For most Brits, the tradition of pulling Christmas crackers remains an essential part of festive celebrations at the dinner table. These festive delights typically include a colourful paper crown, a modest gift or novelty item, and a slip of paper featuring a motto, joke, riddle or interesting fact. Diners customarily pull crackers with the people next to them to reveal which prize they'll get.
While the majority of shoppers buy their Christmas crackers from supermarkets or other popular retailers, there are also more luxurious options available for those prepared to invest considerably more. But do these premium crackers truly justify their hefty price tags?
That's what Carmie Sellitto set out to discover when he ventured to luxury department store Fortnum and Mason to get a hold of their Regal Crackers, which retail at a staggering £1,000 for a set of six. He then took to social media to share his thoughts,
"I just spent £1,000 on some Christmas crackers, so let's open them up and see what's inside," he said, holding up the Fortnum and Mason branded basket containing the crackers in question. Upon opening the hamper, he immediately remarked on the 'beautiful' appearance of the crackers, each wrapped in glittering red paper with golden detailing at either end, completed with red satin ribbons.
Carmie then roped in someone off-camera to pull open the initial cracker and reveal its contents. The first item appeared "looked promising" as it lay nestled in delicate tissue paper. But, upon unwrapping his silver-plated tea caddy tin, bewilderment set in as he declared it "dirty". In reality, the silver had simply become tarnished.
Nonetheless, he found himself pleasantly surprised by the accompanying crown hat, fashioned from golden fabric and designed to be secured around the head. Moving on to the second cracker, which included a matching crown, he discovered a silver-toned tea strainer that he again deemed "dirty", although it was merely tarnished.
"I'm starting to think the Royal Family had used these and they're actually their hand-me-downs," he joked. Evidently underwhelmed, he proceeded to the third cracker, which contained a honey drizzler wrapped in white tissue paper.
He then moved on to the fourth cracker, observing that it was already partially torn at the pulling point. Regardless, he opened it to unveil a silver-plated caddy spoon. "What am I meant to do with this? Eat my Shredded Wheat with this spoon?" he pondered.
Moving onto the penultimate cracker, he revealed a pair of cheese mice markers, which Carmie described as "mice earrings". "It's almost like they are laughing at me," Carmie remarked as he displayed the mice to the camera for viewers to see.
He then proceeded to the final cracker which, alongside the gold paper crown and joke slip found in every other cracker, also yielded the unexpected addition of a spoon rest. "I'm going to be honest, there's absolutely nothing in this that I want to take home with me," Carmie confessed, gesturing towards the basket of crackers. "The coolest things inside these crackers were the hats."
Fortnum and Mason have been approached for comment.
What do the £1,000 Christmas crackers contain?Each set of six Regal crackers from Fortnum and Mason contains:
- 6 x gold hats
- 6 x motto cards
- Silver-plated Cheese Mice Markers
- Silver-plated Tea Caddy
- Silver-plated Spoon Rest
- Silver-plated Long Handle Caddy Spoon
- Silver-plated Bamboo Tea Strainer
- Olivewood and Sterling Silver Honey Drizzler
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