pull a cracker/ party popper

[aksamgunesi]

After my Christmas dinner, I just sit down, relax, probably have a mince pie, a glass of sherry and pull a cracker, or a party popper - you never know.

What do ''pull a cracker'' and ''party popper'' mean here?

Here is the source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/lower-intermediate/unit-5/session-1

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forum, aksamgunesi.

This is a cracker:

 

[GoesStation]

Pulling crackers is a British Christmas tradition. A few years ago, my wife came home from a visit to England with some Christmas crackers in her carry-on bag. If she'd been swabbed for explosives at security, she would have had to throw them away.

 

[jutfrank]

Once you have pulled a cracker, you can enjoy its contents, usually a paper hat, a slip of paper with an appalling 'joke' on it, and a very cheap and nasty toy. The total value of the contents is about 0.2 pence, between 0.5% and 0.05% of the price your host paid for each cracker.

It is against the law in England to fail to put on your paper hat, to gleefully read out your joke to all the other guests at the dinner table, to groan woefully at the jokes read out by others. or to fail to express awe and delight at your toy.

Bah! Humbug!