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Lifestyle

Starbucks’ New Holiday Cups Are Definitely Something to Cheer About

This article is written by a student writer from the Spoon University at Emory chapter.

Remember back in 2015 when the biggest controversy wasn’t the election results, but the fact that Starbucks’ new holiday cups were just red? Well, Starbucks clearly got the message and everyone can take a chill pill now—13 new designs for the holiday season were just released (in addition to their new green cup).

And, the most exciting part? There’s even a holiday designed iced coffee cup too for those of us who love to drink our cold drinks in 30 degree weather and still be festive (I mean, it’s never too cold for a Frappuccino).

Starbucks' New Holiday Cups cream coffee
Zaina Gowani

Customers last year used the red cup as a canvas, so Starbucks invited them to submit their designs via Instagram. With over 12,000 submissions, 13 were chosen from customers all around the world. Designs varied from holiday lights to an evergreen forest to a snowflake sweater to candy canes. Each design highlights special parts of the holiday season for everyone.

Submissions didn’t just come from professional artists, but also a hairstylist from Pennsylvania, an architecture student from California and even a nurse aide from Chicago. One designer from Dubai, Anz Soza, has made a hobby out of doodling on Starbucks cups, with over 75 cup creations.

When the cups were first released, Starbucks celebrated the return of the holiday cups with a “buy one, share one” deal. Between 2 and 5pm on November 10-14 if you bought a holiday drink, you would get one free to share.

As opposed to last year, the overall response has been positive. But Starbucks’ new green cups, which were released a week prior to the holiday cups, did get some backlash despite the fact that green, believe it or not, is still a holiday color.

My personal favorites are the “woodland deer” and “snowflake sweater” designs. Which cup will you be seen holding on your next Starbucks run? 

Important things in life: iced coffee, nice eyebrows, friends, and brunch... not necessarily in that order