Crackers for Christmas!

Today we made a visit to Auntie Jay at her Orchard learning studios, where she showed us how to make special individual Christmas crackers for the two Aj's to open after Christmas dinner.  Sometimes I find that cracker prizes are unsuitable for young children, and I didn't think it would be worth buying a special pack of crackers just for the two of them, so this seemed a perfect idea.  For inside I chose a chocolate coin, a crayon and a small toy, and the usual hats and jokes included too!

I was quite surprised as I thought homemade would involve toilet roll tubes, but there were none in sight.  Arthur's first job was to pick the paper for both his and Alyssa's, which was then perforated to make sure it tore easily.  Then he helped lay the hats and jokes on top before it was rolled up around a plastic tube and Jay glued it shut.  Next he had to help Jay pull the string to create the crinkled end parts of the crackers, which he greatly enjoyed.  Jay then used the the glue gun to add some special decorative touches that Arthur helped choose.

I feel inspired to make more next year with the children as it was so easy and can be personalised however you like, I was also giving the idea to hide treasure hunt clues in them, and idea for Easter maybe?

"Elfie"

Ready to roll!

Ooooh glue gun!

PUUUUUULLLLLLLLL!!!

Ready for the final touches!

Ready for Christmas day!