Actually, they sell these in the US and I've sent them a couple of times in Xmas packages to family members, as a novelty. But, uh, no rodents just yet. Yikes.

So the mouse wanted the colored hat?

Merry Xmouse?

There is a mouse + Cheese + crackers joke in there somewhere....

I'm trying to figure out what exactly is this Christmas cracker which also can hold a toy. I was hoping there would be a helpful picture at Reuters, but no such luck.

Yeah, what exactly is a "christmas cracker" in kiwiland?

We all know that biscuits are not considered the same in england as they are in the US.... so it makes me wonder just exactly kiwis consider "christmas crackers".

Ohhhhhhh...... [en.wikipedia.org]

Completely different than what I had in mind.

I woulda called it a "christmas Popper". Those wacky brits/aussies/kiwis! :P

My husband is English, and we always pull crackers every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas. No dead mice, though--usually just crappy plastic toys, bad jokes, and a paper crown. It is good fun.

This article reminds me of the old Mr. Bean episode where he builds his own cracker with dozens of the little explosion bars. At the end - BOOM! - the whole house lights up.

The second half of this blog entry illustrates the kind of toys that are normally found in Christmas crackers. Honestly, I think a lot of kids would have more fun with the decomposed mouse.

You can buy crackers that have really cool non-plastic toys in them. They cost a bit more, but they are a lot more fun.

What is with you consumers! First you complain when they shortchange you crackers for the same price. Now you complain when they try to give you something extra.

Some people are just never pleased.

Why do Americans not know what Christmas crackers are?? They are easy to find in the United States. My family has Christmas crackers every year and then we take silly pictures wearing the hats.

@Martha_Jones: I'm shocked that this many people have never read Harry Potter. That's the only reason I know what they are.

And since reading HP, I've always wanted to get some. This sort of turns me off.

@HeyHermano: These are a very very old tradtion. I wouldn't let this one incident halfway across the globe turn you off! Check out Pier One or World Market and buy them cheap now that Christmas is over and just save them until next year :)

Yeah. OK, well, uh, we found, uh, this mouse in one of your crackers, eh. Like, we was at a party and, uh, a friend of ours - a COP - opened one, and HE PUKED. And he said, uh, come here and get free crackers or, uh, he'll press charges.