It's the day when a free, plastic cup is given away with every holiday drink purchase. There's a holiday design on it, or it's in a holiday color. The guest gets the cup whether they order a seasonal frap or latte, or one of the holiday hot chocolates. If they bring the cup back, they get a small discount on future seasonal drinks until the end of the season.

Stores are given limited numbers of cups and guests go kind of nuts for them.

The red cup day and the holiday launch used to be the same day, but last year, they split the days because they had an issue getting the cups distributed to all the stores in time. That went so well that this year, they're splitting the days again. It gives them 2 days that people bumrush the store instead of just one.