Since their debut on holiday tables in 1958, Keller’s Butter Sculptures have become a festive tradition in households across the country.

This holiday season, Keller’s Creamery, owned by Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), Kansas City, Mo., unveiled advanced packaging for its butter sculptures.

When the first Keller’s butter sculpture was produced more than 55 years ago, it was created from a wooden hand-pressed mold and shaped into the form of a lamb in observance of the Easter holiday. Today, Keller’s offers three, seasonal 4-ounce butter sculptures in the shape of a Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas tree and an Easter lamb.

“This December, shoppers will be able to purchase the company’s first Christmas trees utilizing the new packaging that promises to provide a more detailed sculpture design,” says Ashley Campbell, senior associate brand manager.

The new packaging includes a molded, plastic casing with easy-to-open tabs that allow convenient access to the butter. The process of pouring the butter directly into the plastic allows for greater detail to key features of the sculptures, such as the tree’s branches and the turkey’s feathers.

“Customers will definitely see added detail to the sculptures. The new packaging offers much better definition,” Campbell says.

In previous years, the butter was molded and then packaged into a container that supplied structural support only to the base of the butter and not the entire sculpture.

“The plastic now encasing the entire sculpture not only provides the butter additional support, but also decreased manufacturing time” says Paul Johnson, manager of purchasing for DFA. “Due to increased demand over the last few years, we looked into opportunities [that] would help us be more responsive to the retailers and also provide a more durable product for the consumers.”

The new packaging will kick off with this year’s Christmas trees and will be available with all three sculpture designs in 2014.