Britons will pull 300 million crackers this year, although few realise that it is a home-grown tradition, invented by English confectioner, Tom Smith in 1847, whose first cracker creation was a paper wrapped bonbon sweet.
Now Kim Lam, creative director of Celebration Crackers keeps the tradition alive by producing two million crackers a year, many of them rolled, tied and filled by hand, for supermarkets, office parties and luxury brands from Selfridges to Claridge's hotel. Even the Queen is said to be a fan.
Ms Lam tells Sarah Rainey what the Key to the perfect cracker joke is, "You don't want anything too good -- it's got to be a bad joke," she says. "You need something that gets the children giggling and has the grown-ups sitting round the table going, 'Uurrgghh...'"
Celebration Crackers has served a number of royals, and is this year sending truffle-filled crackers to Highgrove, the Prince of Wales's estate. The Queen, meanwhile, is said to like musical crackers containing penny whistles.
At Kim's factory, crackers range from 40p to £1,000 for a box of six (these, for Fortnum & Mason, are covered in crushed velvet, filled with silver gifts, quilted hats, and presented in a walnut casket). They're not just for Christmas, either; she makes spooky Hallowe'en crackers, red ones for St Valentine's Day and crackers for pets, filled with dog biscuits and a paper "Bang!" so the animals aren't spooked by the snap. "We've even done engagement crackers with a ring inside."
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