The RSPB shop was listing plastic-free Christmas crackers for 2026 at £18.00 for a box of six when its Christmas cracker page was checked on 14 November, with four lines available to order: Chocolate Robins, a pin badge, a ‘pin the beak’ game and a wooden decoration. Two-box versions of the same four lines were listed at £34.00, and a fill-your-own set was listed at £12.00.
“Many Christmas crackers contain foil, glitter or plastic which means they cannot be recycled,” the shop says in its cracker FAQ. “However all RSPB crackers are plastic, foil and glitter free and so are the boxes, meaning the crackers and packaging can be fully recycled!”
The same FAQ describes a cracker as a cardboard tube wrapped in brightly coloured paper or foil, snapping when pulled open and holding a small gift, a joke or rhyme and a paper hat. The alternatives on sale this season fall into three groups: paper crackers made without foil, glitter or plastic; fabric crackers kept and used again; and empty crackers filled at home.
RSPB paper crackers at £18.00 for a box of six
The RSPB range is the most conventional of the three, sold in boxes of six and pulled in the usual way. The shop describes the crackers as made from sustainably-sourced paper and packaged in fully recyclable materials, each holding a plastic-free gift: a chocolate treat, a collectable RSPB pin badge, a wooden tree decoration or part of the ‘pin the beak’ game.
All four designs were available to order on 14 November at £18.00 a box, or £3.00 a cracker. All distributable profits from RSPB Sales Limited, the charity’s wholly owned subsidiary, are paid to the RSPB under Gift Aid, the shop’s site states.
For a whole low-waste December rather than a single meal, the same approach shows up earlier in the month in the plastic-free advent calendars on sale for 2026.
Fabric crackers, untied in Dorset or pulled in the UK
The Cracker Company, a family-run business based in Poole, Dorset, makes reusable fabric crackers by hand. Each one is sewn from a printed 100 per cent cotton outer with a 100 per cent cotton lining, measures about 30cm assembled, and is designed to be untied rather than pulled, so there is no snap and nothing is torn at the table. Sets come in four, six, eight and 12.
The Christmas Character fabric set was listed from £54.93, and the red and green Strawberry Thief prints from £80.56, each available in sets of four, six, eight or 12, with those designs in stock. The same shop lists snapless crackers and plastic-free fillers among its other ranges.
Keep This Cracker sells a reusable cracker that still pulls. Its crackers are designed and made in the UK and sold flat-packed in packs of six at £22.00, with ribbons and low-noise ecosnaps included. “They come with low noise snaps, but for those who like their crackers with a bang, noisy snaps are available too,” the homepage says. Replacement snaps are sold separately at £2.50 for 12, in both the standard noisy and the low-noise version.
The homepage lists seven designs. Six were in stock on 14 November – Red Christmas, Kraft Christmas, White Jewel, Green Jewel, Red Jewel and Kraft Jewel – while Red Berries was marked sold out. A testimonial carried on the site from Jane Langley, founder of Blue Patch, reads: “Because of you I now look forward to filling our crackers – it’s turned from a wasteful, expensive chore to a creative, personalised, family activity, free of plastic junk!”
The Fabric Cracker Company makes a third version: handmade pullable fabric crackers sewn on a family farm in Wales, in polycotton rather than cotton, and sold as plastic-free. No live price or working basket was captured on its site on 14 November, and the company takes enquiries by email.
Fill-your-own crackers and what goes inside
Empty crackers are the cheapest entry point and give the most control over the contents. The RSPB sells a fill-your-own set at £12.00. The Stripes Company listed Fill Your Own Crackers at £10.00 and Bespoke Fill Your Own Fabric Crackers at £12.00 on its site on 14 November; neither listing used the phrase plastic-free, so the materials need checking before ordering.
The contents are part of what decides whether a cracker can be recycled, which is where the RSPB draws the line between a wooden decoration or a pin badge and foil, glitter or plastic. Small, usable items fit a standard tube: a seed packet, a badge, a wrapped chocolate, a mini tin or a tree decoration. That shortlist overlaps with the one for plastic-free stocking fillers.
The cost works out differently for each format. Four years of £18.00 RSPB boxes comes to £72.00, while a fabric set from Dorset is bought once and refilled each December. Pairing either with zero-waste gift wrapping keeps the same materials running from the tree to the table.
Prices and stock were taken from the retailers’ live sites on 14 November 2026 and may change before Christmas.
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