DIY Christmas Crackers (with tutorial)

DIY Christmas Crackers

This past Christmas I wanted to use my collection of vintage pink pyrex 

serving dishes and since it seemed very difficult to find pink crackers 

I decided to make my own. I will make an effort here to share how I did it.

I cut cardboard wrapping paper tubes to the size I wanted (4 inches) and made smaller
 tubes(2 inches) to use as stiffeners for  the ends while attaching the paper (they are
 removed after rolling). I cut the paper 10 inches long and wide enough to overlap
slightly on the cardboard tube(4 inches for the main part-4 inches for the end
parts and 2 extra inches to make room for tying).

I made a 2 inch cardboard template to fold the paper over so that the
inside of the rolls would look finished (I will admit that I might be a little ocd)

A glue gun works well for sealing the paper but if

 you don't have one you could just use scotch tape.

You can make your own paper hats or purchase them. I followed a pattern 

from a hat I had kept from a commercial cracker. You can make it entirely 

with tissue paper. I used silver wrapping paper for the front half of mine. 

You need to fold it small to fit in the cracker.

I thought maybe I could put the treats in before wrapping but it didn't
work well. It is best to put the treats in after tying one end. After
you have filled the tubes tie the other end tight with the ribbon or twine.

The cracker jokes were found  HERE.

I printed them to match my theme and laminated them with self-laminating sheets from Staples.

 I also made small bookmarks the same way. Normal size bookmarks
were too big for my crackers. It's a good idea to use the smaller end
tubes and gently push to make the paper shape before tying.
There are patterns out there for cutting card stock to make
crackers that fold easier as well.

A good idea is to put a dot of glue under
 the cracker snap at each end so that
 when the cracker is pulled it pops.

I used my decorative punches to make borders on pink vellum (a 1 inch piece for each

 end and a 2 inch piece for the middle section) and to make snowflakes from silver 

glitter paper. The papers came from Michaels. The snowflakes were finished with
an adhesive backed faux rhinestone(dollarama).  The vellum and the snowflakes
 were then glued onto the front of the cracker

Pink and Silver Christmas Cracker

A place setting Including DIY place cards.

The idea came from HERE.

The finished Pink table

Have Fun Creating!