Shocked Sainsbury’s shopper spots glaring grammatical error on Christmas decoration

We’re fully aware that there are far more important global issues going on right now… but can we just go all ‘grammar police’ on Sainsbury’s for a second?

It’s absolutely no secret by now that the festive season is around the corner, and this means the shelves at every retail store across the UK are getting filled up thick and fast with Christmas decorations, food, cards, and so much more as the weeks go on.

Sainsbury’s is absolutely no different.

But a quick run-of-the-mill trip to the supermarket in Bolton town centre the other weekend ended up turning into a need to call the grammar police.

As well as all the festive feasting treats, the supermarket’s partner homeware brand, Habitat – which often has outlets inside Sainsbury’s stores nationwide, as well as being an online retailer in its own right – has also released its extended lineup of Christmas decorations for the 2024 season, and of course, ornaments for the tree are a big part of this.

It’s pretty common to see decorations that mark milestone occasions adorning people’s trees, for example the first Christmas you spend in a new home, as an engaged or married couple, or with a new family member.

So, of course, Habitat has jumped on this trend and decided to release a range of £1 ceramic keepsake decorations – with one for 2024 marriages, new homes, new pets, and… ‘babies’.

While you may look at the decoration initially and not bat an eyelid, as reading the phrase ‘Babies 1st Christmas’ etched on the front does sound correct, it only takes a moment of realisation to notice that ‘babies’ is the plural form of the word, when it should be written as ‘baby’s’ with an apostrophe of possession instead.

It leaves many (me, mainly me) wondering “how did that get signed off?”.

Not content with just moving on from the matter, we decided to fire a quick email over to Sainsbury’s and Habitat to see what they had to say for themselves, and to be fair, they did give us a pretty hilarious, pun-filled response to explain things, and also confirmed that the product with the incorrect spelling has now been removed from sale.

A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s said: “We want our festive decorations to be tree-mendous, so we’re sorry for the spelling slip-up.

“Customers can still pick up a big bauble with the correct spelling.”

Read more:

• A TV channel playing Christmas films 24/7 is now back on air in the UK
• Sainsbury’s launches initiative to tackle food poverty during school holidays
• The UK’s biggest employer of seasonal Santas is recruiting in Greater Manchester

Look Habitat, all we can say is, if you wanted to generate headlines with your new Christmas decorations, you didn’t have to go that far.

Anyway, back to the actual real world news…

Featured Image – Jared Lind (via Unsplash)