Christmas crackers make a great addition to the festivities with silly jokes, surprise treats, and gifts. They also make beautiful table decorations. But if you are trying to have a sustainable Christmas celebration, then you know that only eco-friendly Christmas crackers will do.
To make the search for the best eco-friendly Christmas cracker easier for you, we rounded up 16 of the best eco-friendly Christmas cracker brands.
Note: A confectioner named Tom Smith invented Christmas crackers in London in the 1800s. Since they’ve become a popular feature around Christmas tables across the UK and the Commonwealth, however, they aren’t nearly as popular in the US, and if you’re reading in the US and would like to join in, please note that most of our listings below are UK based. Therefore, check shipping and timings to reach stateside in time for Christmas dinner.
Merry Xmas! Meanwhile, check out our ideas and tips for a zero-waste Christmas. We also have a great rundown of eco-friendly stocking stuffers perfect for stockings and under your eco-friendly Christmas tree. M6 recyclable and plastic-free Christmas crackers
Quick links to the best sustainable Xmas crackers featured:
The UK-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has an impressive pair of eco-friendly Christmas crackers. These crackers contain goodies like vegan fairtrade chocolate and palm oil free.
In an RSPB cracker, you'll also find a paper hat, a joke, a bird fact, and a paper with origami instructions. There is a pre-discount if you are buying two boxes in one go.
What we like
You can avoid plastic waste while sticking to traditions this year. RSPB offers 100% plastic-free Christmas crackers, plastic-free gifts, and plastic-free packaging. The packaging is recycled cardboard, and it is recyclable.
The cons
There are only two design choices for RSPB crackers, which might be a problem if you want many different designs.
Graham and Green have quite a collection of eco-Christmas crackers. There are pet-friendly crackers without noisy snaps, nutcracker-shaped crackers, botanical designs, and so much more. The gift may be a game card or wine charm; you just pick one that would suit your Christmas guests.
What we like
Graham and Green manage to design for diverse tastes and still maintain an offering of plastic-free and recyclable Christmas crackers.
The cons
No recycled paperboard or materials are used in these crackers.
Dunelm offers various designs of eco-friendly Christmas crackers, from dinosaur crackers to luxury geometric ones. Any of those would add style and fun to your dinner table.
These crackers are filled with plastic-free goodies made from metal, like rules, keychains, bottle openers, nail cutters, etc., or they have paper games that kids can play repeatedly.
What we like
Every Christmas cracker you buy from Dunelm is fully recyclable, even the packaging. You just have to separate the raffia ribbons from the foil and paper.
The cons
There is no mention of recycled materials in these Christmas crackers.
If your family is enthusiastic about gardening or your gardening club is having a Christmas dinner, a Blooming eco-friendly Christmas cracker would make a memorable gift. They contain paper hats, a joke, and a packet of flower and vegetable seeds.
What we like
They make Blooming crackers with recycled post-consumer paper and tie them up with raffia ribbon. You can recycle or compost them. Also, the glassine bags the seeds come in are biodegradable.
The cons
These crackers are more suitable for gardening enthusiasts than just anyone.
This brand has an impressive collection of plastic-free eco-friendly Christmas crackers. Besides the hats and jokes, Marks and Spencer offer crackers with game cards, kids’ paper games, or metal items like carabiners, cookie cutters, mini whisks, etc.
What we like
With games you can play all year long and functional mini tools, you won't have to throw anything in the trash from this Christmas cracker. Marks and Spencer’s 100% recyclable Christmas crackers are made from wood sourced from FSC-certified forests.
The cons
Nothing in these crackers is recycled; they all use virgin materials.
Buy Marks and Spencer crackers
If your taste is for luxury Christmas crackers, Wrendale has the perfect plastic-free eco-Christmas crackers for you. They have filled each cracker and put a joke, a paper hat, and a domed glass Christmas magnet gift.
What we like
A Wrendale Christmas cracker is free from plastic gifts. It is unclear what material the ribbons are made from, but they are high quality, so that you can save them for crafts projects.
The Little Green Cracker Company offers handmade eco-friendly Christmas crackers filled with plastic-free tea bags, fragrant tea lights, shampoo bars, flower seeds, and so on. Each gift is from some small business based in the UK.
What we like
To make its sustainable Christmas crackers, the little green cracker company uses recycled paperboard when it can. They decorate each cracker with raffia ribbons or eco-friendly Tencel and ship in sustainable packaging.
The cons
Since these crackers are not reusable, it would be better for the environment if they were always made with paper that’s been recycled.
This UK brand creates luxury handmade eco-friendly crackers. There are no plastic gifts in its packaging. The brand has a large and lovely selection of crackers for children and adults. The gift could be a wooden bracelet, a cookie cutter, or a wooden honey drizzler.
What we like
Nancy and Betty partner with One Tree Planted to plant a tree for every box it sells. Additionally, they only use vegetable-based inks for printing. If you take the fabric bow off, you can recycle the empty crackers and the box they come in.
The cons
This cracker uses non-recyclable or biodegradable fabric bows instead of raffia or other more eco-friendly materials.
Eco-friendly Christmas crackers but make it elegant. This brand offers Christmas crackers in white, blue, green, purple, red, grey, kraft brown, and black. Each cracker comes with UK wildflower seeds, a hat, a joke, and a charm to add to a keychain or upcycle into a book marker.
MsClaus offers alternative gifts of vegan sweets and chocolates, coloring pencils, etc. you just have to special-order them.
What we like
MsClaus Workshop uses recycled paper; even the tag and twine ties are paper. You can add the cracker material to your backyard compost when the celebration is done.
The cons
Wildflower seeds may not make great gifts for your friends and family, with no space or opportunity for gardening.
Handmade from post-consumer paper waste in the UK, this six-pack cracker has the essential hats and jokes but also comes with eco-friendly gifts. The Floral box has six different wildflower seeds.
For the Classic box, the gifts are organic pepper seeds, a lavender mini soap bar, a loofah sponge, plantable tree decorations, a reusable cotton round, and a refillable surface cleaner.
What we like
Conscious crackers are entirely plastic-free and are compostable or recyclable. There is no print on the crackers so you can reuse them for another celebration.
The cons
It is plain and without any surface design whatsoever.
This brand’s reusable tin eco-friendly Christmas crackers will save you the cost of buying new crackers for many Christmases to come. Each box contains four cracker-shaped tin in four different colors. Each tin has a snowman or Santa Claus print.
What we like
These zero-waste sturdy tin crackers can be reused for decades; just fill them with your own gifts. You don't have to fill them immediately, it comes pre-packed. There are also three years worth of paper hats and jokes in each pack.
The cons
If you are going for a loud bang, this is not the cracker for you. These tin crackers contain no snap, so they open quietly. On the flip side, if you have pets and little kids, the loud bang a regular cracker snap makes might be a problem.
You can create your own eco-friendly crackers using fill-your-own crackers that were made sustainably. Some of these products are reusable, others just recyclable, and all are plastic free.
This brand has a range of plush velvet tube crackers that you can reuse for as long as you want. The sustainable Christmas crackers are available in six designs that are suitable for easter and birthdays as well. They used recycled cardboard to make tubes in them.
There are paper hats, chalks, chalkboard name tags, gold lettering stickers in every box, and sticky snaps in every box. You can buy any one of those items when you exhaust the initial supply.
What we like
No need for throwaway joke slips. Kaneo has QR codes on its name tags that you can scan for access to jokes. The brand also donates 10% of every sale to The Salvation Army.
The cons
Velvet requires a high level of maintenance to keep its shine, year after year.
A plain Kraft paper cracker is simple and versatile. You can use them on Christmas, boxing day, and even New Year's celebrations. &Keep pre-cut cracker boards that are easy to set up and come with snaps, jokes, and hats.
It would provide an extra fun activity to have your kids draw and paint on the plain boards before you roll them.
What we like
The paper hats in these crackers are made from recycled paper. And instead of fabric ribbons, they use dyed raffia for a colorful natural finish.
The cons
The brand doesn't say if the crackers are recyclable or reusable. You may have to compost them or trash them.
How would you like reusable crackers that turn into elegant napkins for your dinner table after you open them? This brand sells crackers that consist of a cardboard tube wrapped by a gold embroidered cotton napkin. You can choose to have your loved ones’ names embroidered on the napkin crackers.
What we like
The gold embroidered napkin will add a nice touch to your table every festive season. Also, the cardboard tubes in these crackers are durable; you can wrap them up and store them for another party. You can preserve the twine as well.
The cons
These crackers do not have a snap effect, but if you have pets, that makes them pet friendly. Also, they do not come with paper hats and jokes.
This brand’s fill-your-own Christmas crackers promise a pet-friendly Ecosnap. It won't scare your pet or little kids, but it still makes that satisfying Christmas cracker pop. They fold flat, so they work as reusable Christmas crackers as well.
What we like
The kraft paper they use to make these products is sustainable and printed with vegetable ink.
The cons
These are not recyclable crackers.
This UK brand sews reusable Christmas crackers from cotton. They feature a variety of patterns and colors. The handmade cracker has organza ribbons and velcro fasteners. Although it makes no banging noise, you can add snaps.
What we like
Beyond creating your own crackers filled with personalized ethical gifts, you can reuse these fabric crackers for a long time. Cotton is a resilient fabric; if tears are no longer repairable, you can recycle them.
The cons
There will be no loud snapping sound, but velcro crunch might do.
To avoid waste this festive season, make your Christmas crackers eco-friendly Christmas crackers. Eco-friendly Christmas crackers should be glitter free, plastic-free, and sustainably made. This list will help you find the best Christmas crackers for sustainable celebrations.
Jen’s a passionate environmentalist and sustainability expert. With a science degree from Babcock University Jen loves applying her research skills to craft editorial that connects with our global changemaker and readership audiences centered around topics including zero waste, sustainability, climate change, and biodiversity.
Elsewhere Jen’s interests include the role that future technology and data have in helping us solve some of the planet’s biggest challenges.
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