{"id":618055,"date":"2025-12-07T14:16:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T14:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/618055\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T14:16:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T14:16:13","slug":"goodbye-angels-hello-ozempic-needles-whats-behind-the-boom-in-bizarre-christmas-baubles-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/618055\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye angels, hello Ozempic needles \u2013 what\u2019s behind the boom in bizarre Christmas baubles? | Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

it was the second Tuesday in November but Christmas was already in crisis. Sarah Gibbons had just received a shipment of baubles at her Glasgow homeware shop, Modern Love Store, and some crucial ornaments were missing. She hopped on a long-distance phone call to her suppliers in the US \u2013 she needed to sort this out. After all, her customers were clamouring for them. \u201cPeople aren\u2019t just buying one,\u201d the 39-year-old shopkeeper told me after discovering the missing decorations, \u201cthey\u2019re buying three or four at a time.\u201d Three what? Turtle doves? Nutcrackers? Or perhaps some classic candy canes? Of course not. This year\u2019s must-have bauble is in the shape of a lightly glittered syringe of Ozempic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Growing up, my favourite Christmas ornament was a little pink plastic baby Jesus resting in a manger. He was bought by my great-aunt in Oberammergau, Germany, in 1990 \u2013 and although his battery hasn\u2019t been changed since, you can still press his belly to hear Silent Night play. Today, decorations are a little different. Ozempic isn\u2019t the only needle hanging from our needles: Britons can also purchase Christmas tree ornaments shaped like syringes of Botox<\/a> and filler<\/a>. Meanwhile, Selfridges is selling a dirty martini bauble<\/a>, M&S is peddling a hanging prawn cocktail<\/a> and Aldi is offering an ornament shaped like an air fryer<\/a>. Move over, baby Jesus; glass has now been blown into the likeness of Harry Styles<\/a>, Taylor Swift<\/a> and The Bear\u2019s Jeremy Allen White<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Goodbye, angels, shepherds and stars. When it comes to decorations, we\u2019re really branching out. Should you want to \u2013 and people do \u2013 you can buy baubles shaped like coffee machines<\/a>, puffer jackets<\/a>, hair dryers<\/a>, credit cards<\/a>, oat milk<\/a>, orange wine<\/a>, \u201chappy pills\u201d<\/a>, wrinkle cream<\/a>, pasta<\/a>, matcha<\/a>, Doritos<\/a>, sriracha<\/a>, Perell\u00f3 olives <\/a>and a bottle of Heinz tomato ketchup<\/a>. O\u00a0Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, how lovely are your brand deals.<\/p>\n

Why\u00a0do people want to bedeck their trees with crisps, pints and lattes? <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What\u2019s going on? Is this a straightforward story of sacrilege, or is something else at play? It\u2019s hard to deny tastes have shifted dramatically. A 1990 photograph<\/a> of an in-store John Lewis Christmas tree features beads,\u00a0bells, bows and carousels \u2013 the most unusual ornament is a masquerade mask. Today, the department store sells baubles shaped like sardines<\/a>, snooker balls<\/a>, espresso martinis<\/a>, kitchen scales<\/a>, hot dogs<\/a>, caviar<\/a>, and miniature Quality Street<\/a> tins. \u201cBoxed baubles have been in decline,\u201d says Lisa Cherry, the enviably titled head of Christmas at John Lewis. \u201cOver the last 10 years, our box bauble sales have declined by about 60%.\u201d It seems that customers no longer want a generic set of matching balls, but, Cherry adds, sales have been made up in the rise of loose baubles. \u201cPeople are just changing what they\u2019re looking for on the tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Cherry and her team start to consider a new Christmas decoration collection, they don\u2019t think about the festive season at all. Instead, they use sales data from across the department store \u2013 and its stablemate Waitrose \u2013 to track purchasing trends. They then try to reflect them in their ornaments, which is how you end up with a blueberry matcha bauble, as well as a pint of stout<\/a>. \u201cWhen you were young, who put chillies on their tree?\u201d Cherry laughs. \u201cBut for the last few years, that has been one of our most popular food baubles.\u201d<\/p>\n

After chewing over the trends, the John Lewis team\u00a0come up with a macro theme for their decorations \u2013 this year\u2019s was \u201cwisdom\u201d, to reflect the fact that customers seem to be appreciating craftsmanship and nostalgia. This is why the department store is selling retro baking equipment baubles, as well as a miniature of the record player<\/a> seen in its latest Christmas ad<\/a>. Plus, for \u00a38 you\u00a0can also get a bauble shaped like a stack of books<\/a>, with the titles on the spines reading \u201cHappiness\u201d, \u201cHealthy Food,\u201d \u201cMindfulness\u201d and \u201cLet\u2019s Go to the Gym\u201d.<\/p>\n

From left: happy pills<\/a>, \u00a318, rockettstgeorge.co.uk; truffle mayo,<\/a> \u00a314, vondels.com; Meet Me In My Room<\/a> key, \u00a313.20, vondels.com; water bottle<\/a>, \u00a318, rockettstgeorge.co.uk; Sabrina Carpenter,<\/a> \u00a325, rockettstgeorge.co.uk.<\/p>\n

At a time when eight in 10 Britons<\/a> think Christmas is more secular than religious, perhaps this all makes\u00a0sense \u2013 but, then again, why not stick to the cute little woodland animals that John Lewis also sells?\u00a0Why\u00a0do people want to bedeck their trees with crisps, pints and lattes? Is this a case of a selfish generation, obsessed with identity, forcefully trying to put the \u201cI\u201d in \u201ctree\u201d?<\/p>\n

As always, it\u2019s a little more complicated than that. Cherry says that quirky, themed ornaments reflect a\u00a0huge rise in people gifting baubles. More and more, people are turning up at dinner parties with a\u00a0thoughtful little trinket that says they know their host. This means that unusual ornaments sell best at the start of the season, and \u201cas you get nearer to Christmas<\/a>, you\u2019re selling more traditional\u201d. It also explains why Gibbons can sell four Ozempic ornaments at a time.<\/p>\n

Another trend driving the bauble bonanza is the rise in two-tree households. In 2023, John Lewis\u2019s festive traditions tracker report found that 27% of Britons had two Christmas trees<\/a>. \u201cIt could be easily up to half of customers now,\u201d Cherry says. She has also noticed a\u00a0rise in people using ornaments elsewhere around the\u00a0house \u2013 on wreaths, in garlands, up banisters and on walls.<\/p>\n

And we simply love to spend. This year, sales in Selfridges\u2019 Christmas Shop have risen 47%, with ornaments alone up 15%. The four most popular baubles the brand offers are ones emblazoned with its logo, but a Taylor Swift-inspired ornament comes in fifth place. In total, Selfridges is selling more than 1,200 different baubles this year \u2013 the Ozempic one was so popular it has already sold out.<\/p>\n

Just how far have we strayed from tradition? The Illustrated London News printed a picture of Queen Victoria\u2019s tree in 1848<\/a>. Accompanying it was a description of its ornamentation: wax tapers and ribbons were overshadowed by real \u201cfancy cakes\u201d, gilt gingerbread, and little baskets and miniature boxes carrying sweetmeats. Foodie trees, then, are nothing new, even if things used to be a lot more edible. And if we look at Charles Dickens\u2019s description of a Christmas tree from 1850, we find that our taste for novelty isn\u2019t that new, either. \u201cThere were rosy-cheeked dolls, hiding behind the green leaves; and there were real watches \u2026 dangling from innumerable twigs,\u201d Dickens wrote. Then there were the miniature items of furniture \u201cperched among the boughs, as if in preparation for some fairy housekeeping\u201d \u2013 plus guns, swords, drums, and even witches. \u201cIn short, as a pretty child before me delightedly whispered to another pretty child,\u201d Dickens wrote. \u201cThere was everything, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, there\u2019s no denying we often used to bake and make our own decorations, and by 1990, a writer in the BBC magazine the Listener was bemoaning that, \u201cThe postwar mentality of never throwing anything away has succumbed to the modern consumer\u2019s need to be seen to be in tune with the style of the times.\u201d Dickens might have appreciated a miniature fortune-telling witch, but it\u2019s easy to imagine him balking at a\u00a0weight-loss injecti-bauble.<\/p>\n

Gibbons, though, is happy to sell the bejewelled jab. \u201cThey\u2019re very zeitgeisty,\u201d she says. \u201cSome people will think they\u2019re the tackiest, most disgusting things ever \u2026 but it\u2019s just a bit of a joke.\u201d She also sells ornaments shaped like cigarettes<\/a>, iced coffee<\/a>, spaghetti <\/a>and mayo<\/a> \u2013 not to mention a weed-smoking Jesus <\/a>(\u201cIf\u00a0my granny was still alive, she would be absolutely furious\u201d).<\/p>\n

How does Gibbons explain this niche level of decoration? \u201cPeople want to collect ornaments that mean something to them. A plain red-and-white striped bauble might have no meaning to you.\u201d She says, too, that customers \u201cwant to buy new stuff every year\u201d and switch their trees up annually. It\u2019s now a tradition in her own home that she, her husband and her children each buy a new bauble every Christmas \u2013 \u201cand then I\u00a0cheat and buy one on behalf of the cat\u201d.<\/p>\n

From left: Heinz ketchup<\/a>, \u00a316, studiothie.com; black egg barbecue<\/a>, \u00a315.80, vondels.com; Botox syringe<\/a>, \u00a318, rockettstgeorge.co.uk; blueberry matcha<\/a>, \u00a38, johnlewis.com; clog<\/a>, \u00a314, studiothie.com.<\/p>\n

One of Gibbons\u2019s suppliers is the US wholesaler Cody Foster, which has been creating novelty baubles for more than 25 years. Foster produced the Ozempic bauble, but the Dutch brand Vondels created the filler jab ornaments seen on British shelves. The company\u2019s baubles are stocked in high-end stores such as Fortnum & Mason, Selfridges, Liberty and Harrods and also available in more than 50 countries worldwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe constantly are absorbing what is hot and what is not, and what is happening around us,\u201d says Loesje Donner-Raedts, who founded Vondels a decade ago. At\u00a0the time, she was a buyer in a department store and was tired of the \u201ctraditional, predictable and uninspiring\u201d baubles on offer. She wanted to create \u201cornaments that are connected to you instead of connected to everyone\u201d. She believes that a Christmas tree should be \u201cpersonal\u201d and \u201ctell a story about you or your friends\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Right now, Vondels offers baubles shaped like washing machines<\/a>, golf carts<\/a> and cans of Pringles<\/a>. Throughout the year, the team look at concept stores, restaurants, cocktail menus and holiday destinations to figure out what\u2019s trending. Other current Vondels ornaments include wrinkle remover, false lashes<\/a>, truffle mayonnaise<\/a> and a gold glass key emblazoned with the words \u201cMeet me in my room<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, we don\u2019t want to offend anyone,\u201d says Donner-Raedts. \u201cWe want to give this playful nod to modern beauty culture, but we don\u2019t want it to be \u2026 how do you say? Like, the bad part of sassy?\u201d As a\u00a0result, Vondels avoids the overtly sexual and anything that\u00a0might shock.<\/p>\n

But there are also other limitations on what can be bauble-ified. Vondels has a collaboration with the Dutch children\u2019s character Miffy<\/a> and this year the company wanted an ornament of the rabbit riding a bike. \u201cBut for glass-blowing you cannot make it too thin, so actually it looked more like a motorcycle,\u201d Donner-Raedts laughs. \u201cWe had to stop the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do licensed ornaments like these actually work behind the scenes? Look closely at some of the branded baubles on offer in various shops and you\u2019ll see they\u2019re not actually branded at all \u2013 they\u2019re just cleverly coloured to imitate recognisable products. Celebrity baubles are also often unofficial, and thus tactfully titled \u2013 when it comes to Swift, they might be called \u201cTaylor inspired\u201d or \u201cMiss Americana\u201d. But sometimes an imitation bauble can lead to an official collaboration. In 2024, design brand Studio Thie created ornaments that looked like cans of Perell\u00f3 olives \u2013 then founder Simon Thie contacted the brand and orchestrated an official partnership.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just start picking up on things that everyone has or is using,\u201d Thie says, explaining that the brand capitalised on the \u201cdesigner larder\u201d trend, by creating a \u201cReal Housewives of Clapton\u201d set featuring clogs, greyhounds and bougie bottles of wine and crisps. At\u00a0the other end of the spectrum, they\u2019ve also collaborated with Heinz<\/a>, which means they sell ketchup sachets, cans of beans and even salad cream bottles as ornaments.<\/p>\n

From left: pint of stout<\/a>, \u00a38, johnlewis.com; Heinz Hoops, \u00a314, <\/a>studiothie.com; boots<\/a>, \u00a311.95, rockettstgeorge.co.uk; block of butter<\/a>, \u00a36, johnlewis.com; Yorkshire pudding<\/a>, \u00a314, studiothie.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people have ketchup on their Christmas lunch \u2013 my brother included,\u201d Thie says. OK, sure, but was it difficult to get Heinz on board? \u201cI think maybe they saw it more as a marketing idea \u2013 not that they\u2019re going to sell or make loads of money from some Christmas decorations,\u201d Thie explains. \u201cI guess maybe, for them, it\u2019s keeping that conversation going.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to imagine what couldn\u2019t be baubled next \u2013 I\u2019ve just Googled the most ridiculous items I can think of but they already exist <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A decade ago, Vondels shook up the bauble industry \u2013 but, nowadays, more and more stores are selling unusual novelty ornaments. It\u2019s now a battle to stand\u00a0out, and while Vondels might avoid sexing things up, other brands are happy to fill that particular hole in the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said we should call them Christmas dick-olations,\u201d says Lucy St George, one of the founders of Rockett St\u00a0George. The online homeware store sells ornaments shaped like bikinis<\/a> and antidepressants, but St George is referring to the brand\u2019s pink sex toy<\/a> ornaments \u2013 complete with veins. \u201cI thought we might have gone too far,\u201d says co-founder Jane Rockett, but then the dick-olations promptly sold out.<\/p>\n

Where could all of this possibly end up? (Apart from in a landfill, of course.) It\u2019s hard to imagine what couldn\u2019t be baubled next \u2013 I\u2019ve just Googled the most ridiculous items I can think of but they already exist. Waitrose is selling a toilet paper<\/a> bauble; Cody Foster has a tin-foiled baked potato<\/a> complete with chives. Perhaps we will eventually tire of novelty or something will jolt us back towards tradition. Until then, why not hang a cheese toastie<\/a> on your Christmas tree? It will look lovely next to the hot sauce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"it was the second Tuesday in November but Christmas was already in crisis. Sarah Gibbons had just received…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-618055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115678713133500908","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}