I was reviewing my BA booking for my trip to South Africa this week, and noticed that "Christmas crackers" are no longer allowed in hand baggage.

Quoting the BA website: "You can no longer carry Christmas crackers in your hand baggage. You are allowed a maximum of 2 boxes of Christmas crackers in your checked baggage, but they must be from a reputable supplier and in their original packaging. Home made Christmas crackers are not permitted."

Now, being American I'm not quite sure I even know what a "Christmas cracker" is (or why BA's hazardous cargo department would care about crackers), but I couldn't find any cracker restrictions on the BAA website. Is this a BA thing only?

The reason I ask is because I was planning on making a "cracker run" while passing through London, with the hopes of picking up some regular (non-Christmas) crackers that aren't available here in the US. I'll need to carry these back in my hand luggage. Will this be ok?

Oh, and thanks in advance for enlightening me on what exactly constitutes a "Christmas cracker."

-FlyerBeek