The co driver wasn’t aware of these when she arrived in Australia. They are apparently unknown in the USA.
But she embraced their use from the start so every year we buy them early because they disappear quickly off the supermarket shelves.
They come in various ‘grades’ and prices depending on the contents.
This year we went for the luxury ones, not that that means much as you’ll find out reading on.
There is a traditional way of using them.
First off, each of the two participants grab each end of the cracker.
Then they pull.
A small ‘explosion’ results.
One of the participants then ends up with the bulky end of the cracker.
Inside there is a ‘gift’, a coloured paper hat and a crap dad joke question on a piece of paper.
Everyone usually oooohs and ahhhhs over the ‘gift’ which are normally pretty useless no matter what you paid and are eventually thrown away. The paper hat must then be worn and the CDJ read out.
Depending on the amount of alcohol previously consumed, these can be uproariously funny.
All very hokey but very good fun.
According to an article in our local paper (which is very amusing) origins of cracker-pulling came in 1847, invented by a guy, Tom Smith, who made bon-bon sweets. When sales started to slump, he decided to create bon-bon shaped gifts instead - with the classic “crack” element and placing trinkets inside. History says adding the party popper strip was inspired by the crackle of a log on fire. It’s also possible he was a bored small business owner and decided to play with explosives.
Either way, nice one Mr.Smith.
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