Shop the Mistletoe & Merry Range
Bon bons and Christmas crackers are the same thing: the cardboard tube you pull across the table before lunch. Mistletoe & Merry is a South African family business that has made them by hand since the mid-1990s, and it is the brand we range for people who want a cracker worth keeping rather than one to sweep off the floor. Boxed sets and single crackers, sent anywhere in Australia.
Bon bons or Christmas crackers
Both names describe the same object, and which one you use is mostly geography. Australians say bon bons more often than the British do, who almost always say crackers, and both turn up on this page because both turn up in the shops. If you are searching for one and finding the other, you are in the right place.
The ranges, and how to choose
Petite is the small boxed set, the sensible choice for a long table where the crackers are decoration rather than the event. Luxury and Deluxe are the bigger boxed sets, heavier card and metallic finishes, for the table you have photographed. Festive Kraft is the unbleached, less shiny option. Crackertoa is the spring-loaded design, which pulls differently from a standard cracker; there is a full explanation in the Crackertoa, explained. And the Pets crackers are single, one for a cat and one for a dog, which is not a joke, it is a real product and it sells.
Common questions
How many Christmas crackers do I need?
One per person is the floor, and the number of people at the table is not the same as the number of crackers you should buy, because children pull more than one and someone always breaks theirs. We have worked it out by table size in how many Christmas crackers per person.
Are these the crackers with decent gifts in them?
That is the whole reason we range this brand rather than a supermarket one. Each product page lists what is inside that particular set, and it is worth reading before you buy, because the contents are the difference between a keepsake and a plastic ring.
Is it cheaper to make your own?
Not usually, once you have bought snaps, hats, card and gifts, and it takes an evening. We costed it honestly in what it actually costs to make your own, and the answer depends entirely on what you put inside.
When should I order for Christmas?
Early. Crackers are one of the first things to sell out because there is no second production run once the season starts. Orders placed before 12pm on a weekday are dispatched the same day from our Corio, VIC warehouse, tracked with Australia Post.
More Christmas crackers and bon bons are in Christmas bon bons and Christmas bon bons and crackers, and the rest of the table sits in festive entertaining essentials.