On 10 November, Starbucks’ New Zealand was the first in the world to welcome the return of the iconic red holiday cup – a popular Christmas collectible that celebrates the spirit of the season.

For the first time, the red cups will feature 12 distinct Christmas designs created by Starbucks’ customers.

Starbucks New Zealand, says the one-of-a-kind cups celebrate Christmas traditions from around the world, and are expected to join other popular Starbucks memorabilia collected by customers.

“Over the years our red cup designs have ranged from the modern to the nostalgic, but this year Starbucks taken a cue from our customers – creating a range that represents the collective spirit of the season from around the world.

“With the 12 designs making up a natural collection, we can see these cups becoming popular Christmas collectibles,” says Justine Cheah, Starbucks New Zealand Brand Manager.

Taking a cue from customers who had been using their red holiday cups as a canvas, last December Starbucks invited customers to share their designs on Instagram.

From Illinois to Indonesia, Pennsylvania to Korea, Dubai to Ontario, in just eight days, Starbucks received more than 1,200 individual submissions from 13 countries.

“We were surprised and inspired by the amount of incredible art submitted by our customers, the designs were beautiful, expressive and engaging,” said Dena Blevins, creative director, Starbucks Global Creative Studio. “We quickly realized there was potential to use the customer created art for our holiday cups.”

In the end, 13 customer designs were selected from six countries to represent the collective spirit of Christmas around the world. Starting November 10, their designs will be showcased on the holiday cups served in the more than 23,000 Starbucks stores in 74 countries, including New Zealand.

Customers can collect the cups by purchasing any drink from now till the end of December from any Starbucks’ store nationwide.