The 13 Cups of Christmas

December 23, 2016

This year, Starbucks’ traditional red holiday season cups come with a twist: the festive designs were hand drawn by artists from around the world. Last December, Starbucks invited customers to share their artistic designs on Instagram. From the submissions, 13 designs were chosen for the 2016 holiday cups, which were officially released on November 10th. Since the iconic Starbucks Christmas cup’s first appearance in 1997, it has featured several winter-themed designs. However, instead of sparking festive spirits, Starbucks’ 2015 holiday cup only created controversy: commentators on social media went berserk, claiming that the plain red cups had been stripped of Christmas symbolism. While some were outraged and claimed that the 2015 holiday cup was a “war on Christmas”, others thought “people need to chill, it’s a cup you toss out.” Perhaps the social media debacle was what inspired Starbucks to turn to customer-created designs this year. Take a look at each cup design below:

1. Birds and Flowers
By Florencia from Bandung, Indonesia