In days gone by, fund raising took the form of ‘bring and buy’ sales, cake baking, coffee mornings and the like. All very well for people with that kind of time on their hands.

Fund raising these days can often take the form of physical challenge like running a certain distance, hurling yourself out of a fully working aircraft, canoeing down rapids, bungee jumping and all kinds of mind boggling activities for the fit and adventurous. These activities include planning, timing and a large overhead to cover costs.

We wanted to raise funds quickly (and safely) at Redhound for a specific animal charity and didn’t want to muck around organising, filling in paperwork and devoting much of our spare time to it and found  the solution solution in the form of the Cream Cracker Challenge.

There is nothing new about it but it is a lot of fun requiring nothing more than a packet of crackers and a watch to time people.

The challenge is to consume and swallow a whole cream cracker within 60 seconds without the use of a drink during that minute. Participants may not break the cracker up with their hands during this time. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Most people would say they can do it but the reality is a bit different.

Participants pledge money for each challenge (a few pounds) and buy the cracker for £1. They will have their stake returned if they win along with a signed certificate (it took 5 minutes to run up and print off) or some other form of recognition if they succeed. If they don’t succeed, the money goes directly to charity along with the money for each cracker. However, many people unaware of the difficulty will say they can eat several in a minute……let them try!

The hysteria created by watching someone seriously trying the challenge is fantastic. Techniques get very serious, some will push the whole thing in their mouth and chew furiously (until they grind to a halt within 30 seconds), some will very quickly nibble away at it like a demented rat. There are a variety of methods, all rather hilarious. The only thing you need to watch for is if a participant corpses and showers everyone within 2-3 meters with crumbs in the process. It’s infectious and everyone will want to have a go.

It’s a gift to smart phones, videos and pictures of attempts can circulate the internet or place of work. In the past, I have even seen inter-branch challenges within large organisations. You can do it at work, with a few friends or when you are out and about all for the cost of one or two packets of crackers.

It’s quick and easy to organise, its more entertaining than a bring and buy, it’s less dangerous than a bungie jump and it’s very cheap. One packet can raise around £75 but be aware that time files if you’re doing it on a lunch break so you may have to form several groups or run the event over several days.

Facts

Jacobs cream crackers – 200g pack contains 25 crackers (8 grams per cracker)

Cost – £0.89

Calories – 35 per cracker

Typical ValuesTypical Values Per 100gPer Cracker (8g)Energy (kJ)1851148(kcal)44035Fat13.5g1.1g of which Saturates 6.2g0.5g Carbohydrate 67.7g5.4g of which Sugars 1.4g0.1g Fibre 3.8g0.3g Protein10.0g0.8g Salt1.3g0.1g

 

 Let us know how you get on? Good luck!

 

 

Disclamer –  we accept no responsibility for anyone choking, masses of crumbs or any kind of damage to property, loss of dignity etc.