Hershey Expands Holiday Confection and Salty Snack Portfolio for 2026

The Portfolio Move

The Hershey Company is entering the 2026 holiday selling season with its most diversified seasonal lineup to date, blending licensed IP confections, sweet-and-salty snack formats, and a direct-to-consumer gift accessory that extends the brand well beyond the candy aisle. For retail buyers and foodservice operators running catering, gifting, or seasonal snack programs, the assortment signals where the $11.7 billion snack conglomerate is placing its bets this fourth quarter.

The headlining new SKUs lean heavily into the Dr. Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas! IP license: Hershey's Kisses Cindy-Lou Who Strawberry Sugar Cookie candies, Hershey's Hugs Max the Dog foil-wrapped candies, and Hershey's Grinch Milk Chocolate Bars in a giftable 6-pack. KIT KAT Santa & Reindeer and Reese's Reindeer Mix — a resealable sweet-and-salty pouch combining popcorn, baking chips, Mini Trees, and Reese's Pieces — round out the new introductions. Returning favorites including Reese's Peanut Butter Trees, KIT KAT Peppermint Stick, and Hershey's Kisses Snickerdoodle Cookie give buyers proven velocity SKUs to anchor floor displays.

Salty as a Strategic Pillar

The more telling development for snack buyers is Hershey's deliberate push into seasonal salty formats under its SkinnyPop and LesserEvil sub-brands. SkinnyPop Elf Maple Syrup Kettle Corn — tied to the Elf film license — and LesserEvil Himalayan Sweetness Popcorn in individually portioned formats signal that Hershey is treating its salty portfolio as a co-equal holiday vehicle, not an afterthought. For operators running hotel minibar resets, corporate gift curation, or catered holiday events, single-serve better-for-you popcorn formats are increasingly a planogram category unto themselves. Hershey is positioning both SKUs to capture school events, office gatherings, and fireside snacking occasions that traditional confection formats don't reach as naturally.

Hershey cites Mintel and New York Post consumer research indicating that 78.0% of parents consider replicating childhood traditions important, while 62.0% have modified those traditions to fit current lifestyles. That tension — nostalgia plus adaptation — is the brief that shaped this portfolio, and it tracks with broader category intelligence showing that limited-edition flavor and licensed packaging continue to outperform base-flavor shelf velocity during Q4 windows. Operators and retail buyers sourcing seasonal snack programs should note that resealable pouches and multi-pack formats dominate the new introductions, reducing per-unit friction for gifting and sharing occasions.

DTC and the Buyer Intelligence Signal

Perhaps the most operationally interesting element is the limited-edition Hershey's Kisses gift-wrapping foil kit, available exclusively at shop.hersheys.com/holiday starting Cyber Monday, November 30. Available in four colorways — silver, red, green, and a Kisses-branded custom design — it represents Hershey's clearest attempt yet to extend brand equity into the gift presentation category, capturing basket value that typically flows to specialty paper goods retailers. For suppliers and packaging vendors watching category adjacency plays by major CPG brands, this is a live example of a confection company using DTC infrastructure to test non-edible seasonal SKUs.

For operators building holiday gift packages, corporate amenity boxes, or catering dessert programs, the 2026 Hershey lineup offers a wider selection of resealable, portion-controlled, and visually differentiated formats than prior years. Procurement teams should confirm regional retailer availability early — Hershey notes all holiday products are available for a limited time at participating retailers nationwide, and pricing is at retailer discretion. See related coverage on seasonal snack trends shaping Q4 menus and how CPG brands are using DTC to test holiday SKUs.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.