This 2016 Holiday ornament release is bringing back to North America some whimsy with a French Press pot, Coffee Bag, and quaint penguin, polar bear, and fox to go cups. But amidst the charm is also a release of the Starbucks 50 states red cup ornaments which reminds us of the adage, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”. The red cup is the iconic symbol of Starbucks’ holiday and the little red cup ornaments have been a favorite for years. But to make a plain one with just a logo on one side and a shape of each state with their two-letter abbreviation on the other sucks the creative life out of us all.
Collage created by Greg Hilary
I have yet to hear of any collector who is getting them because they like them. Most are passing on them altogether or only getting their own state or perhaps some to which they have traveled. But all I have heard from have panned them as ugly.
In addition to being ugly, its excessive. In recent years, Starbucks has flooded us with quantities (perhaps over quality) of various products…99 cards one year, 48 the next, the huge dot collection of tumblers and more.
The holidays are expensive enough without adding huge collection purchases. Now to be fair, I doubt Starbucks expects people to get all them and are just offering options. And collectors are responsible for their own choices of how far they go with investing in their passion (or OCD). But if the quantity of states also exhibited some creativity, there would be no complaints here. (well, maybe some at the check out).
Perhaps I shouldn’t give them ideas as I don’t want another 50 next year. But even if they remained on the boring side as white cups with the state and name, but also had each state’s flower or bird or something like that, it would be better. At least some creativity would be expressed.
Again, many of the other ornaments are wonderful and I applaud the nod to earlier years. Whether you get any or all, I hope your love for Starbucks ornaments continues.
only did I find the variants, but a completely unique design that nobody, to my knowledge, in the USA knew about!
this new Red To Cup, all is made clear. It also has the “Holiday 2006” in red script on the bottom. The design is sweet showing a family walking their dog and there is a star burst pattern covering the entire cup in a deeper red.
As is often the case, Japan received some special ornaments to celebrate the theme. A set of 6 embroidered ornaments. They have white felt backsides with the Starbucks name across it, wide gold ribbon hangers, and the fronts are vibrant and stitched beautifully. I heard that these were part of some sort of “promo”, perhaps a gift with coffee or product purchase. I will update this if/when I come across the actual details.
And while technically the white cup is different due to the bottom copyright info, the exterior itself is virtually the same. The red cup is very different. It plays on the theme of gift giving, but is expressed very different. Below are the image of side by side comparisons. I have decided to place and list the 2006 White ornament in the 2007 sequence since it was released in that year.
