Team members at a Hampshire accountancy firm have shown their fun side with the launch of an exciting Christmas bauble competition in aid of charity.

HWB Chartered Accountants is inviting clients, contacts, staff and members of the public to guess the exact number of Christmas baubles they have on display in their Chandler’s Ford reception.

Managing Director Tracy Jenkins has filled a one-metre-tall, 300mm-diameter clear cylindrical tube with the coloured decorations of different shapes and sizes.

A Christmas hamper worth £100 is the prize for the closest guess, whilst donations and the baubles will be going to HWB’s main charity, Mountbatten Hampshire.

Tracy said: “This is a great way to brighten up Christmas and share some festive joy. With Christmas fast approaching, we thought we’d show our fun side, sprinkle a little cheer and help Mountbatten at the same time.”

Glass baubles made to hang on trees first appeared in Germany in the 1500s.

The most expensive bauble was sold in 2009 with a price tag of £80,000. It was made by a British jeweller and consisted of 18K gold and more than 1,500 diamonds.

The world's biggest Christmas bauble was unveiled in Dubai in 2018, measuring almost 6.59 metres in height, 4.68 metres in width and weighing in at 1,100 kilograms.

The word ‘bauble’ came into contemporary use from Middle English and earlier from Old French, where ‘baubel, babel’ meant ‘children’s toy’. Scholars believe the origin is the Latin ‘bellus’, an adjective meaning ‘pretty’.

Entries to the HWB competition can be made on an iPad by calling in at the firm’s office in Mayflower Close, Chandler’s Ford, or online via the company’s social media channels.

The baubles, in HWB’s corporate colours of blue, pink and turquoise, will be on display until Friday 15 December when a winner will be notified by email and announced. If there is a tie, entrants with the same answer will be drawn from a hat.

Once the competition is closed, all the baubles will be donated to Mountbatten for them to sell on, so recycling their use.

Caitlyn Sherry, Corporate Partnerships Fundraiser at Mountbatten, said: “With demand for our 24/7 services growing all the time, and with Christmas being a particularly challenging time for people living with death, dying and bereavement, we really appreciate gestures like this, so on behalf of everyone at Mountbatten, thank you HWB Chartered Accountants.”

In another festive-themed competition in 2015, HWB challenged people to estimate how many brussels sprouts were on display inside a clear tube in the office.

Tracy said: “This left an unfortunate aroma in the office, so we’re glad we won’t have the same problem this time around!”

HWB Chartered Accountants, based at Chandler’s Ford, near Southampton, provides business and tax advice.