Eaton's Christmas Cracker Ad 1915

Here is an extensive Christmas cracker ad from the old Timothy Eaton's Dept Store. 15 cents to $1.50 per box? Well, admittedly prices have gone up in 100 years! Notice the heading, "Observe the Prices"!

It's too bad the crackers here weren't presented with better descriptive text in the ad copy but I do like some of the design titles; the box of puzzle crackers being called: "The Jolly Jokers Crackers", for instance. Mmmmm  could I borrow that name... The cracker pictured in the ad is quite pretty and festive - I remember a less fancy version of the fluted edges being widely available even in the 1950's when crackers were often made with stretchy crepe paper.

As with GillianCrackers  some selections included musical toys. The remembrance crackers are a bit of a mystery; they contain 'fancy luggage' - I have trouble packing handbells into tubes - not sure how packing luggage in would go! "Fancy toy jewels" seemed to be a common component of many of the early cracker varieties.

An interesting bit of ephemera and a welcome addition to this blog.

Ref:  http://oldfashionedholidays.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/old-fashioned-christmas-crackers-19151916-canadian-old-fashioned-holidays/

Caley's Christmas Crackers in an Eaton's box
Ref: http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/cpm/catalog/cat2206be.shtml#1233465