A humorous history of the Christmas cracker joke

Love them or hate them, no festive feast would be complete without a few Christmas cracker jokes. A great way to get the family laughing – or groaning – these classic quips will help to get your Christmas lunch off to the perfect start.

If you’d like to know a little more about this festive fixture, we’re taking a closer look at the history of Christmas cracker jokes and some of the best, and worst of the season.

The first cracker

The first Christmas crackers were produced by London sweet maker Tom Smith in the mid-19^th century. He got the idea for the festive treat after seeing cracker-shaped bon bon sweets for sale in France. The entrepreneur decided to recreate the pretty look of the sweet and, to give the product a unique twist, he included a motto or riddle in each packet. The Christmas cracker joke therefore, was an integral part of the first incarnation of the cracker.

However, the sweets didn’t sell well. Legend has it that, after seeing sparks fly from his fireplace, Smith was inspired to add the distinctive ‘crack’ to the confectionary. This made the treats a lot more attractive to sweet-toothed customers and soon they were flying off the shelves. One of Smith’s sons decided to add a hat to the cracker and soon gifts were included in the package as well.

Longest cracker pull

The record for the longest ever chain of people to simultaneously pull a Christmas was set in 2015 when 1081 pupils from the Harrodian School in London popped their crackers at the same time. We can only imagine how long it took the school children to read out over a thousand classic cracker quips.

The world’s longest single cracker was made by pupils at Ley Hill School in Buckinghamshire in 2001. The monster cracker was a staggering 63.1 metres long and 4m wide. It contained a choice of balloons, toys, a hat that measured 2.5m in diameter and, of course, a joke.

Classic Christmas crackers

To help get you in the festive spirit, we’re taking a looking at some classic Christmas cracker jokes. Can you get to the end without cracking a smile? We doubt it.

Why was the snowman looking through the carrots?

He was picking his nose

What did Adam say the day before Christmas?

"It's Christmas Eve"

What does Santa suffer from if he gets stuck in a chimney? 

Claustrophobia

What do you get if you eat Christmas decorations?

Tinsillitis

What do snowmen wear on their heads?

Ice caps

What does Miley Cyrus have for her Christmas dinner?

Twerky

Why are Christmas trees very bad at knitting?

Because they always drop their needles

If you just can’t get enough of Christmas jokes, take a look at our Facebook page and chuckle till Boxing Day.