Luxury Christmas Crackers: How to Choose a Set Worth Setting the Table For
Christmas dinner is a performance, and the crackers are one of the few parts of the table that everyone interacts with.
They sit there throughout the meal, part decoration, part tradition, waiting for that inevitable moment when conversation stops, arms cross the table and somebody starts counting down from three.
Which is why we think the box you choose matters rather more than you might expect.
At Angela Reed, we have been choosing things for people’s homes since 1880. Christmas has changed quite a bit in that time, but our approach to buying hasn’t. We look for pieces that are well designed, beautifully made and earn their place in your home.
Christmas crackers are no exception.
So, what should you actually look for when choosing them?
What makes a Christmas cracker feel special?
Price alone certainly doesn’t do it.
For us, a good Christmas cracker starts long before anyone pulls it. It should contribute something to the table while everyone is still sitting down.
1. Start with the design
Think of your crackers as part of the table setting rather than something you add at the end.
If you are laying a traditional Christmas table, rich reds, greens and golds can work beautifully. A quieter table might suit natural kraft paper, foliage and softer colours. And there is always room for something playful, particularly if children are joining you.
Our current Christmas collection reflects exactly that.
The Santa’s Sleigh Crackers are unapologetically festive, with deep midnight blue, red ribbon and an illustrated Christmas scene.
The Deluxe Holly Christmas Crackers take the traditional red and green Christmas palette and make it feel fresh, while the Luxury Kraft Robin Christmas Crackers are softer and more natural, with their illustrated robins, foliage and gingham ribbon.
And then there are the Gruffalo Crackers, because not every Christmas table needs to take itself terribly seriously.
2. Look at them from across the table
This is something people often forget.
A cracker spends considerably longer being looked at than it does being pulled.
Step back and think about the whole table. Your plates, glasses, napkins, candles, greenery and crackers should feel as though they belong together, without everything having to match.
The easiest way to achieve that is to choose a simple palette and repeat it.
Our Luxury Kraft Robin Christmas Crackers, for example, combine natural kraft tones with green foliage, flashes of red and gingham ribbon. You could pick up just one or two of those details elsewhere on the table: red berries tucked into greenery, a natural linen napkin or a simple red ribbon.
You don't need to decorate every available inch.
In fact, we'd argue the opposite.
3. Consider who is actually sitting at the table
There is no single “best” Christmas cracker because Christmas tables aren't all the same.
Six adults sitting down to a beautifully laid Christmas lunch might call for something rather different from a table full of children.
For a traditional Christmas Day table, we love the Santa's Sleigh, Deluxe Holly and Luxury Kraft Robin designs.
For a family table with younger guests, the Gruffalo Crackers bring some fun to proceedings without abandoning the styling altogether.
And if you are hosting a larger gathering, pay attention to pack size as well as price. Our crackers come in different quantities, so work out how many people will actually be sitting down before comparing boxes.
What should you spend on Christmas crackers?
A useful way to compare crackers is to forget the price of the box for a moment and calculate the price per person.
For example, our current collection includes:
| Christmas crackers | Pack size | Price* |
|---|---|---|
| Santa's Sleigh Crackers | 6 | £24.99 |
| Deluxe Holly Christmas Crackers | 6 | £23.50 |
| Luxury Kraft Robin Christmas Crackers | 6 | £18.95 |
| Gruffalo Crackers | 6 | £19.99 |
*Prices shown at the time of writing and may change.
That makes it much easier to compare what you are actually spending on each place setting.
It also means you can decide where you want to spend more. You might choose your favourite crackers for Christmas Day and something simpler for a large Boxing Day gathering.
There are no rules requiring every meal between 24 December and New Year's Day to look like the cover of a magazine.
How to style Christmas crackers on the table
Once you've chosen them, resist the urge to add everything else in the Christmas cupboard.
A beautiful cracker can do quite a lot of the decorative work itself.
Lay one across or just above each place setting and then build the rest of the table around it. Greenery running through the centre works particularly well with our Holly and Robin designs, while candlelight will bring out metallic and decorative details as the afternoon turns into evening.
And give everything some room.
If you are hosting a crowd, an extending dining table can be one of the most useful pieces of furniture you own. Our Cannes Dining Table and Newland Reclaimed Extending Dining Table both give you the flexibility to create a generous Christmas table without making the dining room feel dominated by it for the other 364 days of the year.
Once the plates have been cleared, bringing cakes, cheese or mince pies back to the table is an easy way to move from lunch into that lovely, slightly chaotic part of Christmas afternoon when nobody is entirely sure whether the meal has finished. A Wooden Cake Stand and Cloche works particularly well here and, unlike most Christmas decorations, earns its place throughout the year.
Which Christmas crackers would we choose?
That depends entirely on the table.
For traditional Christmas, we'd choose the Santa's Sleigh Crackers.
For classic red and green, the Deluxe Holly Christmas Crackers.
For something softer and more natural, we'd go for the Luxury Kraft Robin Christmas Crackers.
And for a family Christmas with children, the Gruffalo Crackers are difficult to resist.
That's the advantage of choosing the cracker as part of the table rather than treating it as an afterthought. You can choose the one that works with the Christmas you are actually having.
Why an independent shop is worth asking
We've been choosing things for homes since 1880, so we've seen rather a lot of Christmas tables in our time.
A good cracker has to do more than look beautiful in the box. It needs to earn its place on the table.
We look at the things that actually matter: how it looks alongside your tableware, the details that make it feel special and, ultimately, whether we think it is worth its price.
Because there is a considerable difference between something that simply says “luxury” on the packaging and something that actually makes your Christmas table feel special.
The short version
Choose your Christmas crackers in much the same way you choose everything else for the table.
Think about who is coming, how you want the table to feel, how many you need and what you are spending per person. Then choose a design good enough to become part of the decoration in its own right.
After all, they may only last until somebody shouts “three, two, one…”
But for a few hours before that, they're very much part of the room.
