While shopping for your Thanksgiving edibles this week, you might notice store shelves are already decked out with products and packaging aimed toward the next holiday—you know the one associated with trimmed trees, reindeer and a jolly overweight man in a red suit. Here are just a few of the items CPGs have rolled out to capture the spirit of the season. Please look them over and let our editors what you think by clicking "Post your comment" in the Talkback box at the bottom of this page, and tell us whether you think the packaging designers/engineers deserve presents under their trees, or coal in their stockings.
Limited-edition Red Bull
Just in time for the holidays, Red Bull and 7-Eleven are partnering on special energy drinks and colorful cans to give merrymakers a boost. The three flavors-cranberry, lime and blueberry-will be available exclusively at the convenience store chain's locations across the country until March 2013; at that point the cans will hit other retailers nationwide.
Holiday Pringles
Potato chips and crisps typically bear salty, savory flavors, with packaging decorated according to those tastes. This year, Pringles (a brand owned by the Kellogg Co.) have launched three flavors and containers that reflect the sweetness of the holiday season. The line includes three flavors: Cinnamon & Sugar, Pumpkin Pie Spice and White Chocolate Peppermint.
Festive ChapStick
Lip balm is a perennial stocking stuffer favorite (at least in my house), so ChapStick, a brand owned by Pfizer, has rolled out three new flavors for the holiday season. Apple Cider and Candy Cane are available at retailers nationwide; the Chocolate Truffle variety is exclusive to Walmart stores.
Gingerbread Oreos
When I was a kid long, LONG ago, the only varieties of Oreos were Double Stuf, and the standard sandwich cookie. Over the past several decades, Nabisco has expanded the 100-year-old brand with peanut-butter crème, vanilla cookies, colorful birthday-cake and other varieties-the latest edition is this holiday-flavored treat, which puts gingerbread-spiced crème between two vanilla cookies, in festive packaging.
Chanukah House Kit
While store shelves are much more crowded with holiday packaging that evokes Christmas and generic wintery scenes, the Jewish festival of lights is catching up. This Manischewitz product and package is an interesting riff on an old standby--the gingerbread house—festooned with stars of David, menorahs and other Chanukah-themed items.
