See it and Sell it First at ASI Show Orlando – January 4-6, 2025.   Register Now.

Strategy October 05, 2018

Starbucks Holiday Drinkware: Yeah or Meh?

The branded merchandise is part of the global coffee company’s holiday season promo push.

By  Christopher Ruvo

We haven’t even finished sipping our pumpkin-spice-everythings, and Starbucks is already priming us for the season of peppermint mochas and gingerbread lattes. The chain café recently began teasing some of its holiday-themed promotional products – drinkware to be precise -- as part of its 90-day countdown to Christmas.

This 24 oz Iridescent Cold Cup, $18.95, is part of the new Starbucks holiday merch collection. Photo from Starbucks.

Certainly, a lot of folks are digging the drinkware, as we read here and here, and saw below:

To be honest, though, we’re not sure we’re sold on it. It doesn’t feel invitingly “holidays” to us. While Starbucks’ autumn merch collaboration took some criticism for, in the eyes of some, failing to be “autumny” enough, we actually dug that line. It bucked the norm and went with a color palate and design that was unexpected in a way that, to us, still felt warm and seasonal. And that’s what, in our view, might be lacking in this holiday drinkware: It feels a smidge cold – a little too abstract and distant to truly ring with the welcoming spirit of the holidays. Different can be awesome. Different and cold, not so much for the holidays. Be the judge:

Green Glitter Ombre Stainless Steel Tumbler, 16 oz. $17.95. Photo from Starbucks.

Red Glitter Ombre Stainless Steel Tumbler, 16 oz. $19.95. Photo from Starbucks.

Double Wall Ceramic Sparkle Blend Tumbler, 12 oz. $19.95. Photo from Starbucks.

Black Sequins Cold Cup, 24 oz. $18.95. Photo from Starbucks.

Flow Glitter Cold Cup, 24 oz. $18.95. Photo from Starbucks.

At the end of the day, Starbucks knows its audience better than us, so we’ll wait and see how the line performs before casting final judgment. Still, for our money, we would have preferred a drinkware collection infused with a certain warmth of design that feels like the first satisfying sip of a toasted white chocolate mocha on a snowy December afternoon.

If you dig the collection, right on. You should be able to find the drinkware at your local Starbucks this holiday season.