Starbucks’ Holiday Drinkware: 25th Anniversary Paper Cups and Miniature Cup Ornaments

Brendan Menapace

With the holiday season approaching, or already here depending on who you ask, it’s time once again for Starbucks to debut not only its single-use plastic cup, which itself is an artistic release every year for now 25 years, but also a new line of reusable branded products.

The thing with Starbucks cups is that they’re such an influential player in the drinkware space that distributors and suppliers can look at what they’re selling, and use that as a look into what end-users want in a drinkware product.

This year, Starbucks’ holiday cup eschews the lilac shade it brought into the fold last year, opting instead for a more minimal and traditional red and green design.

Starbucks actually posted a full gallery of all of the holiday cups over the last 25 years, from its purple beginnings to red fame, and it’s a good visual representation of how design tastes change over time. Busy designs gave way to minimalism and cartoonishness, and then we landed back on traditional wrapping paper-esque designs. This latest cup also features a mint green to commemorate the anniversary of the Peppermint Mocha.

But now onto the reusable drinks, which is really what promotional products people can learn the most from.

While the paper cups went more traditional, the reusable cups are still as glitzy and glamorous as they were in the fall, albeit with different color schemes.

While the fall collection used harvest shades like orange, Starbucks’ holiday line is going with an eye-catching magenta and gold. To really tie it into the holiday season, both tumblers come with miniature versions to hang on the tree.

That ornament is a great idea for Starbucks. It keeps the brand visible at all times during the holiday season, and takes a real-life product and turns it into something else to show off the logo.

So, for distributors thinking about holiday promotions in the future, the idea of a miniature to act as an ornament is a good place to start. Think about what your clients do or make. How can you represent that through something like an ornament or collectible?

The cups also show that designers shouldn’t be afraid of going over-the-top with color usage or sparkle.

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