All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
47 best luxury Christmas crackers to start your festivities off with a bang
Christmas crackers have come a long way since they were invented in 1847 by sweet-maker Tom Smith. The first ones didn't even snap: they were simply a French bon bon wrapped in pretty paper. From that original ‘cracker’, they have evolved into the Christmas dinner table staple we know today. In fact, a festive table would almost look bare without a selection of the best luxury Christmas crackers adorning it.
One of the greatest joys of Christmas dinner is wearing a paper hat, telling terrible cracker jokes and seeing what gifts and trinkets everyone has found inside their cracker. So, to help everyone experience that quintessential Christmas party moment, we've tracked down the finest party crackers and luxury crackers of 2023.
Best Christmas crackers for 2023: John Lewis 12 Days of Christmas Crackers
Year in, year out, John Lewis's ‘12 Days of Christmas’ crackers are the very best of the bunch. At £28 for six, they aren't bank breakingly expensive–and unless you're hosting the entire neighbourhood, there will be something for everyone inside. Plus, the colours aren't too loud, so the set should go with most table schemes.
Best Christmas cracker gifts: Toast Christmas Crackers
Some of this year's most stylish crackers come from high street favourite, Toast. In their signature muted colour palette, these crackers are at once festive and lowkey, finished off with a very smart blue grosgrain ribbon. These particular ones are made of lokta paper–a type of paper made and printed by hand in Kathmandu. We've voted these crackers as top of the ‘best filling’ charts, as the gifts inside are genuinely lovely. There's a a brass leaf decoration, printing block, a lokta paper flower garland and more.
Best luxury Christmas crackers: Fortnum's 1707 Crackers
For true luxury, you can't get better than Fortnum and Mason's ‘1707 Crackers’. Papered in F&M's signature colours, these crackers feel really weighty and promising. These crackers stand out from the crowd thanks to their thoughtful contents: a recipe from Fortnum's cookbook, paired with a miniature kitchen utensil needed to complete the recipe. Think cinnamon and orange biscuits recipe with a cookie cutter and an ice tea recipe with a cocktail stirrer.
Best eco-friendly Christmas crackers: Forever Crackers Candy Collection Reusable Crackers
The sustainably minded amongst you are probably already aware of Forever Crackers. For those that aren't, the most important thing to know is that these crackers are made from fabric, rather than paper. Made from Italian silk and fine linen, the crackers also come with ‘bangers’ to ensure nothing is lacking from this ‘cracking’ experience. Fill them with gifts of your choosing, from mini scented candles to soaps and matches.
Best crackers for next level luxury: Bamford Christmas Cracker
More Christmas gift than cracker, Bamford's 'Christmas Cracker' is filled with five mini products. At £30 for one, it's certainly on the pricier end of the scale, but it would stand in lieu of an actual gift, making it relatively good value.
Best homeware crackers: OKA Luxury Shagreen Crackers
In an elevated twist from the usual red and green festive pairing, these OKA crackers are rendered in a smart aubergine and jewel green. Inside these smart crackers you'll find six charming items including a butter spreader and a bottle opener.
At a glance, our favourite luxury Christmas crackers are:
- Best Christmas crackers for 2023: John Lewis 12 Days of Christmas Crackers, £28
- Best luxury Christmas crackers: Fortnum's 1707 Crackers, £65
- Best for next level luxury: Bamford Christmas Cracker, £30
- Best for smart gifts: Fortnum's 1707 Crackers, £65
- Best handmade crackers: Forever Crackers Candy Collection Reusable Crackers, £70
- Best eco-friendly Christmas crackers: Forever Crackers Candy Collection Reusable Crackers, £70
- Best chocolate Christmas crackers: Melt Chocolate Christmas Crackers, £29.99
- Best Christmas cracker gifts: Toast Christmas Crackers, £42
- Best homeware crackers: OKA Luxury Shagreen Crackers
How we tested
House & Garden contributing writer, Jessica Salter, has tried and tested, reviewed and considered Christmas crackers aplenty in search of the very best Christmas cracker. She was looking for value for money, good filling and good looks. Her findings are below.
What are the best Christmas crackers to buy?
The best Christmas cracker to buy depends on whether you're after something a little more high end that will be a Christmas gift in itself, or something of similar price to a stocking filler that just adds a little sparkle to the day. If you're looking for something that's also a great gift, we recommend one of the designer Christmas crackers that contains jewellery or perfume, as these will last longer than perishable things.
How to do Christmas crackers in an eco friendly way
Happily, there are now plenty of ways to be more sustainable with your crackers. Choosing ones made from recycled or recyclable materials is a small effort but makes a big difference to the amount of waste your table decorations cause. If you want to go one step further, reusable Christmas crackers are readily available from a few UK based companies (we particularly love luxury company Forever Crackers). Wrapped in silk and linen, these contain a joke and a banger but are otherwise empty to fill up yourself.
What to put in a 'make-your-own' Christmas cracker set
There are all sorts of lovely goodies you can pop inside a cracker! If you want to make them cohesive, you can opt for a theme. A 'cocktail' theme is always a good choice. You can pop bottle openers, glass straws (though you might want to warn your guests of the filling's fragility) mini spirit bottles and champagne stoppers inside. For more cocktail gift inspiration, head to our guide. Alternatively, you could opt for a ‘baking’ theme, with cookie cutters, mini graters, measuring spoons and other bits of cookery paraphernalia. For more ideas, take a look at our gallery of great gifts for cooks. Remember, you can always bulk up the crackers with sweets or a pretty keyring to make them feel more substantial.
Best Christmas crackers 2023
We will be updating this gallery with all the very best Christmas crackers. Some of them are yearly favourites, others are the best new releases of 2023.
12 Days of Christmas Crackers, set of 12, £28 from John Lewis
Filled: Yes
Plastic Free Contents? Yes
Pack of: 12
Price: £28
Our top pick for Christmas 2022, these crackers sold out multiple times last year. Once they come into stock, move quickly if you've got your eye on them. Each cracker represents one of the days from the ‘twelve days of Christmas.’
John Lewis have been producing crackers since 1916, and its design team have a huge archive of gorgeous prints to choose from. These beautiful crackers - inspired by a design that was produced by Cavendish for John Lewis and screen printed on poplin by Stead McAlpin in 1972 - are absolutely stunning, and great value for a set of 12. The brand’s commitment to producing plastic-free crackers means these are made from uncoated card, so they can be recycled, and are tied with natural raffia. Inside the gifts are a mixture of fidget and table games to entertain all ages, including a pack of cards, miniature skittles and a yoyo, and are made from wood and metal.
Fortnum's 1707 Crackers, set of 6, £65 from Fortnum & Mason
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £65
Fortnum’s 1707 Crackers – inspired by the iconic flagship store and its signature teal and gold colours – make for a luxurious addition to your Christmas table. I loved them for the hefty weight of the paper (these are not flimsy run-of-the-mill crackers), finished off with a cheerful gold bow.
They contain genuinely useful presents, too. Along with a joke and paper crown, each cracker comes with a different mini kitchen utensil, paired with a recipe from the Fortnum cookbook. There's the white truffle toastie recipe that comes with a small grater, a recipe for courgette and thyme scones twinned with a measuring cup, and a cookie cutter that comes with instructions for cinnamon and orange biscuits. With any luck, your guests might be inspired to make you a culinary present as a thank you gift.
I also loved that everything is fully recyclable, from the crackers and the box, to the jokes and hats (apart from the ribbons, but these are easily reused on presents, or I like to tie them to the tree), meaning a little less waste at Christmas.
Luxury Shagreen Cracker, £95 from OKA
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £95
Packaged up in a smart aubergine and green finish, these crackers will surely be the perfect finishing touch for any Christmas table. The crackers come in a pack of six, and are filled with genuinely useful items, from a butter spreader to a bottle opener.
Christmas Crackers, £65 from Summerill & Bishop
Trust the best tablescapers in the business to come up with a range of beautiful Christmas crackers. Choose from their range of seven different crackers, each printed in an iconic Summerill & Bishop pattern–which means maximalists can match their tablecloth to their crackers. Inside, the winner of each cracker will receive a hat, a joke/conversation starter, and a rather mysterious ‘array of unique items’.
Undercover Red Marble Crackers, £65 from Heal's
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £65
Genuinely useful cracker presents are hard to come by, but a delight to unearth. This box of six beautifully hand marbled crackers are made in England by the independent leather makers Undercover and contain samples of their luxury leather goods, which they make using traditional methods. Inside you'll find hand made leather key ring, a leather needle case with felt pages, leather travel card holder containing iconic room scent papers, a suede envelope, a leather encased brass sharpener and pencils and a recycled leather notebook. The crackers themselves are each a different colour, meaning they will fit into any scheme, and are a reassuringly thick paper weight.
Christmas Crackers, £42 from Toast
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £42
Trust a stylish shop like Toast to come up with some of our favourite Christmas crackers of 2023. This set of crackers have been hand-assembled in Dorset from lokta paper–a sustainable 100% natural paper. The gifts are genuinely covetable too, as the crackers are filled with wonderful things like a printing block, a brass leaf decoration, a lokta paper flower garland and more. Of course, no cracker would be complete without the usual paper crown.
Marmorizzato Christmas Crackers, £48 from Tavola by Skye McAlpine
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £48
Filled with an assortment seeds and a selection of delicious recipes, Skye McAlpine's Christmas crackers are the perfect way to finish off a Christmas table. The marbled papers feel like a really luxurious treat, and the green ribbons can be reused for wrapping.
Hendrick's Gin Cracker, £30.99 from Amazon
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 1
Price: £30.99
Some crackers make great standalone presents (all wrapped up and ready to go) and this Hendrick’s Gin is one of those. A limited edition cracker that houses a 70cl bottle of Hendrick’s Gin, the illustrated red roses on the outside hint at the Bulgarian Rosa Damascena rose petals in the recipe.
While it would make a lovely individual cracker for a gin lover - after dinner cocktails are sorted - it’s also the perfect gift to have on standby in case you need to pull out an emergency festive present.
Christmas Crackers, £65 from Graham and Green
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £65
For me, Christmas is all about crafting opportunities and these Graham and Green crackers will help ameliorate the season of making. Each cracker is handmade in Dorset out of green and gold paper hand marbled in India, all tied up with a red ribbon.
Along with the prerequisite joke and crown, the crackers each contain a printing block to keep the creative juices flowing long after Christmas. Each block has been individually hand carved in India, meaning no two gifts will be the same–which fits perfectly with my vision of Christmas. Who knows, you might be inspired to hand made your thank you cards!
Party Animal Crackers, £45 from Daylesford
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £45
Nothing signals a wonderful table setting more than a set of crackers by Daylesford Organic, all neatly laid out for your guests. This year the brand has commissioned its long time collaborator, the artisan illustrator Nicholas Hughes, to draw a series of jolly animals, based on ones on the farm. Each cracker has a different farm animal - striking a festive pose - adorning the thick green card. They're printed in vegetable ink on recycled paper, and the card is made from recycled materials. My favourite is the pig in his party hat.
As expected, there are no plastic gifts inside, instead you pull to reveal a range of fun toys for all ages inside, including a yo-yo, a star-shaped cutter, a tiny grater (for your Christmas eggnog), a honey dipper, a slinky and a badge. A stylish cracker for your festive spread.
Nutcracker Character Medium Crackers, £30 from Meri Meri
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £30
Nothing says nostalgic Christmas more than the Nutcracker; my daughters love the ballet and so were delighted when I pulled out Meri Meri’s Nutcracker-themed crackers for them.
The set features six different, beautifully illustrated characters, with embellishments from golden crowns to fringed pearlescent crepe paper skirts and paper wings that make the place setting look delightful. Inside there is a joke and gold foil hat, with an an etched wooden Nutcracker character brooch, with a gold tone pin: tasteful and reusable, just how I like my Christmas to be.
Candy Collection Reusable Crackers, set of six, £70 from Forever Crackers
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £70
I adore the concept behind these refillable luxury crackers. Paper London founder Kelly Townsend was inspired to create her range of crackers by her mother, who used to make similar homemade refillable versions for her when she was a child. The result was highly personalised (but faff-free) crackers that she could pull out year after year.
Forever Crackers has a big range of colours and schemes, but I love the new-for-this-year Candy Collection: a box of six red and white striped crackers made from luxurious Italian silk and linen that will last you for years’ worth of Christmasses.
Each contains a joke, a banger and a fabric crown (also reusable), but I especially love that they are so customisable that you can add in your own heartfelt message, instead of a lame festive joke, or a personalised gift. And for those who are scared of the sound of crackers - pets and small children, for example - you can take out the bang. Plus there’s no guilt about packaging – it’s all ready to be packed away for next year and used again.
Hazel Gardiner Large Flower Crackers, set of six, £30 from Meri Meri
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £30
Fans of the floral designer Hazel Gardiner will love these centrepiece-worthy tissue paper flower designs, finished with gold scalloped edging. Just like the exuberant real-life floral displays she’s known for (she says she loves to create ‘wow’ moments), the pink, red and yellow tissue flowers burst out from their designs, and will match a multitude of colour schemes.
Inside, each cracker, which is finished with a pink velvet ribbon, contains a joke and gold paper hat along with a little wooden brooch with gold foil detail.
A Christmas Cracker Kit, £25, from Cambridge Imprint
Filled: Yes, but also fillable yourself
Pack of: 10
Price: £25
This kit contains everything you'll need to make 10 pretty Christmas crackers, wrapped in lovely printed paper. Putting these together will be just as fun as pulling them apart, so you can easily make an activity out of it. We recommend filling them with other crafty pieces from The Cambridge Imprint shop to get everything you'll need in a single shop.
I love a bit of Christmas crafting – and find it’s especially useful to have projects up my sleeve to entertain children with. There are lots of DIY crackers you can make, most of which involve saving up toilet rolls for weeks and following Pinterest tutorials. For an easier, yet still crafty option, opt for Cambridge Imprint's set, with its beautiful red patterned papers, snaps and hats and joke cards, which are left blank so you can write your own messages.
The kits contain enough paper to make about ten crackers and come with a matching paper box to store them in. I did find that the high-quality paper means that they take quite a lot of tugging when it comes to pulling them – but really, that just adds to the fun.
Christmas Jewels Luxury Candle Christmas Cracker, £55 from Chase and Wonder
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £55
A cracker filled with something your guests will really want is surprisingly hard to find. However, Chase and Wonder have come up with these clever crackers to remedy that, as each cracker conceals one of these charming scented candles.
Everyone loves a scented candle – even the hardest-to-please guests, so a box of luxury crackers filled with scented candles is a great idea for the festive table. The best thing about Chase and Wonder’s luxury Christmas crackers is that each hand-poured candle in the selection is different, with vegan friendly soy wax scents including tempting fragrances such as Tuscan Sunset, aromas of Italian bergamot, lemon, jasmine, neroli and vetiver and Flower Lady, with scents of red rose petals, cassis, wild berries and galbanum.
The Cheshire-based brand has a charming backstory that you can delight your guests with, too. Founded by husband and wife team David and Faye Aspinall, they set up their company in 2011 and hand make all their candles in their studio in Cheshire, using traditional methods.
Each cracker, which is as eco as possible with plastic free packaging, comes with a candle, snap, crown and joke.
Please note, these crackers are not yet available.
The Fife Arms Luxury Christmas Crackers by McLean of Braemar, set of six, £145 from The Fife Arms
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £145
For those who really value craft – as I do – the set of crackers hand selected for Fife Arms (owned by Iwan and Manuela Wirth, leading international art gallery Hauser & Wirth) are the ones to invest in. The whole of the Fife Arms’ Christmas offering celebrates British, and mostly Scottish, craftspeople, from ornamental wooden sleighs to felted animal decorations. The luxury handmade crackers, which come as a set of six and are presented in a beautiful gift ‘heirloom’ box which can be repurposed to store decorations, follow suit.
Each cracker is decorated in the Fife Arms’ house tartan and contains a horn item, including a egg spoon, key ring, bottle stopper or an olive pick, hand crafted from sustainable red deer antler collected from the estates surrounding the hotel and made by the family McLean of Braemar, based in Braemar in the Cairngorms. Also inside is a Scottish poem by Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Burns or Lord Byron, chosen to reflect the hotel’s Scottish roots.
Christmas Crackers, £29.99 from Melt Chocolate
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £29.99
Giving the gift of chocolate at Christmas is a sure-fire winner and you can easily serve up Melt’s Chocolate crackers instead of petit fours at your Christmas lunch. Melt are a cut above the rest with their organic, fair trade luxury chocolate–and the design, inspired by Roy Lichenstein (this year would have been his 100th birthday) is new for 2023.
Each cracker contains a hat, motto and three delicious bonbons, including a dark soft-centred gianduga, decorated with gold leaf (my favourite), a gold-dusted Christmas spiced milk chocolate and a white chocolate and cranberry. All the packaging is eco-friendly and plastic-free, as we should all insist for any Christmas cracker.
Bamford Christmas Cracker, £30 from Bamford
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 1
Price: £30
If you’ve ever stayed in a Daylesford property and used their sister company Bamford’s luxurious range of beauty items, this cracker will surely excite you as much as it does me.
Inside this heavy-weight cracker, tied with two bows on either end, is a luxury beauty gift set from Bamford containing five of their best-selling hand and body washes in signature geranium, rose, jasmine, citrus and sage – each 50ml and all the products are organic and suitable for vegetarians.
This luxurious cracker makes a great, ready-wrapped present on its own, or, if you’re splashing out, a really indulgent set for the Christmas dinner table that will please even the most hard-to-buy-for guest. It is a true spa experience tied up in a bow.
Christmas Joy Large Crackers, £20 from Emma Bridgewater
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £20
Emma Bridgewater's designs are instantly recognisable and we have no doubt that these charming Robin-adorned crackers would look great on a Christmas table. At £20 for a set of six, these crackers are on the more affordable end of the spectrum. However, that price belies the luxury feel of them, with their solid weight and nicely printed card finish. Each of the gifts inside is made from wood, helping to improve the crackers sustainability creds–there's no plastic tat here!
Christmas Ivy Premium Crackers, £25 from Emma Bridgewater
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £25
With their smart gold ribbons and card with a brilliant sheen, these Emma Bridgewater crackers feel really luxurious. They've been rendered in a classic Christmas colour scheme of red, gold and green, making them an excellent finishing touch to any Christmas table.
Fortnum's Winter Green Crackers, £295 from Fortnum and Mason
Filled: Yes
Plastic Free Contents? Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £295
Perfect for adding a little Fortnum's luxury to your Christmas table. Inside these beautiful, luxurious crackers you'll find a paper crown, a joke and a gift.
Christmas Crackers with Reindeer Game, £15 from Marks and Spencer
Filled: Yes
Plastic Free Contents? Yes
Pack of: 12
Price: £15
A family friendly cracker set that's as much fun as it is good looking.
Fortnum and Mason Georgian Christmas Crackers
Filled: Yes
Plastic Free Contents? Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £65
Each of these crackers contains a party hat, joke and a recipe from the Fortnum and Mason cookbook, as well as a kitchen utensil to use whilst you cook! Beyond that, every cracker has a 'foodie' based gift inside. Even better, both the crackers and the box they come in are fully recyclable - down to the hats and jokes inside.
Christmas Crackers With Foliage Design, £45 from Daylesford
Filled: Yes
Plastic Free Contents? Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £45
These incredibly charming crackers are from everyone's favourite farm shop, Daylesford. Perfect for the whole family, they'll make the perfect addition to any festive table. Inside, you'll find lovely gifts such as British flower seeds (which are annually flowering, great pollinators and easy to grow on any soil), a children’s wooden beaded bracelet, wooden yoyo and more.
Christmas Party Animal Crackers, £45 from Daylesford
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £45
Luxury ‘Gilty’ Pleasures Christmas Crackers, £750 from Harrods
Filled: Yes
Pack of: 6
Price: £750