Inside a Christmas cracker making factory

Britons will pull 300 million crackers this year, although few realise that it is a home-grown tradition, invented by English confectioner, Tom Smith in 1847, whose first cracker creation was a paper wrapped bonbon sweet. Now Kim Lam, creative director of Celebration Crackers keeps the tradition alive by producing two million crackers a year, many of them rolled, tied and filled by hand, for supermarkets, office parties and luxury brands from Selfridges to Claridge’s hotel. Even the Queen is said to be a fan. Ms Lam tells Sarah Rainey what the Key to the perfect cracker joke is, “You don’t want anything too good -- it’s got to be a bad joke,“ she says. “You need something that gets the children giggling and has the grown-ups sitting round the table going, ’Uurrgghh...’“ Celebration Crackers has served a number of royals, and is this year sending truffle-filled crackers to Highgrove, the Prince of Wales’s estate. The Queen, meanwhile, is said to like musical crackers containing penny whistles. At Kim’s factory, crackers range from 40p to £1,000 for a box of six (these, for Fortnum & Mason, are covered in crushed velvet, filled with silver gifts, quilted hats, and presented in a walnut casket). They’re not just for Christmas, either; she makes spooky Hallowe’en crackers, red ones for St Valentine’s Day and crackers for pets, filled with dog biscuits and a paper “Bang!“ so the animals aren’t spooked by the snap. “We’ve even done engagement crackers with a ring inside.“ Get the latest headlines Subscribe to The Telegraph Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Google and are websites of The Daily Telegraph, the UK’s best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.