Easy DIY Christmas Crackers (with the snap) That You Can Compost

What you’ll need

• Cardboard tubes: toilet paper rolls (one for each cracker).
• Paper: wide enough to wrap around the tube with a small overlap, and long enough to tie bows at both ends. Leftover wrapping paper or tissue paper works.
• Twine or ribbon: jute, cotton or any ribbon you’ll reuse. Even fabric scraps work a treat.
• Cracker snaps and hats: you can buy a ready-made kit on Etsy that includes these, or make your own tissue paper crowns if you’re up for the craft.
• Jokes: handwrite them on scraps of paper, or use Canva to create printable slips with a bit of colour or a cute design.
• Small gifts: chocolates, seed packets, lip balms, bath bombs, mini Baileys, stationery, anything fun and keepable.

Sizing guide (so it works first go)

A standard toilet roll is ~10 cm long and ~14 cm around.

Cut paper 18–20 cm wide (to wrap with a 2–3 cm overlap) and 26–30 cm long (so you have 8–10 cm to tie at each end).

Step-by-step

1. Thread the snap. Feed a snap through the tube so equal lengths stick out each end. A tiny piece of tape on the inside rim helps keep it centred.
2. Wrap the tube. Lay the tube on your paper and roll it up snugly. You usually don’t need tape — the overlap holds — but one small piece is fine if your paper is slippery.
3. Pinch and tie one end. Twist the paper gently right at the tube edge, then tie with twine or ribbon. (This is the fiddly bit, a second pair of hands helps.)
4. Fill it. Slide in a crown, a joke and your gift (ideas below).
5. Tie the other end. Twist and secure. Done.

Tips that make them feel “shop-bought”:

• Crisp ends: score a light line along the tube edges before twisting; it creates a neat “neck.”
• Crowns: cut from saved tissue paper — 60 cm x 10 cm with a zigzag top works for most heads.
• Jokes: hand-write on recycled paper. Go cheeky for adults-only lunches.
• Snaps: they pop best when the ends are tied firmly. After Christmas, bin the used snap strip; compost the paper/twine if uncoated.

A few years ago, I wrapped mine in the most Australian paper I could find, with prawns and pavlovas all over it (pictured below), and they looked completely at home on a summer Christmas table.

You can watch my DIY here.

Materials & end-of-day clean-up

• Paper & twine: home-compostable if uncoated and glitter-free.
• Tube cores: recycle or compost.
• Snaps: dispose in landfill after use.
• Ribbons: save for next year.

More Ways to Celebrate a Sustainable Christmas (coming soon)

If you’re looking to go further than gift wrap, here are our other guides to an eco-friendly holiday season:

• Sustainable Christmas Gifts 2025: Thoughtful, Low-Waste Ideas

• Alternative Christmas Trees: From Potted Natives to DIY Fairy Light Trees

• Plastic-Free DIY Christmas Decorations Anyone Can Make

• DIY Eco-Friendly Christmas Crackers

• Eco-Friendly Christmas Crackers You Can Buy in Australia

• Sustainable Christmas Decorations: DIY & Store-Bought Ideas