Snapless Crackers

We know that cracker snaps can cause some problems and it can be a much wider part of society than you may, at first, think would be affected.

·       Nervous pets, both cats and dogs, can get distressed by the bang in a cracker.  Is it really worth that moment of tradition and fun to leave your nervous pet shaking in the corner?

·       Autism affects people of all ages and many affected will be sensitive to noise – especially sudden noises like cracker snaps.  Bang! 

·       The same logic follows for ADHD and many other medical conditions.

·       Both kids and adults can be sensitive to noise, due to a medical condition or a more general sensitivity. 

What is a cracker snap?  What are cracker snaps made from?

Cracker snaps are a paper strip with a “gunpowder” effect built into the middle of it.  This is a volatile compound called silver fulminate, which is rubbed against sandpaper when the snap is pulled, causing the fulminate to “explode”.  It’s as simple as that!

It is secured inside the cracker handles with a glue or other adhesive.  We always use either a hot glue gun or a good quality clear sticky tape.

All of our cracker making kits and ready made crackers do contain snaps.

So, what can you do if you don’t want crackers without a snap? 

That’s easy, you have two options…

All of our kits have the snaps loose in the kit, ready to attach, so the very obvious and easy solution to fix these problems is to just leave out the snaps, which is what lots of our customers do every year. 

The other option is to choose from our range of “snapless crackers”, which have no cracker snaps in them.

Will my crackers bang without a snap?

Have you ever pulled a cracker where the snap didn’t actually bang?  If you have good quality crackers, which ours are, you may not even notice of there were no snaps, as the ripping of the cracker makes a fairly loud, albeit more natural, noise of its own.

This works even better if you all pull your crackers together, crossed arms and 1, 2, 3, pull…   The noise of the ripping crackers is loud enough without any need for a snap, where the snap is of concern to you.

If, on the other hand, you’ve been buying budget crackers, then you’ll be lucky if they all pull, let alone bang!

What alternatives are there to snaps?

Believe us, there is nothing! 

Other companies might try to sell you a bit of paper and tell you it will pop or bang!  Believe us, it won’t.  We have purchased all the faux "snaps" on the market and, we can guarantee you, the best you will get is the sound of thin paper/toilet paper ripping…   You won’t even hear this if its inside a cracker anyway!

The only two ways you can make a cracker bang is to use a cracker snap or light gunpowder underneath it – and we don’t suggest trying the latter!

But it’s not as black and white as snaps or no snaps...  Why not replace the snap with an alternative to replace the bang with something else? 

Items that we know our customer have used, some are environmentally friendly, include confetti, faux or dried leaves and petals, feathers, wrapped sweets and lametta, which is long thin strands of tinsel material that would normally go on the tree.

There are so many options, all of which give that extra bit of fun when the cracker is pulled and helps to avoid people noticing that there was no snap.  Whatever you add, you just need to make sure that it’s bigger than the hole in the end of the cracker, which tends to be around 1cm to 1.5cm, otherwise it will all fall out before the cracker is pulled!