Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes 2026: Rollout Runs Mid-October to Mid-December

Little Debbie’s 2026 Christmas snacks are rolling out to grocery, mass merchandise and convenience stores nationwide from mid-October through mid-December 2026, McKee Foods’ Little Debbie said in an Oct. 13, 2026 release on PR Newswire. That is a window, not one on-shelf date. The release names no store, no date for any single snack and no price, so what you find depends on when your store stocks it.

Two snacks are new, Hot Cocoa Mini Muffins and Big Pack Christmas Old Fashioned Donuts, and seven returning snacks include the Christmas Tree Cakes. The table below puts the whole lineup in one place, and a free printable checklist follows it.

When do Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes come out in 2026?

The release says: “Products will begin rolling out to major grocery retailers, mass merchandise stores and convenience stops nationwide mid-October through mid-December 2026.” Little Debbie did not say which snack reaches shelves first or when a given chain gets them. Its only shopping advice in the release is to look for the bright festive packaging in the snack aisle.

For context on timing from last year, a McKee Foods foodservice release dated Sept. 15, 2025 offered Vanilla Christmas Tree Cakes and Christmas Gingerbread Cookies to foodservice customers “available to order for a limited time from October 8 - November 12, 2025.” That was an ordering window for foodservice customers, not the grocery shelf date, and no 2026 foodservice window is in this year’s release.

Little Debbie Christmas 2026 lineup: every snack in one table

The release describes each snack in its own paragraph. This table lists them with the status Little Debbie gives each.

Snack	New or returning	What the release says it is
Hot Cocoa Mini Muffins	New	Rich chocolate and toasty marshmallow-flavored bits, wrapped in individual pouches
Big Pack Christmas Old Fashioned Donuts	New	Traditional cake-style donuts with a sweet glaze and red and green sprinkles, in a Big Pack format
Christmas Tree Cakes (Vanilla & Chocolate)	Returning	Tree-shaped holiday cake layered with fluffy creme and topped with festive sprinkles
Christmas Tree Brownies	Returning	Tree-shaped brownies decorated with colorful holiday icing and candy ornaments
North Pole Nutty Buddy Wafer Bars	Returning	Peanut butter wafer bars dipped in white fudge
Gingerbread Cookies	Returning	Soft, spiced gingerbread cookies baked into classic festive holiday shapes
Cherry Cordials (Christmas)	Returning	Soft cookies topped with cherry-flavored creme and coated in smooth chocolatey coating
Christmas Mini Muffins	Returning	Bite-sized vanilla muffins baked with festive red and green sprinkles
Mini Christmas Tree Cake Donuts	Returning	Coated in sweet white frosting, decorated with festive red stripes and green sugar sprinkles
Single-serve Christmas Old Fashioned Donuts	New	Joins the single-serve Christmas Tree Cakes
Single-serve Cosmic Brownies	New	Joins the single-serve Christmas Tree Cakes

Source: Little Debbie release, Oct. 13, 2026. The release gives no prices.

What is new: Hot Cocoa Mini Muffins and the Big Pack donuts

The Hot Cocoa Mini Muffins are the new snack the release leads with. Little Debbie describes them as bursting with rich chocolate and toasty marshmallow-flavored bits, wrapped in individual pouches.

The Big Pack Christmas Old Fashioned Donuts are traditional cake-style donuts finished in a sweet glaze and dressed up with a holiday shower of red and green sprinkles, delivered in a Big Pack format. In single-serve packs, the new Christmas Old Fashioned Donuts and Cosmic Brownies join the single-serve Christmas Tree Cakes this year.

Which Little Debbie Christmas snacks return?

The Christmas Tree Cakes come back in Vanilla and Chocolate, along with the Christmas Tree Brownies, North Pole Nutty Buddy Wafer Bars, Gingerbread Cookies, Cherry Cordials, Christmas Mini Muffins and Mini Christmas Tree Cake Donuts. The release does not say how long any of them stay on shelves.

McKee Foods says the Christmas Tree Cake has been sold since 1985 and calls it “a cherished holiday tradition for families nationwide” in its Oct. 14, 2025 release marking 40 years of the cake.

Print the Little Debbie Christmas 2026 snack checklist

The free printable, the Little Debbie Christmas 2026 Snack Checklist, lists each snack, whether it is new or returning, what it is and a Found it box to tick when you spot it. It uses no Little Debbie logos or packaging art. Prices and per-store dates are listed as unconfirmed because the release does not give them.

Print a December 2026 calendar to plan your holiday baking and shopping, and see when Christmas falls. For other seasonal food and drink lineups, see our holiday menus 2026 tracker; for countdown treats, see the advent calendar 2026 dates and the LEGO advent calendars 2026.