December 22, 2025 – With the holiday season approaching, seasonal food explorations are surging, as consumers are seeking festive flavors and holiday recipes. Christmas flavors like gingerbread continue to reign, but brands are utilizing unique formats to add a twist to favorites and spark consumers’ curiosity. Additionally, social media plays a key role in communication and interaction with these trends, driving experimentation. Innova’s “Trending in Christmas F&B on Social Media- Global” report examines these trends and how brands can capture consumer interest this winter season.
Social Media Buzz Around Festive Exploration
As Christmas approaches, consumers around the world are actively exploring festive foods, beverages, and flavor launches. Innova’s social listening data indicates that nostalgic traditions and at-home entertainment are fueling buzz online, boosting visibility for themed products across social media platforms. Indulgent treats, holiday recipes, seasonal drinks, and gifting ideas are also driving strong social media interactions. Overall, 64% of global consumers have positive views of mentions related to Christmas food and beverage trends.
Holiday Preferences by Gender
When it comes to online conversations surrounding Christmas trends on social media, men and women demonstrate different preferences and engagement. For both demographics, the top percentage of mentions are attributed to users aged 25-34 and 55-64. Most male users focus on conversations around convenience, humor, and enjoying traditional Christmas market foods, such as mulled wine and gingerbread. In contrast, female consumers highlight interest in festive foods, seasonal drinks, and recipe sharing, as well as enthusiasm for Christmas markets. However, holiday trends on social media indicate that both male and female users are interested in holiday flavors, market experiences, and festive food rituals.
Consumers Seek Cozy, Festive Comfort
75% of global consumers cite food as a crucial element of Christmas celebrations. According to Innova’s trends research, consumers most commonly associate meat flavors with Christmas. Heinz’s limited-edition Pigs in Blankets Beanz underscores this trend. After meat flavors, warm spices and creamy, rich flavors follow closely behind as holiday preferences. Nut and brown flavors like chocolate and caramel also rank in the top five associations consumers have with the holiday season.
Traditional Christmas Flavors in Salty Snacks
Global Christmas trends are exemplifying how traditional holiday flavors are evolving beyond established categories to inspire innovation across snacks, dairy, and savory formats. Consumers are driving this shift, as they increasingly demand familiar or festive tastes in convenient formats. For example, PepsiCo UK recently launched “Doritos Gingerbread,” which adds a sweet holiday twist to Dorito’s iconic tortilla chips. Although this line was a UK exclusive, the new product garnered significant engagement and a reach of 1.5 million users. Brands can also capitalize on seasonal flavors like gingerbread, peppermint, and spiced fruits to create excitement, drive limited-edition sales, and evoke nostalgia.
Holiday Baking Sparks Online Chatter
Around the Christmas season, online conversations about holiday desserts and confectionery climb, fueled by traditional treats and DIY recipes. With the increase in gatherings during the holiday season, inclusive options like gluten-free are an opportunity for brands to capitalize on online chatter and enhance visibility. Brands can also leverage giveaways, nostalgic sweets, and candy promotions to boost engagement online and connect with consumers looking for baking or gifting inspiration.
Home Mixology Is Redefining Beverage Innovation
Mixology-friendly formats are another key Christmas trend that consumers are gravitating towards this holiday season. Flavored syrups, ready-made bases, and seasonal mixers empower consumers to create their own drinks from the comfort of their own homes during festive celebrations. Social media is largely influencing this trend with recipes for drinks like mulled wine margaritas and Christmas punch reaching millions of users online.
Acknowledging Health and Lifestyle Preferences in Festive Treats
With health becoming increasingly important to consumers around the world, brands are unsurprisingly diversifying their portfolios to address individuals looking to balance indulgence and health-consciousness. For example, brands can explore wholegrain or ingredient-led variants of holiday staples, such as panettone. Although social media mentions of festive, plant-based products are limited, companies can also stand out and signal inclusivity with simple, approachable options like dairy-free drinks or coffee creamers. Whether consumers are motivated by health or curiosity, these options provide opportunities to spark interest and address varying preferences.
Balancing Festivities and Budget
Consumers are redefining what festive value means to them, and as a result, budget-friendly choices are rising in importance. Products tailored to home cooking, DIY gifting, and low-waste solutions underscore mindful celebration to consumers, who are looking to cut costs and reduce excess. Brands also have the opportunity to offer bundle deals and cost-efficient formats to empower consumers in the midst of rising food prices.
What’s Next for Global Christmas Trends?
Home cooking and DIY kits are expected to propel future Christmas trends by simplifying festive cooking for consumers. Brands can also add flavor twists to holiday classics to create fresh yet familiar flavor profiles. Botanicals and warm spices will fuel this trend and help brands differentiate their products. Additionally, value-driven purchases will remain an important driver, with multi-use products and bundles fueling growth.
This article is based on Innova’s Trending in Christmas F&B on Social Media- Global report. This report is available to purchase or with an Innova Reports subscription. Reach out to find out more