‘Antidote to bland’: inside the ironic bauble trend

In signs that Christmas is throwing out the rulebook, red and gold baubles are on the decline. In their place? Picante cocktails, full English breakfasts, clamshells and even anatomical human hearts. Welcome to the era of the anti-trad bauble.

John Lewis, normally a leader of tradition, is selling everything from balloon dogs to sprinkle cakes and miniature dart boards. Sales of pickles and croissant decorations are up 12% week on week. At M&S, bestsellers include a teeny packet of Percy Pigs, a yoga mat and a silver suitcase. This year, the online homeware site Rockett St George has even added a pink glittery air fryer to its bauble roster, well and truly mirroring the times. Other highlights: a gold cowboy boot and a cheese dome featuring slabs of melting camembert and brie. A spokesperson describes them as “the antidote to bland”.

As to why this is happening this year, Julia Jeuvell, owner of London stationery shop Choosing Keeping, thinks that buying a box set of rounded baubles now feels “quite 90s”. Instead, customers are keen to curate their own collections by choosing ornaments that “resonate with their personality”. This year, Jeuvell has created a 72-page printed catalogue with her “anti-mass made” and hand-painted offerings. These include cutesy squirrels, tinned fish and evil carrots.

The trend spans all cohorts. Some are trend led – Etsy is selling Brat- emblazoned balls for £7.50, Flying Tiger has a £2 pink glass ornament that mimics a jade face roller, while Sass & Belle has a glittery beans on toast trinket (£10). Others are more collectible – at Selfridges, baubles cost anything from £4 to £100 for a disco cowboy hat. And people are buying them; sales of baubles are up 14% year-on-year at its store on Oxford Street, central London.

Selfridges first launched its offering of more than 900 decorations in September. A Swiftie-emblazoned slogan bauble has remained top of the charts ever since, while a packet of “Porres expensive potato crisps” and “Chri Smas” wine bottle riff on the regularly memefied Torres truffle crisps and Chin Chin Vinho Verde are also trending.

Jeuvell’s main suppliers are based in Lauscha, “the birthplace of baubles”. The small town in central Germany is known for its glass-blowing workshops and in the 1930s produced 95% of Christmas ornaments for the US market. While today’s foodie and animal ornaments may seem modern, they are throwbacks to the bauble’s origins.

Jeuvell explains that the original bauble makers took inspiration from what was around them, riffing on floral and fauna. (During the first world war, zeppelin airships were a popular inspiration.) There was also a heavy American influence, with replicates of mini packets of mac and cheese that first appeared in US supermarkets in 1937. So, while radishes, oysters and figs might feel novel on social media, to 17th-century treescapers they were the norm. A plastic water bottle, a balding Prince William and a lime bike? Not so much.

With such a big selection available, most customers buy baubles that “reflect their style”, but Jeuvell admits that some are bought out of spite. During Brexit, she added an EU flag to her edit. “A lot of people bought it for their father-in-law,” she says. “Just to piss them off.”

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