Bring on the joy! Inside this year’s holiday cup designs 

Starting November 7, Starbucks stores will be decked out for the holidays and we’re here to tell you all about this year’s bright and beautiful collection of holiday cups. 

The holidays return to Starbucks stores on November 7, but we couldn’t wait to share the story behind this year’s bright and beautiful collection. 

Kristy Cameron, Starbucks creative director for this year’s holiday cup designs, said that the team was inspired to try to make every sip a joyful one. 

“We love finding these genuine moments of joy and coffee to inspire the creative,” Cameron said. “Whether that’s coffee trees growing, beans roasting, cups toasting, or lights glowing – we wanted to share the warmth of our coffeehouse and the anticipation of the red cups arriving with our customers and partners.”   

A playful colour palette sets the festive tone, with familiar shades of Starbucks green and cranberry red paired with fondant-inspired soft pastels.  

“We're really excited to lean into greens this year,” Cameron said. “The jade green is so vibrant and bright, and we love how it references our brand colours in a way that brings a spark of joy to our holiday cups this season.” 

Graphic elements include charms that look like old-fashioned holiday ornaments or peppermints, which appear on cups and merchandise. A wavy motif inspired by the Starbucks siren is employed as a scalloped edge treatment on the sleeve of the hot cup, along with little badges on the back of the cups for baristas to write a message. 

“We’re calling it the ‘siren wave.’ It is a beautiful little holiday trim feature that you can see on our signs and packaging, or as a gift tag on the back of our cups as a place for baristas to write messages to our customers,” she said. “It comes almost directly from her hair shape, zooming in on our siren and our logo and playing with some of the shapes and negative space.” 

This year’s theme, Merrier Together, is threaded throughout the campaign.  

“We kept thinking about this notion of voices coming together, like our siren singing,” she said. “It feels musical in a way.” 

Introducing this year’s cup designs 

This year’s holiday cup lineup offers a little something for everyone with four hot cup designs and one cold cup. 

Warm Wishes 

With Warm Wishes, Starbucks designers started with the idea of a view of coffee cups from above coming together and saying “cheers” to each other. Interconnected dots evoke glowing holiday lights and moments of enjoying coffee together. 

Joyful Connection

If you’ve ever had the chance to see coffee roasting at a Starbucks Reserve® Roastery the most exciting moment comes when the roasted coffee is released into a round metal cooling tray below, while a mechanical arm whirls around to cool the freshly roasted beans. That was the inspiration for the Joyful Connection cup, with its circular shapes combining to form a pattern that honors the art of coffee roasting and the joy of being together.   

Lyrical Landscape 

Lyrical Landscape features vibrant, undulating lines that weave together, reminiscent of holiday ribbons and the green rolling hills where coffee is grown. Alternating bands of red, green and pink create a symphony of color like a perfectly wrapped gift. 

Siren Chorus 

Striped holiday charms come together in a chorus of colors, drawing inspiration from the patterns made from raking coffee beans in the sun and the flowing lines of the Starbucks siren.  

Holiday Cold Cup

Festive charms adorn the holiday cold cup, adding a touch of cheer to the season’s icy beverages.