Since 1997, Starbucks Coffee has celebrated the holiday season with a cheerful red cup. According to the Starbucks Newsroom, the first red festive cups "punctuated the jewel-toned palette of deep reds, greens, blues and yellows and a jazzy Santa with a profile that evoked the Starbucks siren." Since then, the company's creative team designed a seasonal cup to be unveiled in stores in late autumn. The years have seen everything seasonal from ornaments to snowmen to abstract winter-themed designs.

In 2015, the highly anticipated holiday cup caused quite a stir. The design was a solid red, with no design whatsoever. Starbucks Vice President Jefferey Fields told CNN that the coffee company "wanted to usher in the holidays with a purity of design that welcomes all of our stories." Despite including the same holiday drinks in the menu and Christmas products in stores, many argued that the plain red cup was Starbucks's way of "waging a war on Christmas." Since practically all of the seasonal cups in previous years included designs specific to Christmas, the change brought more attention to the diversity of holiday celebrations in the United States and worldwide.

This year, the Starbucks creative team was inspired by the way customers decorated their cups. Over 1,200 cup designs were submitted to the company via Instagram last December. Many of the submissions were featured on an online collection, and 13 were selected to adorn the festive red cups of this year's holiday months. The winning designs were created by Starbucks customers from six countries, including the United States to the United Arab Emirates. They were released in stores on November 10 alongside holiday drinks, gift cards and merchandise.