CHRISTMAS CRACKERS.

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 72, 18 December 1928, Page 47 (Supplement)

CHRISTMAS CRACKERS.

Decorating the T able.

This season Christmas crackers may be divided into three classes, of which the familiar long coloured cracker, containing caps or toys, is the most important. The comical crackers for children’s parties and the beautiful crackers used for table decorations are more interesting. Of the last, some of the most fascinating are mounted on three wire feet and have the appearance of a butterfly hovering over a rose. These crackers are in pale pink or deep red with green foliage, and have a little china face in the heart of the rose. There are, too, crackers in pale blue and white, deep yellow, heliotrope, green, and many colour combinations. They contain the usual cap and a miniature gift, but their primary purpose is decoration, and they cost from 15s. to about 355. a dozen. A table centre of crackers is made of ruched pink crepe in the form of a sedan chair. It stands some twenty or more inches high, and can be illuminated with an electric lamp. There are thirty-six pink crackers contained in the chair, which is festooned with sprays of mauve blossom. Another effective cracker centre is a Japanese canoe containing a doll with a sunshade, but it is small and quaint rather than beautiful. There are, however, a ship with frosted sails, a silver bell, and a basket of roses, each of which is a pretty decoration for the centre of the table.

For children’s parties there is the Christmas-tree made of crackers, a boar’s head, a turkey, a plum pudding, and a champagne bottk, all of which contain crackers and are manipulated by strings, which, when simultaneously pulled by the little guests, cause a loud report and a distribution of gifts. Father Christmas, with a sack of toys, a clown, and a curious black-and-yellow racehorse, can also be seen, ready to do duty as the centre of attraction at the parties and to be pulled into pieces by the guests. These large centre-pieces have usually to be supplemented by ordinary crackers, for the success of a children’s party usually depends upon a generous supply of material for hand-to-hand explosions. A very useful cracker for decoration is in the form of a cotton-wool snowball with holly and red berries, and a curiosity in crackers is an imitation of a bloater. Apart from all these novelties it is possible to make an effective setting for the table with ordinary crackers. Most of them are made of gelatine on coloured paper, and can be found in gold, scarlet, blue, green, and all the colours of the rainbow. There are crackers six feet long and others no bigger than a little finger, but the choice for the table decorations usually lies between the two extremes.