.
All crackers contain the obligatory paper hat and a joke. And depending on the box of crackers you choose, some contain games, some contain wooden tree decorations, some contain recyclable metal gifts, and others contain jigsaw puzzles. These crackers will definitely keep you entertained throughout Christmas dinner and beyond.
For a fully plastic-free and recyclable option, look out for the crackers that use raffia to secure the ends. Some designs use ribbon, which can’t be recycled – although you may be able to find ways to reuse the pieces.
Tom Smith
Tom Smith offers a set of six plastic-free crackers (available on Amazon), which are entirely recyclable – right down to the raffia paper ribbons.
These crackers are pretty stylish – and will make any festive table look great. Plus, the contents are made from wood, for a smaller impact on the environment.
Olive Lane
If you’re looking for a touch of luxury when it comes to your Christmas table, then Olive Lane’s eco-friendly Christmas crackers (£12 each from Not On The High Street) are one to look at. Again, these crackers should be untied to reveal their contents, rather than pulling them.
At £12 each, these crackers are admittedly not cheap. However, for something that might get passed down through your family, as part of your family traditions, then it may work out as economical in the long run. And for that extra touch, each cracker can be personalised free of charge with a name or festive message.
Kate Sproston Design
Kate Sproston Design’s pretty Scandinavian-inspired eco-friendly crackers (£16.95 per cracker, or £67.80 for a set of four at Not On The High Street) make for a sweet touch for any Christmas dinner table.
With a durable cardboard inner tube made from recycled material, these crackers are available in ivory cotton or natural linen, all embroidered with Scandinavian designs. You can select an individual cracker from a choice of six embroidered motifs (sleigh, reindeer, snowflake, bells, bird, or Christmas Tree). Alternatively, you can choose a complete set of six crackers, for use year after year after year.
Again, it’s a pricey option, but these are designed to be heirloom pieces.
2GreenMonkeys
2GreenMonkeys – available on Etsy – has a small but perfectly formed range of reusable and planet-friendly Christmas crackers. You can buy single crackers for £14 each, in a choice of 12 colours. Alternatively, you can pick up a set of 5 for £60.
The sets come in different colourways. Here you can pick from pastel or jewel tones, or traditional festive red, white, and green tones.
What’s to love about these eco-friendly crackers is that they aren’t just reusable, but multi-purpose. Oh yes, these beauties double up as napkins! Simply “pull the cracker” by untieing it, and then unroll the napkin ready for Christmas dinner. How clever is that? Just make sure you treat any stains before they set so that the crackers look good year after year.
What’s also to love is that the Christmas crackers can also be personalised with an embroidered name or message, at no extra cost.
After use, you just need to wash your napkin. Once clean and dry, simply refill the cardboard tube, roll the napkin around the tube, and tie your cracker at both ends. Worried about them looking dog-eared? Well, worry not! 2GreenMonkeys says a little bit of starch can help your crackers stay in good shape.
What To Put Inside Your Christmas Crackers
If you opt for refillable and reusable crackers, you might be wondering what to put in them. Wonder no more – here are some sustainable and plastic-free ideas to pop inside your Christmas crackers, depending on the recipient:
- homemade chocolates
- foil-wrapped chocolates
- packets of seeds
- mini jars of jam
- Christmas tree decorations
- mini sewing kits
- mini soap bars
- pin badges
- mini hand creams
- mini bottles of alcohol (not for kids, obviously!)
- lip balms
- hair clips
I’ve opted for small, relatively inexpensive options, but the only limits are your imagination and budget.
Of course, you don’t need to add physical objects. Instead, you could put non-consumerist ideas inside your Christmas crackers. I think written questions that get the conversation flowing over dinner would work perfectly. My ideas include:
- the person’s favourite joke
- ask the person to tell their funniest story
- ask the person to share their most embarrassing faux pas.
- a truth or dare for the person to do
- ask the person if they can make any impressions of celebrities.
- ask the person what your DJ, wrestling, or darts name would be (e.g. Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor).
I’d love to hear any of your ideas, so please do share in the comments below!
The Best Christmas Cracker Jokes To Write
If you are using reusable crackers, then remember that Christmas isn’t Christmas without the terrible cracker jokes you get inside standard crackers.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to invent your own cracker jokes. Luckily for you, terrible dad jokes are my forte! Here are ten of the best (or worst, depending on your opinion!) to get you started.
- How does Good King Wenceslas like his pizzas? One that’s deep-pan, crisp and even!
- Who hides in the bakery at Christmas? A mince spy!
- What did the sea say to Santa? Nothing! It just waved!
- What do you get if you cross Santa with a duck? A Christmas quacker!
- Who is Santa’s favourite singer? Elf-is Presley
- Why can’t Christmas trees knit? Because they always drop their needles!
- Who’s Rudolph’s favourite pop star? Beyon-sleigh!
- What do you get if you cross a bell with a skunk? Jingle Smells!
- What do you get if you eat Christmas decorations? Tinselitis!
- Why has Santa been banned from sooty chimneys? Carbon footprints!
I also get my kids to write the jokes, and make and decorate hats out of paper or crepe paper. It’s like a little mini production line, and a great activity to keep kids occupied on Christmas Eve!
More Sustainable Christmas Inspiration
If you’re busy getting ready for Christmas, then you can also check out my guide to having an eco-friendly Christmas. It’s bursting with festive ideas that are kind to the planet! From choosing an eco-friendly Christmas tree to helping with finding eco-friendly gifts and wrapping paper, it’s all in there.
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