Hello and Welcome to the second instalment of my sustainable Christmas Guide. Today we're making plastic free crackers! There are a few different ways to make zero waste or plastic free crackers, and you can buy them (links at the end of the post) but this method uses brown paper and toilet paper tubes. It's super easy and best done while dancing around to Christmas tunes!

Conventional crackers are generally not recyclable, like wrapping paper, any paper that is shiny or glittery contaminates paper in the recycling process so they just end up in landfill. Plus most crackers are full of plastic crap that only ever gets used on Christmas before ending up in the bin and producing so much unnecessary waste. And so today we're making crackers that are fun for Christmas day and are made of biodegradable and recyclable materials so they won't create massive amounts of pollution.

I've also got a video with instructions on how to make it if you prefer your media in that form! Keep scrolling for the instructions.
What you'll need:
  • Brown Paper
  • Toilet Roll Tubes (one for each cracker you're making)
  • Cracker Snaps
  • Twine
  • Tape - Ideally biodegradable paper tape
  • Things to go in your crackers (we used origami, paper planes, leftover temporary tattoos and charades cards)
  • Decorations for your crackers (we used cardboard boxes to cut into shapes)


1. Tape Cracker snap inside of your toilet paper tube
Make sure that the snap is sticking out evenly on each side of the tube and only tape it in one place to ensure it will snap properly.
2. Cut your brown paper and tape cracker snap to it
Your paper needs to be able to go all the way around your tube and come out of each end enough to be tied (exactly how much is up to you). I also taped each side of the cracker snap to the paper to make sure it stayed secure and to make it easier to pull.
3. Insert your cracker presents
Make sure you roll up anything big so it properly fits inside the tube. Some great plastic free gifts include origami, silly jokes, Christmas hats. You can also personalise them super easily!
4. Roll your paper up and tie up the ends
Roll the paper around the tube and then tape it shut. The ends are ready to tie up, I made sure to tie a knot before tying the bow to keep it all secure


6. Decorate
Here you can let your creative juices flow! We used old carboard boxes cut into christmassy shapes and painted to stick on the outside of the crackers but you can do whatever you want. Some great ideas include upcycling scrabble letters to put people's initials on, going foraging to find leaves and pieces of pine or holly.

You could even decorate your paper before you make the crackers, something like potato stamping would be the perfect kids holiday activity!
So there you have it, super simple, pretty quick, and also really cheap way to make your own crackers this Christmas and be as sustainable as possible! It really surprised me how easy this was to do, and they look super cute!
Want to buy them instead?
There are a few places online now that are doing their own plastic free christmas crackers so here are a few you can buy:
These are affiliate links
Hope you've found this helpful, do let me know if you make your own! Tag me on instagram so I can see your amazing crafts (@muccycloud). Stay tuned for more on having a sustainable christmas!

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