Crackers! We are all crackers!

Tom Smith…. he is responsible for crackers and its just a wonderful small business story.  Tom Smith was a baker and confectioner from London.  In the 1840s he was making wedding cakes and sweets.  During a trip to Paris, he discovered these little bon bons which were sugared almonds wrapped in a piece of tissue paper and like most creative entrepreneurs, he had a go at making his own.  They proved very popular especially at christmas and to ensure they had some long lasting appeal, he started adding a little love motto or message in the paper and sold them all year round.  

Clever old Tom patented his cracker design in 1847 and worked on a crack sound when you pull the cracker and his son Walter worked on the paper hats and small toys.  By the 1890s Tom was employing over 2000 people (including women) and in a brand new premises big enough for his new business. The crackers and hats were made by hand.

Tom Smith's novelty crackers became a record of social and political events in British history and also a way to see what the changing commercial design world looked like. By the 1920s, Tom Smith's crackers were advertised as "World Renowned Christmas Crackers. No party complete without them".   The Second World War caused paper rationing and a restriction on the manufacture of cracker snaps, but the industry recovered.   Tom Smith & Co. was making 30,000 crackers a week by the 1960s.

Today the Tom Smith brand continues to produce luxury crackers, including special crackers for the Royal Household, although the designs and contents are a closely guarded secret.

My crackers reflect my love of handmade.  They are simple white crackers which can come to you directly to 'inflate' (possibly the easiest flat pack creation ever!) or they can go directly to your special person already made up and stuffed!  The crackers are big enough to fit a small earring jewellery box or a pair of stud earrings or necklace wrapped in tissue paper.  They are too small for bangles I am afraid.  

I've been working very hard at filling them, and I'm sorry to say that I have not made the party hats by hand, but there is a party hat, there is also a christmas joke in there….  blame Small and Mr H - these are their best jokes!  I've also included a small wax melt for you.  Last year I went to a wonderful candle making course with Miller and Ward - a small business run by 2 amazing women who are cousins.  Their course was such a lot of fun, again another locally run course at Reef House where the whole point was to melt something  - a different experience to my jewellery courses! I chose the fresh linen scent and the ones I have tested at home make me feel like I live in a laundry but the house smells lovely.

There is a small charge for the crackers, but I think they are well worth it if you don't like wrapping things up or if you want to buy a small pair of stud earrings and want to make it more of an experience.  I only have a limited amount of crackers, so do be quick if you want to gift one.  Click here to go directly to the listing on my website.

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