That year, they settled on a vibrant shade of candy-apple red with whimsical drawings of snowflakes, stockings and other images that evoked the spirit of the holiday. “We brought in all these holiday items in a range of reds, and we landed on a red that we all agreed on.” “I remember it all started when the creative director asked us, ‘What is holiday red? Is it burgundy? Is it more of a ruby color,'” Cannell said. Jon Cannell, manager Creative Design, was part of the design team that year. It would be two more years, in 1999, before the Starbucks cup would don its signature red color.

“I remember seeing the cups piled high on the counter, and I realized ‘this is big,’” she said. Nelson was in Anchorage visiting a friend when she saw the cups in a store for the first time. The design featured swirls and hand-drawn holly leaves that were flecked with coffee beans. It was closer to a magenta, and the cup also came in three more colors: sapphire, emerald and amethyst. That first cup wasn’t really red – at least not the holiday red that Starbucks has become known for. Then Howard came by, looked at all of them, and picked my design. We had what felt like a hundred cup designs pinned up on the wall. “We were working on holiday creative for the season to come. “It was August, and I had just started with the company,” Nelson said. She remembers the design fondly, one of her first assignments at Starbucks. Luckily, designer Sandy Nelson, a Starbucks alumna, stashed away a set of these cups, along with other artifacts from her 14 years working in Starbucks Creative Studio.

Even an Internet search is unyielding, with the cups having made their arrival long before the first selfie. Few were saved, and electronic design files were lost in an earthquake in 2001.

It’s not easy to find the very first Starbucks holiday cups, which made their debut in stores in 1997. It’s a ritual for many that’s as beloved as that first sip of Peppermint Mocha. For 20 years, the return of the Starbucks holiday cups have marked the arrival of the season.

Starbucks holiday cups 2011