‘Tis the season for another hat tip for great packaging design- and the fall 2021 award for Crystal’s Favorite Turkey Day Packaging goes to Trader Joe’s for their Thanksgiving Stuffing Seasoned Kettle Chips! Last year, I featured the Pringles Friendsgiving Feast with “the majestic turducken,” and if you missed that slice of literary joy, you could check it out here: https://www.fpcpackaging.com/whether-you-love-the-turducken-or-hate-it-this-packaging-is-a-touchdown/
If you’ve been sleeping on Trader Joe’s distinctive branding style, you need to wake up and smell the Joe. Many of their products are unique to their store, and regardless of the type of food, all of their packaging brings a sense of both quality and whimsy. Check out this image of the stuffing chips. They maximize mouth-watering by displaying a high-definition close-up of the chips where the seasoning is visible. By mixing and matching cursive fonts with regal-looking prints, they project a creative, youthful air that seems to say, “we’re hip, fun, and don’t take ourselves too seriously.” Displaying real chips in an illustrated bowl reminds me of Terry Gilliam’s art in Monty Python; he animated his art alongside antique photographs or Victorian illustrations to make a wacky, hodge-podge effect.
The packaging features aside… can we please geek out about how good these chips would be? Stuffing is one of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes (right up there with cranberry sauce and sweet potato casserole), and I would never have imagined a potato chip to carry the flavors of celery, sage, and thyme. I am sure these chips would go great on my all-time favorite sandwich is the holiday leftovers sandwich. It is a holy trio of turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, and the only downside is that it can get a little too bready, but I bet these seasoned chips would be a perfect replacement for the stuffing! I’ll be picking up a bag the next time I’m at Trader Joe’s.
It’s the giving season, and if you want some new solutions for your packaging, we’d love to share some of our ideas with you. They’re fresh and piping hot, and we are ringing the dinner bell— come and get them!
