Seasonal Packaging Adaptations for Christmas Packaging in Vietnam
06/12/2025
The year-end period—especially the weeks leading up to Christmas —consistently marks a surge in consumer demand for both gift-giving and self-reward purchases in Vietnam. This seasonal behavior serves as a key driver for occasion-based brands to refresh their packaging, launch Christmas collections, and introduce festive-edition designs that enhance on-shelf appeal and stimulate impulse purchases at the point of sale.
Market data combined with trend observations indicate that, following Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival, Christmas is one of the most active periods for seasonal packaging innovation in Vietnam. Investment is particularly strong among categories with high giftability and high consumption intensity—segments where seasonal packaging acts as a powerful lever for driving incremental growth.
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Key Product Categories Driving Seasonal Packaging During Christmas:
Liquor & Celebration Beverages – Festive Gifting
Corporate Gift & Signature Gift – Business Gifting
Lifestyle & Beauty – Personal Gifting
Retail & Entertainment – Seasonal Gifting
F&B – Everyday Gifting
1️⃣ Liquor & Celebration Beverage
Champagne, wine, spirits, and celebratory beverages
(Representative brands: Chivas, Johnnie Walker, Hennessy, Moët & Chandon, Jacob’s Creek, Absolut, Bacardi, Jack Daniel’s, Veuve Clicquot, Rémy Martin, and more.)
1.1. Strategic Objectives
In the premium liquor and celebratory beverage sector, packaging is not only a protective layer but also a strategic tool for conveying brand value. Christmas is the peak season for gifting, when demand for premium presents, collectible items, and elevated experiences surges.
Christmas packaging is intentionally designed to meet three strategic objectives:
Creating emotional value and a festive spirit: Seasonal packaging enhances the premium experience, evokes holiday emotions, and transforms the act of receiving a gift into a memorable moment. The use of red–green palettes, metallic accents, Christmas motifs, and limited-edition designs helps products convey a sense of exclusivity, luxury, and emotional significance.
Drive gifting sales: Seasonal packaging stimulates gifting behavior for family, friends, and business partners, while encouraging emotion-led purchase decisions. Limited editions, preset gift sets, and customizable gift sets help broaden the customer funnel across retail, e-commerce, and HORECA (hotels–restaurants–coffeeshops), increasing purchase intent during the festive season.
Strengthening premium positioning: High-end packaging—featuring quality materials, refined finishing, and distinctive design—elevates perceived value and helps brands stand out in a highly competitive season. Christmas and New Year packaging becomes a “signature experience,” reinforcing a luxurious brand image, boosting collectibility, and creating a halo effect that positively influences the entire product portfolio.
Christmas Packaging for Liquor & Celebration Beverages.
1.2. Common Packaging Formats
Packaging Format
Description / Classification
Key Advantages & Value Contribution
Bottle & Can Packaging — Holiday Labels / Sleeves
Used for holiday or limited-edition mainstream SKUs, or to boost festive visibility without changing the full packaging structure.
• Minimal cost change, easy and flexible to implement.
• Holiday palettes (red, green, gold, metallic accents) instantly evoke the festive spirit.
• Drives impulse and occasion-based purchases during peak season.
Premium Gift Boxes / Rigid Boxes
For premium lines, gifting, corporate presents, and limited editions where protection and premium perception are required.
• Protects bottles/cans effectively (especially fragile glass).
• Enhances unboxing experience and perceived premium value.
• Ideal for corporate gifting and luxury presents.
• Supports high-end finishing: textured paper, foil stamping, embossing/debossing, metalized substrates, drip-off coatings, etc.
Gift Sets / Combo Sets (e.g., bottle + glassware/accessories)
Designed for gifting SKUs, seasonal editions, and value-added sets.
• Creates a halo effect — turns a single bottle into a complete gift, raising willingness-to-pay.
• Enhances sophistication and premium perception.
• Effectively communicates “value + care + luxury + festivity.”
Limited-Edition / Holiday Special / Seasonal Packaging
Festive SKUs created for Christmas and year-end to boost seasonal demand and drive collectibility.
• Leverages festive sentiment for emotional purchases.
• Elevates perceived value through “special occasion” and “collectible” positioning.
• Helps the brand stand out and attract trial purchases.
1.3. Christmas Packaging Trends
“Sustainable Premium Packaging”
❄ Key Design Trends
In the premium spirits and festive beverage segment, the shift toward sustainable premium packaging is emerging as a long-term, differentiating strategy.
Elevating a responsible brand image: By adopting eco-friendly materials — recycled paper, recycled board, and environmentally conscious substrates — brands do not lose their sense of luxury. On the contrary, this approach communicates refinement and social responsibility, aligning with consumers who value sustainability, seek thoughtful gifting options, and appreciate long-term brand value.
Aligned with global trends and regulatory requirements: As major markets tighten regulations on single-use packaging, encourage recyclability, and restrict plastics, brands that adopt sustainable solutions early gain advantages in compliance, supply-chain readiness, and international expansion.
A long-term strategy, not a seasonal trend: “Sustainable premium” should not be viewed as a temporary holiday movement; it should evolve into a core packaging standard for premium lines, long-life gift boxes, collector editions, and limited releases.
❄ Materials Selection & Finishing Techniques
Prioritize rigid boxes with premium wrapped papers: For imported spirits and festive beverages, rigid boxes (chipboard boxes) paired with art paper or metalized paper deliver both protection for fragile glass bottles and an elevated gift-ready appearance from the very first glance. Industry insights show that rigid boxes remain the dominant choice in the premium packaging segment, with paper- and board-based materials continuing to lead in luxury applications.
Premium finishing to elevate perceived value: Finishes such as foil stamping/ metalize printing, embossing/ debossing, gloss/ matte lamination, UV/ varnish/ drip-off coating—when applied on art paper—significantly enhance the sensory experience. They create a feeling of being “valued,” aligning perfectly with the emotional expectations of holiday gift-giving.
Metallic, metalized, and holographic effects as seasonal visual cues: Metalized substrates, holographic papers, and foil accents instantly evoke a festive, luxurious ambiance, helping products stand out on-shelf and strengthening gift appeal. Many premium brands are shifting toward eco-luxury solutions—maintaining metallic sparkle while incorporating more responsible material choices.
Balancing premium aesthetics with structural protection: For fragile products like spirits, structural integrity is non-negotiable. Rigid box formats—telescope/ lift-off lid/ two-piece/ lid & base, or neck boxes—combined with secure inserts and bottle collars made from foam PE/ PU/ EVA ensure maximum product safety without compromising aesthetics.
Trend Summary
The Liquor & Celebration Beverages segment is moving decisively toward Sustainable Premium Packaging. Gift packaging now favors rigid boxes, recycled paper, and high-quality materials, combined with subtle finishing effects such as foil stamping, embossing, and metallic accents. This approach protects fragile products while creating a refined gifting experience. What was once a seasonal innovation is increasingly becoming a long-term standard, enhancing brand responsibility and meeting global environmental regulations.
2️⃣ Corporate Gift & Signature Gift
Corporate gift sets, branded signature gifts, premium chocolates, confectionery, gourmet nuts, specialty foods, imported delicacies, regional specialties, and other high-end giftable products.
(Representative brands: Annam Gourmet, Maison Gourmet, Maison Luxury, LaCharm Foods, Toblerone, Ferrero, SHE Chocolate, Maison Marou, and more.)
2.1. Strategic Objectives
The Corporate Gift and Signature Gift segments are experiencing rapid growth in Vietnam—especially during Christmas and year-end, when companies ramp up employee appreciation and client/partner gifting. In this context, packaging becomes a strategic asset: not only protecting the product, but elevating brand value and shaping the recipient’s emotional experience.
Category
Corporate Gift
Signature Gift
Buyer
Enterprises
Enterprises or individual consumers
Recipient
Employees or mass client segments
Executives, VIPs, strategic partners, or loyal customers
Branding
Follows the corporate brand identity
Follows the supplier’s luxury brand identity; corporate logo may or may not appear
Volume
Large to very large quantities
Small batches, limited sets, or one-of-a-kind pieces
Objective
Appreciation, brand visibility, and relationship reinforcement
Create a premium impression and a personalized gifting experience
For these categories, Seasonal Packaging is designed to achieve three core strategic objectives:
Deliver “Season’s Greetings” with clarity and elegance: Festive design language—holiday palettes, premium textures, refined motifs, and elevated materials—helps corporate gifts convey appreciation and brand values in a subtle yet memorable way. Packaging functions as an extension of the brand identity, reinforcing professionalism and premium positioning.
Enhance perceived value: Premium materials, distinctive structural design, and meticulous finishing elevate both the perceived value and the unboxing experience. This makes the gift feel “more valuable” in the eyes of the recipient and creates a longer-lasting impression.
Optimize the unboxing experience: Sensory elements—touch, visual appeal, structural interaction—play a decisive role in communicating care and attention to detail. Well-crafted packaging makes recipients feel appreciated and increases the likelihood of sharing the experience, amplifying natural word-of-mouth and branded visibility.
Christmas Packaging for Corporate Gifts & Signature Gifts.
2.2. Common Packaging Formats
Packaging Format
Description / Classification
Key Advantages & Value Contribution
Preset Gift Box
A ready-made gift set curated by the brand or supplier, containing multiple items—such as pastries, chocolates, tea, mini spirits, premium foods, or ready-to-give gifts—combined into a complete gift package.
• Highly convenient for large-scale corporate gifting.
• Ensures consistency in presentation and product quality.
• Simplifies cost control and logistics.
Customizable Gift Box
An empty or semi-preset box that allows buyers to freely select items based on the recipient’s preferences, hierarchy level, or budget—ideal for personalized gifting.
• Flexible for different segments (VIPs, loyal customers, partners, employees).
• Enhances personalization and perceived thoughtfulness.
• Suitable when high customization is required.
Premium Rigid Gift Box
A high-end rigid box made from thick chipboard, designed for durability; available in lift-off lid, magnetic book-style lid, drawer box, or multi-tier structures—compatible with both preset and customizable gift sets.
• Delivers a premium, luxurious unboxing experience.
• Provides superior product protection during handling and transportation.
• Easily customizable with logos, brand elements, or messages.
• Significantly elevates perceived value of the gift.
Special Edition / Limited-Edition Gift Set
A special gift edition featuring exclusive, elevated designs for seasonal campaigns, celebrations, or VIP gifting; produced in limited quantities.
• Creates a sense of exclusivity and collectibility. • Ideal for gifting VIP clients or strategic partners. • Reinforces premium brand positioning and long-term loyalty.
Customized / Branded Gift Box
A branded gift box featuring the company logo, corporate colors, tailored messaging, or even personalized recipient names; suitable for client, partner, or employee gifting.
• Enhances brand recall and professional image.
• Increases perceived value of the gift.
Demonstrates care and respect for the recipient—ideal for corporate, customer, or internal gifting.
2.3. Christmas Packaging Trends
❄ Key Design Trends
“Personalization & Custom Branding”
In the corporate gift and signature gift segments, personalization and curated unboxing experiences are emerging as the leading design trends.
Personalization & Custom Branding: Businesses are no longer treating gifts as generic items. Packaging now carries the company’s logo, brand colors, personalized messaging, and even the recipient’s name or a bespoke card. This transforms each gift box into a personal keepsake, creating a sense of exclusivity while elevating the emotional value of both the gift and the brand.
Premium Unboxing Experience: Packaging is no longer just a container. Rigid boxes, layered structures, refined opening mechanisms, lift-off lids, magnetic book-style lids, and multi-tier formats turn the act of unboxing into a memorable moment. This experience-driven approach positions the gift as a true “signature gift” — something worth keeping, showcasing, and sharing, especially across social platforms.
Customization & Flexibility Across Recipient Segments: With modern printing and finishing technologies, businesses can implement “mass customization” — maintaining cost efficiency while enabling personalization across customer tiers, partners, employees, and seasonal or commemorative occasions. This flexibility allows corporate gifting to serve multiple strategic purposes: VIP appreciation, partner relationship building, internal recognition, and festive gifting.
❄ Materials Selection & Finishing Techniques
Rigid boxes as the structural foundation for premium packaging: For corporate gifting and high-end gift sets, rigid boxes or chipboard boxes provide a stable foundation — ensuring product protection while enabling sophisticated premium finishing. Rigid packaging has become the global standard for luxury and specialty gift sets due to its durability, form stability, and compatibility with high-end embellishments.
Premium finishes that elevate perceived value: Foil stamping, embossing/ debossing, soft-touch coating, and the integration of inner dividers or thermoformed trays transform the box from a simple container into a meaningful unboxing experience. Packaging becomes part of the gift itself — creating a strong first impression and leaving a lasting emotional memory for the recipient.
Pilot testing before full-scale production: Because rigid boxes paired with premium finishing typically carry higher production costs than standard packaging, brands should begin with small-batch prototypes or limited runs. This approach helps control budgets, test customer reactions, optimize the design, and ensure real-world effectiveness before scaling up.
Trend Summary
In the Corporate & Signature Gifts segment, the focus is on Personalization & Unboxing Experience. Multi-layered rigid boxes with modular structures, combined with premium finishes—soft-touch, embossing, foil stamping—allow each gift to convey both brand and recipient identity. Advances in printing and finishing technologies enable large-scale personalization while maintaining premium standards and a consistent sensory experience.
3️⃣ Lifestyle & Beauty
Fashion, accessories, beauty, fragrances, cosmetics, personal care, mother & baby, travel, education, wellness, technology gadgets, toys, home décor, and souvenirs.
During the Christmas peak, the Lifestyle & Beauty sector experiences a pronounced surge in both gift‑giving and self‑reward behaviors. Impulse purchases and seasonal promotions reach their apex, particularly for small, collectible products that serve as ideal gifts or self-indulgences. In this context, holiday packaging is no longer merely a protective or presentational tool—it becomes a strategic lever to enhance customer experience, elevate perceived value, and drive incremental sales.
Driving purchase behavior through trend-aligned packaging: Holiday formats—such as gift boxes, curated gift sets, and seasonal shopping bags—go beyond visual appeal. Trend-aligned limited editions, creative motifs, and collectible elements stimulate immediate buying decisions, particularly at high-traffic touchpoints including beauty stores, lifestyle outlets, and seasonal pop-ups.
Strengthening brand recognition and loyalty: Hang tags, holiday labels, stickers, vouchers, and gift cards reinforce in-store brand recall. Repeated interaction with these visual cues during the festive season not only improves brand visibility but also enhances repeat purchase likelihood and long-term customer engagement.
Creating emotional connection through unboxing: Holiday packaging designed for multi-sensory engagement—visual, tactile, and unboxing experience—transforms routine consumption into a memorable emotional moment. Carefully selected materials, premium surface finishes, and structured item arrangements signal sophistication, exclusivity, and attention to detail, deepening the emotional bond between the consumer and the brand.
Christmas Packaging for Lifestyle & Beauty Categories.
3.2. Common Packaging Formats
Packaging Format
Description / Classification
Key Advantages & Value Contribution
Product Box
Standard packaging for individual items such as skincare, make-up, small accessories, and personal care products. Materials vary by positioning: couche paper, ivory, kraft, specialty paper, metalized paper, corrugated board, or chipboard.
• Protects the product; ensures safety and retail display readiness.
• Paper-based packaging — especially when using recycled materials — aligns with current consumer demand for sustainability.
Gift Set / Holiday Set / Gift Box
Gift bags or gift boxes containing multiple small items or product–accessory combinations (e.g., skincare sets, make-up kits, seasonal combos). Can be produced as roll-end corrugated boxes or book-style rigid boxes.
• Creates a “ready-to-give” gifting experience ideal for the holiday season.
• Enhances perceived value and elevates the unboxing experience.
• Transforms everyday consumer goods into premium, limited, or special-edition gifts.
Seasonal Packaging (Christmas Edition)
Product boxes, gift boxes, or paper bags designed specifically for the holiday season, using festive palettes, Christmas motifs, or modern minimalist–luxury design directions.
• Leverages seasonal shopping/gifting psychology to drive purchase decisions.
• Increases shelf appeal and gift-giving impression.
• Aligns with consumer preferences for holiday aesthetics and experiential gifting.
Sustainable / Eco-friendly Packaging
Recycled paper, kraft paper, biodegradable or compostable materials; reduced plastic usage; designed toward recyclable/compostable formats.
• Meets modern consumer expectations for environmental responsibility.
• Strengthens brand credibility and aligns with ESG/ international sustainability standards.
• Conveys a sense of “responsible value” to the end user.
Packaging that supports personalization (names, messages), custom gift designs, interactive elements, or sensory-driven unboxing experiences.
• Enhances emotional engagement and elevates perceived value — ideal for personal gifts and holiday gifting.
• Builds loyalty and strengthens overall brand value.
3.3. Christmas Packaging Trends
❄ Key Design Trends
“Luxury through Restraint”
In the Lifestyle & Beauty sector, brands are increasingly embracing a Luxury through Restraint, or Quiet Luxury approach — where packaging doesn’t rely on visual complexity but achieves sophistication through simplicity, elegance, and refined sensory cues.
The impact of minimalist design: As the beauty market becomes more crowded and competitive, clean and understated packaging — neutral palettes, modern typography, balanced layouts, and fewer decorative elements — allows products to stand out through quality and quiet elegance. This direction appeals to a wide spectrum of consumers and works well across various product lines.
Elevated perception through premium finishing: – Light Emboss / Deboss: A subtle raised or recessed finish adds refined tactile detail to logos and holiday motifs. In lifestyle & beauty packaging, light emboss / deboss enhances depth and elevates the unboxing experience while preserving a clean, minimal aesthetic. This effect performs especially well on soft-touch surfaces, coated stocks (couche), and smooth premium art papers. – Tone-on-Tone Foil Stamping: Using foil in a shade that matches or closely aligns with the base color creates a soft, controlled shimmer—elegant without visual noise. Beauty brands favor this technique for holiday collections because it maintains a modern minimalist look while adding a premium reflective cue that shifts gently with the light. When paired with soft-touch, the effect becomes even more contemporary and high-end.
Cost-efficiency & scalability across SKUs: Minimalist systems generally require fewer components and rely on cleaner structures, making them easy to replicate across multiple SKUs. This reduces production complexity and supports cohesive holiday collections for beauty and lifestyle brands with diverse product assortments.
La Roche-Posay’s Christmas Display Box — proudly manufactured at Newlifepack’s factory.
❄ Material Options & Finishing Techniques
Blending sustainable materials with a premium aesthetic: Many luxury brands are shifting toward recycled paperboard, FSC-certified substrates, and easily recyclable materials to replace plastic or plastic-coated options—while still maintaining a refined, high-end look and feel. This “eco-luxury packaging” movement is becoming a major industry focus.
Building a packaging roadmap — from essential to premium: A strategic rollout helps brands balance cost, experience, and long-term sustainability. – Stage 1 — Easy to adopt: Recycled paper, kraft, chipboard, and corrugated substrates. – Stage 2 — Premium upgrades: Enhanced structures and elevated finishing techniques. – Stage 3 — Story-driven sustainability: Clear messaging and visual storytelling integrated into the packaging system to express environmental responsibility while reinforcing brand beauty and luxury.
Cost & logistics optimization for large-scale / multi-SKU operations: Collapsible rigid boxes significantly reduce warehouse and transportation volume—by up to 90%—making them highly suitable for lifestyle & beauty brands with extensive SKU portfolios and high seasonal volume. This structure helps balance cost efficiency with premium presentation.
Elevating perceived value while matching modern consumer expectations: Sustainable packaging that is premium, refined, and aesthetically elevated aligns with today’s consumer mindset—environmentally conscious, design-driven, and willing to pay more for products that deliver both emotional appeal and responsible value.
Trend Summary
In the Lifestyle & Beauty sector, holiday packaging reflects a Luxury through Restraint philosophy. Designs emphasize clean lines, neutral color palettes, and tactile sophistication. Finishing techniques—light embossing/debossing, tone-on-tone foil, soft-touch coatings—create subtle depth without compromising minimalism. Modular, sustainable materials support SKU scalability, cost optimization, and align with consumer expectations for eco-luxury.
4️⃣ Retail & Entertainment
Shopping malls, supermarkets, convenience stores, cinemas, and entertainment parks.
(Representative brands: Vincom, AEON Mall, Takashimaya, Lotte Mart, Emart, Go!, MM Mega Market, MUJI, Circle K, GS25, 7-Eleven, CGV, Lotte Cinema, BHD, Sun World, VinWonders, and more.)
4.1. Strategic Objectives
Within the Retail & Entertainment sector, the Christmas season typically brings a surge in foot traffic, on-site engagement, and shopping activity—elevating packaging from a basic functional component to an essential part of the experiential ecosystem. When designed and executed effectively, seasonal packaging can deliver clear, measurable strategic value.
Emotional “experience windows”: During the holiday season, shopping bags, paper cups, popcorn boxes, and gift bags with festive designs appear across malls, cinemas, and convenience stores. Beyond containing products, these items act as “emotional windows,” amplifying the festive spirit, encouraging check-ins and social sharing, and extending brand visibility throughout the retail environment.
Packaging-integrated décor & amplified brand presence: When seasonal packaging is synchronized with POSM, store décor, lighting schemes, and holiday installations, the entire space forms a cohesive “signature look.” This integration strengthens emotional resonance, enhances memorability, and increases the likelihood of repeat visits.
Higher basket value during peak season: Limited-edition or holiday-themed packaging elevates perceived value, making customers more willing to spend—whether through snack combos, bundled merchandise, or small giftable add-ons. Seasonal packaging drives higher basket value and peak-season revenue without requiring changes to the core product.
Christmas Packaging Aligned with MUJI’s Mall Décor.
• Paper or plastic cups with full-color printing, wraps, or sleeves • Paper / plastic / foam boxes and trays for cakes, snacks, popcorn, and food-to-go • Plastic bags, paper bags, reusable PP or non-woven fabric bags • Seasonal labels, stickers, and hang-tags designed for Christmas
• Supports to-go / take-away / convenience needs—ideal for cinemas, QSRs, cafés, and convenience stores during peak holiday traffic. • Christmas-themed packaging enhances the festive experience, strengthens brand visibility, and increases social-media shareability (check-ins, photos, reels). • Labels, stickers, and tags offer a fast, cost-efficient way to scale seasonal branding across large retail chains.
Single-Product Boxes, Combo Boxes & Gift Boxes
Boxes for retail products, combos, or gift-with-purchase items—ranging from merchandise and souvenirs to snacks and cookies—produced with suitable paperboard, corrugated board, or greyboard and designed with holiday themes.
• Elevates perceived value and enhances the unboxing experience—perfect for gifting, seasonal shopping, and promotional campaigns. • Festive, limited-time designs highlight the seasonal moment and stimulate impulse purchases. • In retail & entertainment environments, gift boxes help expand merchandising revenue through souvenirs, holiday combos, and premium add-on packs.
Limited-Edition Shopping Bags
Paper bags, canvas totes, and non-woven reusable bags designed for Christmas or New Year, used for shopping, merchandise, or gifting.
• Acts as both carry-out packaging and a mobile-media touchpoint—extending brand visibility as customers take the bags outdoors. • Limited-edition designs create a sense of exclusivity and higher perceived value, ideal for gifting and holiday merchandise collections. • Eco-friendly or recycled materials align with the “green & sustainable” trend and strengthen positive brand perception.
4.3. Christmas Packaging Trends
Festive Brand System
❄ Key Design Trends
In the Retail & Entertainment sector, one of the strongest drivers of seasonal success is the ability to deliver a cohesive and instantly recognizable holiday experience—across packaging, décor, POSM, merchandise, and the overall retail environment.
Unified Holiday Language Strengthens Brand Recognition: When product packaging, gift bags, merchandise, in-store décor, photo points, and POSM share the same color palette, motifs, and structural cues, customers immediately recognize a “seasonal collection.” This consistency reinforces brand memory and signals a well-orchestrated experience. For Retail & Entertainment—where the on-site atmosphere and emotional immersion matter greatly—coherence directly enhances visual merchandising and seasonal marketing effectiveness.
Triggers Emotional Shopping & Holiday-Driven Purchases: A synchronized festive look across packaging and décor creates a compelling holiday ambiance, pushing customers into a “gift-give-share” mindset. This emotional uplift fuels impulse buying, gifting behavior, holiday combo purchases, and increased merchandising sales. In a crowded marketplace, strong brand coherence helps a brand stand out and maintain top-of-mind presence throughout the season.
Cost-Efficient Deployment Across Touchpoints & SKUs: A unified design system—spanning packaging, merchandise, POSM, and décor—allows brands to scale efficiently. With a single seasonal guideline, brands can replicate the look across multiple SKUs and store formats, reducing duplication, saving time, and optimizing production costs.
❄ Material Options & Finishing Techniques
Sustainable materials paired with premium finishes for gifts, merchandise, and seasonal packaging: Retail & entertainment brands typically offer merchandise, gifting items, and seasonal collections. Using recycled paper, corrugated board, or rigid chipboard—combined with premium finishing—delivers packaging that is both visually appealing and environmentally responsible. This approach aligns with modern consumer expectations around sustainability and elevates the brand’s aesthetic.
Tiered packaging based on objectives and customer segments: – For standard retail bags and boxes, cost-efficient and simplified materials are preferred.
– For gift sets, holiday editions, and limited-edition merchandise, premium rigid boxes and elevated finishing techniques help enhance perceived value.
This layered strategy allows brands to stay cost-optimized while maximizing impact during key gifting and holiday moments.
Trend Summary
Retail & Entertainment brands are implementing Festive Brand Systems, extending holiday theming across packaging, shopping bags, merchandise, POS materials, and in-store décor. Material tiers are calibrated by segment to create a consistent seasonal premium experience, maximize visibility, and stimulate impulse buying—particularly for seasonal merchandise and gift items.
5️⃣ F & B
Restaurants, buffets, catering services, café–tea–milk tea–craft beverage chains, bakery–pastry–patisserie chains, and fast-food chains including fried chicken, pizza, burger concepts, and more.
(Representative Brands: Starbucks, Highlands Coffee, Phúc Long, The Coffee House, Gong Cha, Koi Thé, KFC, Lotteria, Texas Chicken, Domino’s, The Pizza Company, Tous Les Jours, Paris Baguette, and more.)
5.1. Strategic Objectives
In the F&B sector, the Christmas season is one of the strongest revenue periods and a prime opportunity to activate brand experiences through seasonal packaging. Unlike traditional retail—where consumers purchase and use products over time—F&B delivers immediate consumption experiences through cups, bags, trays, and food containers. This creates an exceptionally high frequency of contact, allowing seasonal packaging to trigger emotional engagement instantly. Key strategic objectives include:
Strengthen brand visibility & create competitive differentiation: Holiday-themed packaging—through colors, illustrations, and Christmas motifs—helps products stand out among numerous choices, increasing shelf appeal and capturing customer attention. Seasonal packaging can also elevate everyday items into gifts, special editions, or collectibles, positioning the brand more effectively for the festive period and reinforcing competitive advantage.
Stimulate emotional purchasing & accelerate decision-making: Holiday, limited-edition, gift-box, and combo-set packaging naturally evokes festive emotions that drive impulse purchases. Limited-run collections or restricted quantities create a sense of scarcity, encouraging faster purchase decisions while supporting the consumer’s need for gifting during the season.
Enhance customer experience & optimize peak-season revenue: Seasonal packaging elevates perceived value and transforms a simple consumption moment into a memorable emotional experience—boosting satisfaction and increasing return visits. Adjusting packaging instead of developing entirely new products is a cost-efficient way to “refresh” offerings and maximize sales during the high-traffic holiday period.
Starbucks is always an endless source of inspiration.
• Paper or plastic cups with full-color printing or wrap / sleeve.
• Paper / plastic / foam boxes and trays for cakes, snacks, pizza, fried chicken, and general food-to-go.
• Plastic bags, paper bags, non-woven fabric bags.
• Seasonal labels, stickers, and hang tags aligned with Christmas themes.
• Supports dine-in, takeaway, convenience, and quick-service needs — highly relevant for cafés, fast-food chains, and bakeries.
• Christmas-themed packaging enhances festive atmosphere, boosts marketing effectiveness, attracts footfall, and increases impulse purchases.
• Takeaway bags become “moving media,” spreading brand visibility as customers carry them around.
• Easy to scale across multiple outlets with controlled costs compared to premium gift packaging.
Seasonal Packaging & Gift / Merchandise Packaging
• Single boxes for dry foods, packaged snacks, or canned / bottled drinks.
• Gift boxes, combo boxes, mini-set boxes (e.g., beverage + snack + small gift).
• Limited-edition shopping bags or gift bags: canvas bags, non-woven bags, or Christmas / New Year-themed paper bags produced in limited quantities.
• Turns everyday products into giftable items — meeting demand for festive gifting, family gatherings, and year-end celebrations.
• Enhances perceived value and emotional engagement through aesthetic design and enjoyable unboxing.
• Seasonal packaging and limited bags / boxes create a sense of exclusivity and collectibility, stimulating purchase, gifting, and souvenir demand.
• Eco-friendly gift bags and boxes align with the “sustainable & aesthetic” trend, appealing strongly to modern consumers.
5.3. Christmas Packaging Trends
Tiered Packaging & Format Strategy
❄ Key Design Trends
In the Food & Beverage (F&B) sector, consumer behaviors vary significantly—from everyday users to takeaway customers to seasonal gift purchasers. As a result, implementing a tiered packaging strategy based on cost, intent, and format is one of the most practical and effective approaches.
Standard / Takeaway Packaging (Mass Segment): Uses cost-efficient materials (kraft paper, recycled paper) and simple structures designed for high volume, speed, and convenience. Ideal for daily transactions, grab-and-go consumption, and large customer flows.
Mid-Tier Seasonal Packaging (Mid-Tier Segment): Paper bags and folding cartons with festive motifs strike a balance between cost efficiency and strong seasonal visibility. These formats enhance recognition during the holiday period and subtly elevate the product’s perceived value.
Gift Boxes / Limited Editions / Christmas Gift Packaging (Premium Segment): Designed for customers seeking gifts and holiday keepsakes. Premium rigid boxes with elevated finishes—foil stamping, hot foil, embossing, debossing, sculpted UV, and refined festive artwork—enhance perceived value, enrich the unboxing experience, and support upselling of gift sets and seasonal specials.
Savouré’s Christmas Gift Box — proudly manufactured at Newlifepack’s factory.
❄ Material Options & Finishing Techniques
Sustainable materials combined with premium finishes: For F&B products—especially gifting lines, seasonal collections, and limited editions—brands should prioritize recycled or eco-friendly substrates such as kraft paper, corrugated board, and chipboard as the structural foundation. These materials can be enhanced with premium surface treatments including soft-touch coatings, foil stamping, embossing/ debossing, UV/ varnish coating, or textured finishes, delivering packaging that is both environmentally responsible and luxurious, suitable for gifting, and elevates the overall brand experience.
Minimal, refined design — appealing to “green + premium” consumers: Clean and minimalist design continues to resonate with modern consumers who value both sustainability and aesthetics. Luxury packaging trends globally indicate a shift toward sustainable luxury, where high-quality materials and finishes convey sophistication without relying on elaborate decoration, resulting in modern and visually compelling packaging.
Complex, experience-driven packaging — enhancing gifting value: Many F&B brands are now moving beyond “simple sustainable + premium” to creative, experiential packaging. Incorporating thoughtful structural design, unboxing experiences, seasonal exclusivity, and even cultural or brand storytelling helps products stand out, deliver emotional value, and reinforce brand positioning.
Leveraging holiday emotion through metallic effects: Metalized papers, holographic finishes, and foil accents are increasingly applied to single-product boxes, rigid gift boxes, and paper bags to evoke a festive atmosphere. Complementary items such as color-changing or metallic cups further enhance the “magical” holiday experience. By combining metallic surfaces with premium finishing, brands enrich the unboxing experience, drive seasonal purchase behavior, and increase shelf appeal.
Trend Summary
Holiday packaging in F&B is increasingly tiered by use case: standard cost-efficient packaging for daily consumption, mid-tier packaging with seasonal design cues, and premium gifting solutions with complex structures and high-end finishes. The market is moving beyond “sustainable + minimalist” toward sustainably enriched experiential packaging, integrating storytelling, holiday elements, and emotional engagement. Recycled materials, premium surface finishes, and metallic effects collectively enhance the festive appeal, perceived value, and purchase motivation.
🎄 Conclusion
Packaging & Experience — When the Outer Layer Becomes Inspiration
From a creative design perspective, packaging is far more than a protective shell. It is a story, an emotional language, the very first touchpoint a consumer encounters before they even open the box. A well-crafted design can spark curiosity, inspire gifting, and create memorable moments throughout the user journey.
During the festive season—especially Christmas—holiday and limited-edition packaging becomes a powerful emotional catalyst. Consumers naturally seek warmth, connection, and familiar seasonal cues. As a result, packaging evolves beyond aesthetics; it gains meaning and becomes a strategic asset that helps brands:
✨ build mental availability, ✨ strengthen affinity, ✨ and unlock incremental revenue driven by heightened gifting demand.
When packaging is able to tell a story, the experience extends far beyond the shelf—from the store environment to the unboxing moment, and eventually into the customer’s long-term memory.
Newlifepack Co., Ltd.
Newlife Packaging Printing Company (Newlifepack Co., Ltd. – since 2008) is a leading manufacturer of Paper Packaging and a trusted provider of Custom Rigid Boxes based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Professional Packaging Manufacturer
Perfect color reproduction using advanced offset printing technology with the KOMORI Lithrone 6-color press
15,000 m² facility equipped with modern automation, capable of handling large orders with tight deadlines
Closed-loop production process: fully in-house, no outsourcing. Guaranteed stable quality and competitive pricing
Certified with: ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, GMI, GSV, FSC, SMETA.
Contact Us:
Headquarters & Factory: 68 Tran Van Cham Street, Cu Chi Commune, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (Formerly: 68 Tran Van Cham Street, Phuoc Vinh An Commune, Cu Chi District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
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