These English Christmas Crackers are a simple and fun Christmas gift for kids (or even grown ups). They’re easy to make and can be as inexpensive as you choose, according to what you decide to put in them.

Since the Christmas holidays are coming closer, I figured a busy teacher out there might be looking for a last minute gift idea for their students.

I made these English Christmas crackers for the students in my class. (I also gave them a book.) This is the simple way to make English Christmas crackers. I have seen fancier ones on other sites.

Here’s how to make English Christmas Crackers:

Take a paper towel tube and cut it in half. This gives you two tubes the same size as a toilet paper tube, but the idea of a paper towel tube just seems cleaner and less germy. If you don’t have enough paper towel tubes saved up, you can cut a piece of card stock paper, bend it into a tube and tape it. It works just as well.

Cut a piece of wrapping paper to size. It needs to completely wrap around the tube and have about 3-4 inches on each side as shown. Wrapping paper with a small print will work best since this is a small item. (You could possibly even wrap it in scrapbook paper?)

Select some small “goodies” to stuff in the tube. You can choose candy or small toys or a combination of both. This is where your cost comes in, so you can go as inexpensive or pricey as you like.

Wrap the paper around the tube and tape it.

Pinch the ends with your fingers, carefully so that you don’t tear the paper. Wrap ribbon or twine around each end.

I made these for Christmas, but these could be used for any holiday or occasion!