'Tis the season: How Starbucks Red Cup Day became the ultimate holiday cue

Starbucks Red Cup Day has officially arrived, offering customers a free, reusable red cup with every seasonal drink order.

2024's red cup design features a peppermint candy motif with the Starbucks logo front and center. It was revealed a week after Starbucks unveiled its latest festive cup designs — four vibrant options that fans eagerly anticipate each year.

For many, the rollouts mark the beginning of a cherished annual tradition that’s as much about connection and nostalgia as it is about coffee.

The journey of Starbucks red cups began in 1997 when graphic designer Sandy Nelson was tasked with creating the company’s first seasonal cup designs. The first design, a charming pattern of holly leaves and coffee beans, was personally chosen by Starbucks founder Howard Schultz.

“It reminded him of a wrapped gift, like presenting customers with a gift-wrapped cup of coffee,” Nelson recalled to Yahoo Entertainment, noting Schultz’s enthusiasm for the concept.

That first collection, printed in red, green, purple and blue, was "meant to be a celebration of the season, a special moment in the customer’s day,” Nelson explained, adding that the cups became predominantly red in 1999. “[Before that], they might get a different color cup each day, as a little surprise. That was the premise.”

Now, 27 years later, Starbucks still debuts fresh holiday cup designs each November, sparking excitement among its most devoted fans. For Nelson, who worked at Starbucks from 1997-2011, seeing the holiday cups evolve into a cultural phenomenon fills her with a special sense of pride.

“I love that people take photos of their hands holding a Starbucks holiday cup,” she said. “It’s become a predictable tradition, when so much else in the world feels uncertain, [and] a small joy in the midst of our busy lives. It’s a thrill to see the tradition live on!”

The magic of the red cup

For Starbucks devotees, holiday cups aren’t just about coffee — they’re symbols of seasonal joy and family tradition.

Bella Boye, known for her impressive collection of Stanley Cups, said her obsession with coffee merchandise began in middle school, when she and her mom made an annual pilgrimage to Starbucks to collect holiday cups.

“We’d wake up super early to make sure we got there before they sold out,” Boye told Yahoo Entertainment. Each Red Cup Day, they’d snag a new cup, which they’d use all season long.

“Knowing it happens every year creates even more excitement,” she said. “It builds anticipation because you know it’s coming, but you don’t know what it’s going to look like. I get butterflies in my stomach every year!”

Boye said the cups “give people permission” to transition into holiday mode, which never fails to lift her spirits.

“When Starbucks releases their holiday cups, it’s like the official start of the Christmas season,” she explained. “People think, ‘OK, now it’s time to put up the tree, now it’s OK to listen to Christmas music.’”

Meghann Krieman, another holiday cup collector who's been part of the tradition for six years, shares the excitement.

“I can’t miss it. I have to go every year to pick up cups for the whole family,” she told Yahoo Entertainment. “The excitement has stayed strong over the years.”

Collecting Starbucks cups has become a family ritual for Krieman. “Most of my family and friends make sure to get theirs too,” she said. “We go as early as possible since the quantities are limited.”

Now, she’s passing down the tradition to her own children, who are 3 and 6 years old. “They each get their own cup, just like their mom,” she said proudly.

Brewing togetherness

Kyle Duford, author of The Brand Book, explained that Starbucks iconic holiday cups act as a unique "holiday cue" for consumers, a visual marker that Starbucks has made its own.

The concept was especially innovative back in 1997, before social media, when holiday cues were limited to things like Christmas music on the radio or Black Friday, Duford told Yahoo Entertainment.

“What Starbucks has done is create a cultural marker,” he said, noting that other brands, like Amazon with Prime Day, have emulated its success by “owning” certain times of the year, but Starbucks remains uniquely tied to the holiday season.

“You develop this emotional connection with the tradition,” Duford said of the cups. “The cup brings people together. When you see somebody holding the cup, you’re like, ‘Oh, it must be the holidays already.’ It makes us feel like we used to when the first Christmas song came on the radio.”

Over the years, the cups proved so successful that “the lead time for designing the holiday campaign increased,” Nelson said. “We were often working on concepts many months or even a year in advance.”

The personal connection people feel toward the cups is no accident, explained Duford. Starbucks, a brand rooted in familiarity and togetherness (even down to writing names on cups to “add a personal touch”), created a new way of uniting customers through shared anticipation for the holiday cup reveal.

In doing so, Duford said the company became an integral part of people’s lives, aligning its brand values with those of “joy and giving and thankfulness and gratitude,” which embody the holiday spirit.

For a brand, that’s a win-win. “It’s part of their community aspect — a physical manifestation of their brand essence,” he explained of the cup tradition, which has since evolved to include holiday-themed merchandise and annual menu items.

“They’re not a coffee brand,” said Duford. “They’re a brand about community and connection that happens to make coffee.”

Updated Nov. 14, 2024: This story was originally published on Nov. 7 and has been updated.