CRACKERS, like Christmas trees, came late to British yultide celebrations but now no festive table would be complete without them.

In fact, speciality crackers often now also make an appearance at weddings, anniversaries and birthday parties.

They now also contain, depending on the price point, goodies such as silver jewellery and key rings, bone china cups, miniature bottles of spirits, luxury chocolates, and personalised gifts wrapped in sparkly paper tied with bright ribbons and decorated with flowers or bows.

It is a long way from the days when crackers first appeared in our shops, usually in lurid red and green crepe paper, tied with rubber bands. Often hard to pull, there was no guarantee there would be a loud, satisfying “snap” at the end of these crackers.

Inside would be the traditional motto or joke, a flimsy paper hat and a small, plastic toy or charm.

Now, the boxes of crackers filling the shops this Christmas dazzle with sparkling gold and silver decoration, are bigger than their Victorian counterparts, and filled with better quality gifts.

Sometimes there are only six to a box and can be expensive but worth it for the fun they bring and, although at a price, you really get a gift worth keeping.

Some of the most luxurious crackers available are assembled in a small unit in a rural part of Medstead, near Alton, where a staff of four create stunning creations for top top retail outlets at Harrods and the Savoy – and possibly Fortnum and Mason next year.

Upper Crust Crackers has led the way in supplying a product that you really don’t want to pull because they are so beautifully made and with tempting contents.

Recently, the company began making crackers for the St James’ Wine merchants, Berry Brothers, with miniatures of Kings Ginger inside, and also diamond merchant De Beers – although there are no sparklers inside, just items such as special gem-cleaning cloths and jeweller’s lenses.

Katy Dziedzic and her co-director, Nigel Morland, are the owners of Upper Crust Crackers and, of course, Christmas is their busiest time.

The firm was founded 30 years ago by Maureen Brooking at her Bentworth farm and later sold to a Jo O’Connor as the firm’s reputation began to build. Now, with Katy and Nigel at the helm, there is a big demand for crackers made in Medstead.

It’s more cottage industry than factory with a staff of five – Josie Andrews, Sarah Shadey, Judy Plumridge, Pam Pye – not forgetting Millie the dog, who has her own chair and although not on the production line makes herself useful by greeting visitors.

Their job is by hand to transform a piece of paper and a cardboard cylinder into a cracker making sure there is a gift, motto or joke and a paper hat inside before it is bound in ribbons of sparkling gold and silver thread.

Although Upper Crust has gained a reputation for luxury crackers – Asprey and Purdey gunsmiths are on the client list – they also have a range, equally as eye catching, but at very affordable prices.

The firm is continuing a tradition that started after Londoner Tom Smith invented crackers in 1847, as a development of his bon-bon sweets, which he sold in a twist of paper (the origins of the traditional sweet-wrapper).

When sales of his bon-bons slumped, Smith came up with promotional ideas. His first tactic was to insert “love messages” into the wrappers of the sweets and added the “crackle” when he heard the crackle of a log he had just put on a fire and wanted his crackers to make that sound.

The size of the paper wrapper had to be increased to incorporate the banger mechanism and the sweet token inside was eventually dropped and replaced by trinkets, combs, whistles, cheap jewellery, and other items.

The new product was initially marketed as the Cosaque (Cossack), but the onomatopoeic “cracker” soon became the commonly used name, as rival varieties came on the market.

The other elements of the modern cracker — the gifts, paper hats and varied designs — were introduced by Tom Smith’s son, Walter, to differentiate his product from those of rival cracker manufacturers. As demand for crackers increased, Tom Smith merged with Caley Crackers in 1953, taking over their headquarters and factory in Norwich, Norfolk.

Now Upper Crust is proving an impressive rival in rural Hampshire.

Ms Dziedzic said: “We also make crackers for people like Jackie Stewart, the racing driver, for his friends for one of his shooting parties, and they will have contents like personalised bone china mugs, which take careful handling, and other items that can be used when out shooting.

“Still on the shooting theme, we make crackers for Purdey the gun people and so the contents will be things like cloths for cleaning a gun and hip flasks. We have also, in the past, made crackers for Elton John and Lulu and our crackers are also on the Orient Express trains.

“Another popular range are crackers the company makes for weddings which are in rich textured paper timed with pink tinged rose buds.

“We find they are great fun and they get people talking.

“Also, the couple can include a thank you to the guests with the motto or message inside.”

Certainly, judging from the relaxed, happy, atmosphere, making crackers can be fun.

The staff enjoy their job and admit although there are moments of stress, especially when completing a rush order, it is nice to do such creative work.

They also make sure each cracker does a loud snap when pulled and to ensure this there is regular testing of the snappers, so there are no disappointed clients.

When not busy in her office Katy, who drives in from Hartley Whitney each day, goes to see clients or takes stands at trade and Christmas fairs – last month she was in Winchester – and it is an all year-round job.

“We take three weeks off at Christmas and go a little slower in the spring but by summer we are busy again as stores like Harrods want their Christmas crackers ready by August.”