Every year, I send a box of Christmas crackers (the British ones with the crown, the joke and the toy inside, not something edible <g>) to my sister's family and get a box for my brother's family and my Dad and me to open at our holiday gathering. I didn't have to buy any for Christmas 2025 because I'd gotten a box for Sis' family at a post-Christmas sale and I had a bunch of leftovers from previous years for bro's family and us (they come in boxes of 6 or 8 but we only ever need 5). I went to Home Goods on December 27 to pick up a couple boxes--I'd seen at least a dozen boxes there a couple days before Christmas--and they were all gone, so I Googled where to buy Christmas crackers. Yes, Amazon has them but I didn't like most of them. I'm picky about my crackers; I like to get ones with silly items inside versus serious items (think plastic cars or mini card games vs. silver-plated bottle openers or nail clippers), plus I want them to actually SNAP when opened. Apparently here in the US, there's either regulations against the silver fulminate--an explosive chemical that causes the popping sound when the crackers are opened--or maybe sensitive people are afraid of the snap (my former SIL was...which was all the more reason for me to insist we have Christmas crackers at Christmas <g>), so most of Amazon's offerings were non-snap crackers. So I Googled first "Christmas crackers" and then "Christmas crackers that snap"...
...and that's a long-winded way of saying "Oriental Trading Company". I now get daily ads from Oriental Trading Company because of the one time I clicked on one of their pictures of Christmas crackers.
Incidentally, I met my bff last night for dinner and a belated gift exchange and stopped at a local gardening center, Petitti's, beforehand because it was on the way. Pettiti's has several locations across NE Ohio and they always have an amazing (and HUGE) selection of Christmas items, all beautifully displayed. I meant to stop at Petitti's this past December just to stroll around and admire the trees...and then I didn't. They still have a few Christmas items for sale, heavily discounted of course, and last night I found a box of Christmas crackers, originally $30, now $12. Not the bargain I could've gotten at Home Goods had they any crackers left over but still a very good deal! Tomorrow after work, I'm going to go to the Petitti's a few miles away from my workplace to see if they have any crackers left...I still need another box.
ETA--I also clicked on the "luxury" crackers from Joanna Buchanan, whom I've never heard of, just because I wanted to know what you get inside crackers that cost $188 for 6. I was thinking maybe diamonds or gold bars...but nope, it looks like inside is a metal straw with some kind of rhinestone bedazzled charm, plus some letter tiles so everyone can play Scrabble after opening their crackers. And yes, now I get an occasional spam from Joanna Buchanan.
