We’re all for celebrating the holiday season, but those pops shouldn’t come at the cost of the planet.
Along with zero waste gift wrapping, choosing eco-friendly Christmas crackers is an easy swap to help your holidays bring good tidings to more than just your loved ones.
Besides, tiny plastic crackers that contribute to the surge of holiday waste are anything but jolly.
So how do you make Christmas crackers environmentally friendly?
Here are a couple of options to give you a taste.
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Get The Biggest Bang With The Best Sustainable Christmas Crackers
Stay off the naughty list this year with a bang of sustainability and color for your home with those created by Altered State Studio.
While Keep This Cracker gives the gift of adorable (and pet-friendly) reusable Christmas crackers to celebrate the occasion for many seasons to come.
Index: Plastic-Free Christmas Crackers
- Altered State Studio Jump to section
- Keep This Cracker Jump to section
- Ms Claus Workshop Co Jump to section
- Cardboard Hunters Jump to section
- Little Doris Designs Jump to section
- Paper And Style Co. Jump to section
- The Conscious Cracker Co. Jump to section
Altered State Studio
Altered State Studio’s Christmas Crackers
Price Range: $13
Altered State Studio has some of the most eco-friendly Christmas crackers on offer.
Their reusable Xmas crackers come in a variety of colors and patterns from falling snow to mistletoe—so if you live in a warmer climate that doesn’t see much of winter, you can still pop into the holiday spirit.
About Altered State Studio
Cooler than their wintery designs, however, are what they’re made of.
Instead of paper, their fabric reusable crackers are crafted with weight cotton meant to last for many seasons.
All deliveries are packaged in a cardboard box that can be used for storing them when not in use.
As the product is fabric and fully repairable if damaged, there isn’t even the need to recycle after use, meaning you can stay zero waste for many Christmases to come!
Keep This Cracker
Keep This Cracker’s Christmas Crackers
Price Range: $28–$54
Keep This Cracker wants to help you find your favorite festive favors by creating some of the best reusable Etsy Christmas crackers, all out of UK-based materials.
Because they can be used again and again, you can save space on next year’s Christmas list.
Plus, they fold flat so they can double as fill for your own crackers and the ecosnap® promises a pet-friendly pop.
About Keep This Cracker
Handcrafted and made with materials local to the UK, Keep This Cracker’s plastic-free Christmas crackers are recyclable and compostable.
They’re made in the UK with either plain or printed FSC-certified kraft paper and recycled satin ribbons.
Worried about keeping your reusable Christmas crackers safe until next year?
Keep This Cracker ships your purchase with a Reusable Card Wallet to safely store them until the next festive season rolls around.
Ms Claus Workshop Co
Ms Claus Workshop Co’s Christmas Crackers
Price Range: $5–$48
Tired of the classic red and green for Christmas?
Ms Claus Workshop Co sells elegant black eco Christmas Crackers on Etsy that give Santa’s helper a bit of an edge.
Thesecrackers are perfect for those who want to change up the standard Christmas color palette, as they come in white, red, kraft, grey, green, blue, black, and purple.
Made with recyclable, compostable, and biodegradable materials, they’re perfect for anyone like Buddy the Elf hoping to be on the nice list this year.
About Ms Claus Workshop Co
Creating sustainable Christmas Crackers is already pretty neat, but MsClausWorkshopCo goes the extra mile by making their entire company plastic-free.
The UK made eco crackers, for instance, are made of recycled paper, cotton cord, and twine. Just remove the charm before tossing in your indoor compost bin.
They also sell place cards, gift tags and party favors to keep the sustainable gifts coming.
Cardboard Hunters
Cardboard Hunters’ Luxurious Christmas Crackers
Price Range: $5–$9
How about a pre-Christmas project for the kids (i.e. DIY crackers)?
Cardboard Hunters sells eco-friendly alternatives to Christmas crackers made out of, well…cardboard.
Not sure what you want to fill your crackers with?
CardboardHunters offers plenty of options, like handmade chocolate, natural playdough, Christmas stickers, and tea bags.
If you (or your kids) don’t have the time, don’t worry because they also offer pre-filled cardboard crackers that will sit stylishly next to your finest Christmas cutlery.
About Cardboard Hunters
The cardboard container for each cracker is compostable but the satin string is not, so be sure to remove this (and try to reuse next time you’re wrapping gifts!).
Everything is handmade by the shop’s owner in Australia.
Little Doris Designs
Little Doris Designs’ Christmas Crackers UK
Price Range: $20–$46
But what about Easter, you say?
Leave it to Little Doris Designs who covers all bases (err…seasons).This Etsy shop sells UK made crackers in both Christmas and sustainable easter themes.
Each plain recycled kraft paper tube is filled with compostable paper hats (or optional ethical UK chocolate should you choose) and tied with either recyclable paper ribbon or silk organza.
They also come with a hand stamped copper or aluminium wine charm.
About Little Doris Designs
Little Doris Designs is all about sustainability – both in their products and packaging.
Each item is packaged using recyclable or biodegradable materials, so you can still get your online shopping fix without sacrificing on sustainability.
Paper And Style Co.
Paper and Style Co.’s Christmas Crackers
Price Range: $30
If you want an easy talking point around the Christmas table, Paper and Style Co’s eco luxury Christmas cracker will provide just that.
Each cracker has delicate Australian floral designs that are hand-painted in watercolor.
Even your most picky aunt is sure to compliment.
Each eco cracker comes with seed packets that not only match the cracker packaging, but can be planted using the kraft tubes found inside the cracker.
About Paper and Style Co.
This Australian company offers more than just sustainable Christmas crackers.
They have a variety of eco-friendly wedding invitations, calendars and more.
Paper and Style Co. prioritizes the safety and health of both animals and the planet, so their products arrive in recycled boxes meant to be reusable, recyclable and gentler on Mother Earth.
The Conscious Cracker Co.
The Conscious Cracker Co’s Christmas Crackers
Price Range: $35–$90 AUD
The Conscious Cracker Co. embodies a uniquely Australian Christmas spirit.
With a Silver Princess Eucalyptus design, this sustainable cracker represents Australia’s sunnier side during their festive summer season.
And they have all the good stuff, as you would expect.
They’re made from post-consumer material, printed with sustainable ink, and still come filled with Christmas jokes and paper hats.
About Conscious Cracker Co
The Conscious Cracker Co. creates all their products on Australia’s Sunshine Coast.
Made of 100% post-consumer paper printed with eco inks, these luxury Christmas crackers are plastic-free and palm oil free.
For each box you buy, they plant a tree with One Tree Planted.
A pretty crackin’ idea if we do say so ourselves.
Make Your Own DIY Christmas Crackers
Not into shelling out money this Christmas for crackers?
Totally understandable.
Christmas costs can rack up, so if you’re budget-conscious and wondering., “What can I use instead of crackers at Christmas?“, know you don’t necessarily need to forgo them altogether.
Instead, try making a DIY Christmas cracker, which are also some of the most sustainable alternatives to Christmas crackers.
Happily, most of what you need can be found around the house, think: empty eco-friendly toilet paper rolls. For each cracker you’ll need:
- three toilet paper rolls
- colorful paper, newspaper, eco-friendly stationery or preferably old eco-friendly wrapping paper
- string, shoelaces or twine
- a few bon bon snaps and
- glue or tape.
To fill your own eco crackers, zero waste gifts can greenify the surprise.
By wrapping the paper around your old toilet rolls, snapping in the bon bon clips, and tying it up nice and neat, your DIY Christmas decorations will be ready to roll (or pull).
