If anyone had Christmas dinner this week at school, you may or may not have read the interesting history of Christmas Crackers featured in your cracker. If not, here it is!
The History of Christmas Crackers
On a trip to Paris, in 1840, an adventurous and forward-thinking man, Tom Smith, discovered the sugared almond, called the 'bon bon', which was wrapped in a twist of tissue paper. This was later developed to be the Christmas Cracker.
Tom Smith placed a small love motto in the tissue paper, and created an interest in the product, especially at Christmas, and as he was searching for inspiration to achieve greater sales, he casually threw a log on the fire. The crackle sound made by this gave him the idea that would lead do the modern cracker sound. After hard work and experimenting, he came up with the mechanism of cracking that created a 'pop', breaking the 'bon bon' wrapping. This became the snap, and thus, the cracker was born.
Over the next years, his idea evolved and grew, and he moved from his original premises in East London to in the city, in Finsbury Square. His sons, named Tom, Walter and Henry, took over his business when he died, and later a drinking fountain was established, by Walter, in memory of his mother, and to commemorate his father who invented the Christmas Cracker. It was also Walter who introduced the paper hats and toured the world to find new and unusual ideas for the gifts. The company also produced crackers for the Suffragettes, War Heroes, Charlie Chaplin, The Coronation and many other amazing occasions and people. Exclusive crackers are also produced and made for the Royal Family.
Very interesting ! Loving the blog!
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