Idaho’s Surprising Place in 20 Years of Starbucks Holiday Cups
Hi! I'm Michelle Heart and I'm married to a Starbucks addict.
Since we started dating, I haven't gone a full week without someone telling me that they saw my boyfriend/fiance/husband at Starbucks. He's been severely addicted to the Seattle based chain since 2004. I have to be honest, I think I went to Starbucks all of two times in my life before moving to Boise nearly a decade ago and it wasn't until the great holiday cup debate of 2015 that I was aware of the fact Starbucks was actually famous for their holiday cups!
And I was "today years old" when I realized that they've been doing a holiday cup for more than two decades! I saw abvideo pop up on my Facebook feed today that showed the cups year by year since 1997 and the evolution is fascinating. If you're unfamiliar with some of the older cups, watch the video below!
When you do, make sure you pay close attention to the cups from 2016 (the year after everyone was upset from the plain red cups.) That year they picked 13 designs from Starbucks customers. Among those 13 design was one from Shogo Ota, a University of Idaho graduate. Ota's artwork was so well loved that he was invited to recreate it on Starbucks windows in New York City's Times Square.