What pulls you apart only to draw you back together again? The designer of Irish-made and customisable Christmas crackers has the answer.
As an icebreaker, nothing beats Christmas crackers.
They are as essential to the December 25th experience as turkey and ham and a liquor-laced plum pudding dramatically delivered alight to the table for dessert.
It makes the meal go with a bang and breaks any family tensions.
Who can resist the corny jokes, but much of the rest is wasteful, says Aoife McHugh of Timeless Crackers, who first came up with the idea while living in Switzerland with her family.
She says some 10 million of the paper and card varieties, complete with plastic gifts, paper hats and corny jokes, are disposed of each festive season.
Hers is a more sustainable option. Made of fabric, they are built to be reused year after year.
It is a more sustainable business model, and that allows for the personalisation of these essential Christmas Day dinner ingredients.
With a background in pharmaceutical supply chain management, she set up the business from her kitchen table three years ago.
However, growth in its first three years has been in the thousands of per cent, she says.
Luxury five-star resort, Adare Manor, is a client. And she has now partnered with We Make Good, with the crackers now made in its textile room on Mountjoy Square.
The corny jokes remain; some even conjured up by her own family. The paper crowns are gone, sadly, but you can reinstate them; the rest is up to you.
In short, the crackers comprise three parts: the central barrel, where the gifts and jokes are and a pull at each end that is Velcroed to the main barrel.
They’re not cheap. A set of six costs €175. This includes the bad jokes and snaps, but doesn’t include gifts.
You can buy these for as little as an additional €1.50 per cracker, or buy your own and customise the crackers to your family set-up.
Clients love them and go all out, she says. One grandmother bought a dozen to open with all her grandchildren, but is only putting money into one of the 12. Imagine the kids' faces?
Another adds booby prizes to hers. One unlucky guest will be charged with dishwashing duties after the meal, she explains.
One makes all those at the table write down a wish they have for the year, and then gathers them up and puts them into the crackers for next year to see how many came true.
“One set of parents got their kids to pull the crackers early, mid-December and out fell tickets to go see Santa in Lapland. One guy even used the crackers to propose two years ago, and now they have the crackers for their life together,” she says.
Others fill theirs with miniature bottles of booze. She puts chocolate Santas rolled up in socks in hers.
You can order gifts from Timeless Crackers, too. These include handmade soaps and Irish-designed miniatures.
The crackers can also be used for other less traditional festivities, such as Easter or St Patrick’s Day. The act of pulling brings those gathered together.
It hasn’t all been plain sailing, though.
The red tape in trying to bring cracker snaps into the country required her to contact the explosives unit of the Department of Justice.
Each snap contains a tiny amount of gunpowder - an explosive mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulphur.
Like fireworks, they’re controlled substances. “I was the first person to get an importation licence for snaps,” she says.
While officially the order book is closed for Christmas 2025, she will try to facilitate any Dublin-based orders made today.
She’s concerned with any countrywide deliveries not making it in time, but is amenable to being asked about picking up from Dublin, should anyone want to try and collect a set before driving home to the west, south, north or midlands.
To order crackers, visit Timeless Crackers
