Reusable Christmas Crackers DIY
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Have you ever thought store-bought Christmas crackers are a little bit of a waste but you would still miss out on the tradition? That’s why I decided to make reusable Christmas Crackers that are “fill-your-own” and eco-friendly. These Christmas crackers are more sustainable because the traditional crackers all end up in the garbage – sadly, gifts included!
I’m going to show you two ways to make your own reusable Christmas crackers to make your Christmas a little more sustainable – and custom!
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
The Easy Christmas Crackers
The easiest way you can achieve these reusable Christmas crackers is by using fabric napkins and cardboard tubes! These aren’t as custom as the other option but they’re really easy to do PLUS if you open the crackers before dinner, you can use the napkins for the meal!
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Want to see more home decor inspiration? Tour my home dressed for the Christmas season!
The Custom Christmas Crackers
The Materials
- Fabric (half a yard makes about 6 crackers)
- Iron-on hem tape
- Iron
- Ironing Board
- Scissors
- Cardboard Tubes
- Ribbon
- Gifts for inside (see ideas below)
The Fabric
When you are trying to pick fabric for this project, it is important to think about if you want all of the reusable Christmas crackers to match or if you would like two different prints. Another thing to consider is whether or not you would like to make them reversible. If you choose the reversible option, this would allow you to pick a different theme next year!
I used three Rifle Paper Company fabrics and one that matched: The Nutcracker, Blue pattern, and Red Pattern.
The Instructions
Start by laying out your fabric and placing one of your cardboard tubes onto the fabric to decide how wide the fabric for the crackers needs to be. Allow 1/2″ extra on each end for hemming/finishing the edges. I would recommend 4.5″ (including the 1/2″ for hemming) extra on either side of the cardboard tubes for tying the ribbon.
For reference, my pieces of fabric were 13.25″ by 8.5″ (finished) and I used a 50ml tube that measures 4.5″ by 2″ round.
Cut the pieces of fabric.
Fold over the edges of the fabric about 1/2″ and add the iron-on hem tape in between the fold. Iron the fabric. This will create a finished edge because the iron-on hem tape will fuse the fabric together. Repeat this on all 4 edges.
Repeat this process will all of your fabric.
If you are making double-sided reusable Christmas crackers, place one of the finished pieces of fabric back side up. Add the iron-on hem tape along the finished edges. Place one of the other finished pieces of fabric on top, print-side up. Iron these together. This will fuse them together so you have a beautiful print on either side and only the finished edges showing. See the above photo.
Fill-Your-Own Christmas Crackers
One of my favourite things about these custom Christmas crackers is that you can fill them with thoughtful gifts everyone will love!
Buy these 50ml cardboard tubes from amazon to fill. Place your tube on your fabric so the length of the tube runs along the longest length of the fabric. Then roll your fabric around the tubes and tie the ribbon around the ends to create the Christmas cracker look.
Ideas for filling your custom Christmas Crackers:
- Chocolate/Candy
- A Joke
- Special memory of your guest
- Beauty products
- Christmas ornament
- L’Occitane Hand cream
- Mini perfume
- Silk scrunchie
- Keychain screwdriver
- Lipbalm
- Mini flashlight
- A clue to find a larger item somewhere in the house
- Novelty socks
Eco-Friendly Christmas Crackers
One of the many reasons why these reusable, fill-your-own Christmas crackers are so amazing is that they are eco-friendly. I have been to many dinners where it is fun for 30 seconds and then they are thrown away – the cracker, the toy, the hat etc. This is not only a plastic-free Christmas cracker, but it is more eco-friendly and sustainable!
Our family is making efforts to be more eco-friendly at Christmas time by picking more sustainable wrapping options such as fabric bags over wrapping paper. These custom reusable Christmas crackers are just another way that we are aiming to be sustainable and be plastic-free over the holidays.
FAQs
Fill a tube with chocolates and little gifts and wrap napkins or fabric around the tube, tie the ends with ribbon.
A joke or fun memory, chocolates/candy, makeup or mini perfume, keychain tool, mini flashlight, silk hair scrunchie, novelty socks, a clue to a bigger gift, Christmas ornament, and luxury hand cream are all ideas you could use.
A Christmas cracker is like a part favour that originated in England but now is used worldwide. They look like large candies usually with a cylinder middle and tied with ribbon on either end. They are placed on the table for Christmas meals and usually contain a joke, a paper crown, and a little gift.
