Exam Results and my US adventure!

[LimeTwister]

Hmm... I'll do my best to describe it.

A Christmas cracker is a cardboard tube (about the length of a bog roll tube) wrapped in some shiny paper which is twisted at both ends to make a sealed tube with two paper "handles". Two people operate it, one person holds each handle and they pull. Eventually one of the paper handles rips off and whever gets the larger part of the cracker gets the toy (and usually a lame joke and paper crown) that is hidden inside the tube.

The toy could be anything from a badly moulded plastic car to a fake plastic necklace to a stapler or small deck of card (depending on how rich your parents are)

The girls in the picture above are holding one, if you want to see one (The one on the orange hat is going to win, she has much better technique and hand positioning)

-Kev

even weirder.

[Si]

I always thought they had Christmas crakers in the US too.

[rosieposy87]

You forgot to say that they make a noise when you pull them apart! Scum, i am more ashamed of you than i have ever been!

And i am still loving the giant paper clip i got last christmas at my Granny's.

[LimeTwister]

I always thought they had Christmas crakers in the US too.

if they do, they are keeping it a HUGE secret from me....

[kev222]

You forgot to say that they make a noise when you pull them apart! Scum, i am more ashamed of you than i have ever been!

*hangs head in shame* How could I forget the best part.

And i am still loving the giant paper clip i got last christmas at my Granny's.

Haha, [sarcasm]wow a paper clip![/sarcasm] The best thing I ever got was a set of really small screw drivers (what are still useful to this day)

-Kev

[TSE]

I get the whole Christmas Cracker concept . . .but what were you saying who has, was wearing from one?

(read it 6 more times then answer)

BTW: I've seen like these mini "crackers"  withh that lame joke and crown you were talking about.  BUt the joke wasn't in english so I'm tempted to say we don't have 'em

[rosieposy87]

I got a set of mini screw drivers once too!

The best thing i ever got in a cracker was last christmas when we went to this cheap-ass resteraunt- i got a plastic moustache- it was so wrong. It even had these two bits so you could stick them up your nose and the moustache would stay on- if thats not the ultimate cracker toy i don't know what is.

[kev222]

The best thing i ever got in a cracker was last christmas when we went to this cheap-ass resteraunt- i got a plastic moustache- it was so wrong. It even had these two bits so you could stick them up your nose and the moustache would stay on- if thats not the ultimate cracker toy i don't know what is.

lol. I've had no end of them! (my mum obviously got me cheap crackers as a child :?). They are seriously wrong. They absolutely kill your nose with those inflexible plastic bits too!

The cheapest thing I ever got was a tiny orange 2 dimensional plasic horse. That was it. Nothing else, just an orange plastic horse. It just looked like a melted blob of plastic.

Q: Why did the tomato blush?
A: Because it saw the salad dressing.

hehe, for some reason I always remembered that cracker joke (maybe because I got it every year!)

-Kev

[jlmusicchick]

do you guys ever get the Christmas crackers with Wades in them? I collect wades and had never heard of crackers before until this summer.....they look very amusing.....and loud popping noises are always fun

[kev222]

do you guys ever get the Christmas crackers with Wades in them? I collect wades and had never heard of crackers before until this summer.....they look very amusing.....and loud popping noises are always fun

What on earth is a wade? lol, curse these cultural differences!

-Kev

[jlmusicchick]

lol well Wades actually started in England in the 1950's....but there they're called Whimsies i think....or Wades, i dunno. Here's the history of Wades from the red rose tea site:

Whisper "Whimsies" into many people's ears and it will mean only one thing...small animal figurines from the George Wade Pottery of Burslem, England.

Wade began in 1810 in Burslem, England, with a small workshop and a single pottery oven making mostly bottles and pottery items. He soon turned his attention to the more profitable ceramics needs of textile mills, which supported the company into the late 1920s. As well as industrial ceramics, Wade produced a line of beautiful figurines, many Art Deco. These were so popular that animal figures were added. The line ran into a snag when it was found that the Cellulose finish turned yellow and peeled off with age. In the late 1930s some models were reissued with a high gloss underglaze finish.

The outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 led to the cessation of all non-essential ceramic items. Domestic ceramic production was limited to plain, undecorated dinnerware and teapots.

The many faces of Whimsies are dogs, cats, birds, sea life, snow animals, pets, wildlife, farm animals, dinosaurs, nursery rhyme figures, circus figures, miniature houses, leprechauns, and monks.

Intended for children, they also appeal to adults who have not lost their sense of imagination. The Wade figurines have become collectors' items and are very much in demand. Today, Wade figurines are still offered as a premium with the purchase of any Red Rose Teas brands.

Many Whimsies, often those apparently in the same range, are different from each other. This is due to the length of time they were made and the volume of output. Molds became worn and were retooled for fresh use. Nearly all Whimsies, with the exception of the very first, have one significant feature: fine moulded parallel ridges on the underside of the base. It now seems to have become a "trademark" for all Wade "Whimsies" to follow.



^ an example of what they look like

over the summer i saw a box of the Wade Crackers.....i've never seen them before but they looked cool.

[kev222]

Yeah, they look like the kind of thing you'd probably get in crackers over hear (probably the more expensive ones). Although my parents always used to buy the cheapest kind so I've never seen any Wades in crackers.

-Kev

[rosieposy87]

Me neither, seems a bit posh for us doesn't it scum!? Plastic Moustache's all the way!

[OlivierDetraz]

Hello Rosie! Happy to see you again!

[kev222]

Me neither, seems a bit posh for us doesn't it scum!? Plastic Moustache's all the way!

Too right. It just wouldn't be Christmas without 'em.

-Kev