Happy National Animal Crackers Day! It’s a perfect day to celebrate that childhood memory. They’re great for dipping or adding to a fruit tray! Share your photos of your Animal Crackers Day celebration using #NationalAnimalCrackersDay on your Social Media.

National Animal Crackers Day on April 18th each year celebrates a childhood favorite. A box of these sweet animal-shaped crackers not only provided a delicious snack, but they also offered a little entertainment, too!

The celebration brings us back to our childhood memories and the many boxes of Animal Crackers we shared with our friends. Animal Crackers refer to a type of small cookie baked in the shape of circus or zoo animals, such as a lion, tiger, bear or elephant. The most common variety is light-colored and slightly sweet. However, makers also offer chocolate and frosted varieties, too. Even though animal crackers are made with layered dough, much like crackers, they are sweet like cookies.

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Animal crackers were already a popular treat, when Stauffer’s Biscuit Company began commercially producing their original recipe circus crackers in 1871. Stauffer’s unique baking process created a slightly sweet, crispy, cracker-like biscuit that dominated the growing animal cracker category for years. Then, in 1902, the big competition arrived that transformed the animal cracker industry forever.

Although not first to market with animal crackers in America, when the National Biscuit Company, Nabisco, introduced their brand of animal crackers packaged in small boxes that looked like P.T. Barnum circus train cars, they quickly became the most popular brand of animal crackers in America. Their ingenious circus-train-themed packages were initially sold as Christmas tree ornaments. The colorful boxes sporting exotic animals in circus train cars with a string for hanging on the tree were an immediate hit with children who begged for boxes of animals to carry around by a string. When all the animals in a box had been devoured, children filled the circus car boxes with childhood treasures, creating an unexpected shelf life extension and bonus marketing for the Barnum’s Animals brand.

But not all animal crackers are created equal, and despite the popularity and fast ascension of Nabisco’s Barnum’s Animals to the iconic childhood cookie, many people still preferred the original Stauffer’s Animal Crackers recipe. The difference in texture and flavor between the two brands is distinctive, and there remains a continued strong market for both brands of animal crackers to this day.

Stauffer’s Biscuit Company still produces Original Animal Crackers using the original 1871 recipe. Their strategy has been to produce a consistently crisp, layered dough cracker that is more like a traditional English biscuit, and less sweet than a cookie.

Nabisco still produces its colorful, wild animal-themed, small-carton packaging that appeals to young children. Nabisco’s animal crackers are a little sweeter and softer in texture than a cracker or biscuit. Some animal cracker aficionados would argue that Nabisco’s Barnum’s Animal Crackers are actually animal cookies, not crackers. Nabisco changed the name of their product from Barnum’s Animals to Barnum’s Animal Crackers in 1948, a move probably not necessary to remain the category leader as is evidenced by the product’s fast rise to fame and continued appeal to children.

Whether you prefer the crispy biscuit-like crackers or the sweeter, softer cookie-like variety, on National Animal Crackers Day, we’re of the notion that the more animals in the parade, the merrier. We’re not sure exactly when animal crackers were first commemorated with their own special date on the calendar, but on National Animal Crackers Day we are all-in and all about animal crackers on parade.

And YES, almost every brand of animal cracker is vegan. Check the label for dairy, just in case.

00:00 Intro
00:12 OH NO!
00:17 What is National Animal Crackers Day
01:14 It's all about marketing
01:58 Did you know?
02:10 Set them free!

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