I decided against crackers - bought ones were either cheap, tacky and full of plastic, or they were eco friendly, stylish and pricey. Then as I was returning the library books on Friday I found an interesting book by the checkout point [I had to go into town - the mobile van has broken down, so Book-Mark didn't come on Thursday after all]
Zero Waste Christmas is full of lovely ideas,grouped in four themes- Skandi, Hot, Frosty and Retro, and is published by David&Charles, a reliable source of craft books. Rosie and I spent an hour or so on Friday afternoon making piñatica as an alternative to crackers.
Rosie knew about piñata - the popular Mexican hanging decoration, usually filled with sweets, which is hit with a stick till it breaks, spilling the contents. Piñatica are much smaller. Based on an octahedron, and made of recycled card,trimmed with tissue paper. I drew out the template* with pencil, ruler and compasses. Here's what we made for the six of us to have at Christmas Lunch.Ours are covered with random tissue shapes, not neat strips of fringing. She's only 6, and time was of the essence.We inserted two chocolate coins and a joke into each little box before sealing it up, and tying on a label. Rosie provided the jokes, which I typed onto the computer and we cut into strips and concertina-ed into tiny squares.
You can easily open the piñatica by squashing it flat, or by ripping apart one of the seams.
Here are Rosie's jokes
Who delivers
presents to baby sharks at Christmas?
Santa Jaws!
What do you
get if you cross Santa with a duck?
A Christmas
Quacker
What did the
snowman eat for his lunch?
An
Ice-burger
What did Mrs
Claus say to Santa?
It looks
like rain, dear
What do cats
and dogs call Father Christmas?
Santa Paws
and her favourite, she says...
What is the best Christmas present in the world?
A broken drum… you just can’t beat it
With time and effort, and without help from a child, I think I could make some very pretty table favours using this idea. I may blog some of the other ideas from this book, its full of fun stuff - and many could be adapted for non-Xmas events.
Meanwhile, in Manchester, Pirate George clutched his gold coins, muttering happily "My treasure!"... he didn't realise there was chocolate inside! How long before he finds out?
*I realised later I could have logged into the D&D website and downloaded the template in minutes
My daughter and I enjoyed Rosie's jokes!
ReplyDeletePulling crackers at Christmas is not a big tradition over here. I have a box of crackers I bought years ago - I set them out as a decoration every year, and they go back in their original box at the end of Christmas to be taken out the following year! I can't quite remember when I bought them, but, it was before 2000! :D
The "bang" inside has probably died by now. I bought a big pack of bangs one year, having been asked to teach a large seniors group how to make their own crackers. I had 10 snaps left, which I kept and used for the family crackers the following year. Every single one failed to bang when pulled!! These are a bizarrely British tradition
DeleteMy grandson and I made our crackers, admittedly from a kit, but it was fun finding silly jokes and putting teeny presents in. We used a plain paper kit with no tinsel. Oddly, the instructions stated 'This paper is made from trees'.
ReplyDeleteOh it is fun to make your own! I'm sure your grandson enjoyed crafting with you
DeleteWhat a good idea, and lovely that it was something that you could make together.
ReplyDeleteI used to always buy my boys 'treasure' to go in the bottom of their stockings. It would end up as cargo in new cars, money encased in Lego banks and generally played with long after Christmas before the chocolate was ever eaten. Thanks for the memories. xx
I was intrigued that Poundland had gold coins, silver coins, rainbow unicorn coins, and poker chips!!
DeleteLooks a great book
ReplyDeleteLots of fun ideas
DeleteA sweet idea!! I was originally going to ask you if you might make eco-friendly Christmas hats for your stall (sorry, STILL haven't got around to sending the parcel!). We got some cute ones from our local Refill shop!
ReplyDeleteYour pinatas are a cute idea!! Xx
I look forward to the parcel in January!
DeleteI saw expensive Christmas crackers for sale a few weeks before Christmas, and balked at the idea of squandering money on them while other people can't even afford food without help from a food bank. The contents are just more junk to get rid of. I love the idea of the Piñaticas, or any home made crackers. It must have been fun for you and Rosie to surprise the family with the piñaticas. We didn't have the family with us due to my nasty cold and DH still having the remains of his, but we had an easy festive meal from the freezer, just not turkey!
ReplyDeleteThey are really just trivia. Sorry your family has had health issues - but glad your freezer has food in it. So many this year have had no family around and little food to celebrate
DeleteYou are so amazingly creative! Once I looked into making crackers ( around a toilet roll base) and discovered there is a place in our little town where they make the bangerstrips!
ReplyDeleteI forgot to put my name on my comment. Just wanted to say this was a brilliant craft idea.
ReplyDeleteI looked into making home made crackers ( around toilet rolls) and was amazed to see that there is a place in our little town which makes the banger strips!
JanF
That's a great find. But do see my comment above - they do not keep well!!
DeleteYour creativity is brilliant and I loved the jokes Rosie provided!
ReplyDeleteHugs!
👍😉🌲
DeleteSo fun that you could make them together with Rosie, and I loved her jokes!
ReplyDeleteShe has just started to understand jokes, and loves wordplay. But she will try and explain them to us if she thinks we do not appear to find them funny
Deletethat's such a neat thing. I normally buy Christmas crackers in the sales, but I think I like that idea better.
ReplyDeleteAll recycled so less wasts
Delete