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Christmas Cards to Australia: Last Posting Date, Cost and What to Write
Royal Mail hasn't published 2026 dates for Australia. When to post your Christmas cards, what it costs, what to write, and the options if you miss it.
The short answer
Christmas Cards to Australia
Post Christmas cards to Australia by the end of November. Royal Mail hasn't published a 2026 last posting date for Australia (we checked again on 24 October), and the last one it did publish, for 2024, was Tuesday 3 December for International Standard, the airmail service cards go by. A standard card costs £3.60 to send.
Christmas 2026
When do you need to send it?
Australia Post's Christmas dates, checked on 21 October 2026. They're for metro addresses, so allow longer for regional areas.
Posting it yourself
Parcel Post by Tuesday 22 December
Express Post by Wednesday 23 December.
Sending a Same Skies gift box
Order by Tuesday 15 December
By 11:59pm Sydney time.
40 days left
We pack it by hand in Sydney and send it with Australia Post, about 2 business days after dispatch to Sydney.
See the Christmas gift boxesSave the date
Christmas cards to Australia at a glance
- 2026 last posting date: not published by Royal Mail yet. Our advice is to have cards in the postbox by Monday 30 November, or a week earlier if you're posting at a Post Office counter.
- Cost: £3.60 by International Standard for a card up to 100g and 24cm by 16.5cm. Bigger or chunkier, and it's £4.50 online or £4.60 at a branch.
- Delivery aim: 6 to 7 working days. December is the busiest month, so leave a margin.
- Missed it? Send an e-card or a video, or put your words inside a gift packed in Sydney. Order by Tuesday 15 December (12:59pm UK time) for most of Australia.
Sending a present along with the card? There's a much later way to send a gift to Australia from the UK, and we'll get to it. Cards first.
Last posting date for Christmas cards to Australia, 2026
Royal Mail's Christmas 2026 page lists every UK date (2nd Class by Friday 18 December, 1st Class by Monday 21 December) and nothing for anywhere abroad. When we re-checked it on 24 October, the international section still just said to post as early as possible and pointed to the delivery aims in its country guides. It didn't publish international dates for 2025 either.
So the most recent Australia dates are from Christmas 2024. Treat them as a guide, not a promise. The weekdays won't match 2026, and the dates moved earlier between 2023 and 2024. Parcels, Parcelforce and the rest are in our guide to Christmas post to Australia and the last posting dates. This page sticks to cards.
| Royal Mail service | Card price (Letter, up to 100g) | Delivery aim | 2024 last posting date (guide only) |
|---|---|---|---|
| International Standard (airmail) | £3.60 | 6 to 7 working days | Tuesday 3 December posted direct or online; Tuesday 26 November at a Post Office |
| International Tracked & Signed | £8.60 | 5 to 7 working days | Saturday 7 December online; Friday 6 December at a Post Office |
| International Economy (surface) | £3.50 | Up to 12 weeks | Wednesday 9 October online; Wednesday 2 October at a Post Office |
Sources: prices and delivery aims from Royal Mail's Australia country guide, read 24 October 2026. The 2024 dates are from Royal Mail's Christmas 2024 page (archived copy). Check Royal Mail's live Christmas page before you post, in case it adds Australia later in the season.
Our advice: get cards in the postbox by Monday 30 November. That keeps you inside the 2024 International Standard date with a few days to spare, and you'll want them, because Royal Mail's own Christmas page says international mail runs at much higher volumes in December. If you're handing cards over at a Post Office counter, go a week earlier. In 2024 the counter date was a week before the direct one.
How much does it cost to send a Christmas card to Australia?
£3.60, for most cards. On Royal Mail's Australia guide, a Letter by International Standard costs £3.60 whether you buy it online or at a branch. A Letter means up to 100g, no bigger than 24cm by 16.5cm and no more than 5mm thick. A normal card in its envelope fits with room to spare.
The fancy card is where people get caught. A big square one, a card with a badge on the front, a padded or pop-up design, or an envelope fat with photos can be over a Letter's size or thickness, and that makes it a Large Letter: £4.50 online or £4.60 at a branch. Measure it before you stamp it. A ruler is cheaper than a card stuck in the system.
International Tracked & Signed costs £8.60 for a Letter. It's overkill for most cards, but it's there if the envelope holds something you'd hate to lose, like the kids' handmade one. International Economy saves you 10p and can take up to 12 weeks, so skip it. These are Royal Mail's "from" prices on 24 October 2026, and they do change.
Do Christmas cards need a customs form?
Not if it's just a card. Royal Mail's Australia guide says electronic customs data is mandatory for items sent abroad but excludes personal correspondence, which is what a card with your words in it is. Tuck a present in the envelope, a pair of earrings or a keyring, and it becomes goods, which needs a customs declaration: a CN22 for contents worth up to £270. Royal Mail also lists Christmas crackers among the things you can't post to Australia, so the cracker-in-a-card idea is out.
Addressing a card to Australia
Royal Mail's format: a unit number, a forward slash, then the street number. Then the suburb, state and four-digit postcode on one line, in capitals with no punctuation. Then AUSTRALIA in capitals on the last line. Like this:
Ms Jane Smith
4/22 Example Street
BONDI NSW 2026
AUSTRALIA
Ask for postcodes in the family group chat now, not on the night you sit down with the cards.
What to write in a Christmas card to Australia
December is summer in Australia. The Bureau of Meteorology counts December, January and February as summer, so your card lands in shorts weather. That's a gift for anyone writing one. The snowman on the front is now a joke you're both in on.
Three or four lines is plenty. Open with something only they'd get, say what you're looking forward to, and finish with a plan. A few to borrow:
- "It's 4 degrees here and the heating's been on since October. Have a swim for me and don't burn."
- "Mum has asked twice whether you've got sun cream. Consider this the third time."
- "Christmas dinner isn't the same without you nicking the roast potatoes. Save me a prawn."
- "Ring us when you're full. We'll be in our dressing gowns with a brew."
- For the grandkids: "Nana says the reindeer must be very hot down there. Leave them water, not milk."
Go easy on the missing them. It's true, and one line of it is lovely. A whole card of it, opened at a barbecue on a hot afternoon, isn't what you meant to send. Spend the rest of the space on them.
If you're planning a call, put the time in the card. Sydney is 11 hours ahead of the UK in December and Perth 8, so 8pm on Christmas Day in Sydney is 9am Christmas morning for you. Our UK to Australia time difference guide has the full table, and our guide to Christmas in Australia explains what their day will actually look like.
Missed the post? E-cards, video messages and cards made in Australia
If the end of November slips past, the card can still arrive on the day. It just can't go by airmail.
An e-card is the obvious fix. Most online card shops sell them, and you choose when it lands. Time it for Christmas morning their time, which is Christmas Eve evening for you: 7am in Sydney is 8pm the night before in the UK.
A video message is better, and it's free. Thirty seconds of everyone at home saying happy Christmas, the dog included, sent so it's waiting when they wake up. Record it a few days early so nobody's doing it in a panic on the 24th.
You can also use a card company that makes cards inside Australia. At least one big UK card business now produces its Australian orders in Melbourne and Sydney and sends them with Australia Post, so the card never takes the long flight. The shop sets its own Christmas order dates, so check those, not Royal Mail's.
And there's the call. Not a card, but nothing beats seeing their face, sunburnt or not.
Or put your words inside a gift packed in Sydney
If you're sending a present too, you can do both at once, and much later than the airmail date. Order from a business that packs and delivers inside Australia, and the gift only travels a domestic route. Our pages on Christmas gifts to Australia and Christmas hampers to Australia lay the options out side by side. Or build your own box and choose every piece. For other things to send alongside the card, see our gift ideas to send to Australia from the UK.
That's how Same Skies works. Lewis and Jess pack every box by hand in Sydney, Monday to Friday, and send it with Australia Post. Lewis grew up in the UK, and his mum, Samantha, still lives there. Your words live behind a QR code on a premium card inside the box. You add a message of up to 280 characters for free, plus a photo or a video if you like, and they open it by pointing their phone camera at the code. Photos and videos replay for around six months, which is longer than most cards stay on the mantelpiece.
The honest trade-off: 280 characters is a short card, not a long letter. If you've got two pages to say, post those in November and let the box carry the photo or the video on the day.
It's a domestic Australian delivery, so your gift never goes through customs, and delivery is free on every box. For Christmas 2026 with Standard delivery, order by 11:59pm Sydney time on these dates, which is 12:59pm the same day in the UK:
| Delivering to | Order by (11:59pm Sydney) | Which is, in the UK |
|---|---|---|
| NSW, ACT, Vic, Qld, SA and Tas | Tuesday 15 December | 12:59pm, Tuesday 15 December |
| WA | Monday 14 December | 12:59pm, Monday 14 December |
| NT, and regional or remote addresses | Thursday 10 December | 12:59pm, Thursday 10 December |
After dispatch it usually takes about 2 business days within Sydney, 3 to Melbourne or Brisbane, 4 to Adelaide, 5 to Perth or Hobart and 6 to Darwin. Regional and remote areas can take longer, and tracking is emailed to you. Prices are shown as a guide; you pay in Australian dollars and your bank converts at checkout.
Build your own
Start with an empty box. Fill it with them.
Choose every piece yourself, pick a print that feels like them, then add your letter with a photo or video behind the QR card. We hand-pack it in Sydney and send it free.
- You choose every piece, and the print on the lid
- Your letter, plus a free photo or video behind the QR card
- Hand-packed in Sydney, free delivery Australia-wide
Questions people ask
What is the last posting date for Christmas cards to Australia in 2026?
Royal Mail hadn't published any 2026 international dates when we checked on 24 October 2026. Its last published International Standard date for Australia, in 2024, was Tuesday 3 December (Tuesday 26 November at a Post Office), so post cards by the end of November.
How much is a stamp for a Christmas card to Australia?
£3.60 by International Standard, for a Letter up to 100g, 24cm by 16.5cm and 5mm thick. Bigger or thicker cards count as a Large Letter, from £4.50 online or £4.60 at a branch (Royal Mail prices on 24 October 2026).
How long does a Christmas card take to get from the UK to Australia?
Royal Mail's delivery aim for International Standard is 6 to 7 working days, while International Economy can take up to 12 weeks. December is the busiest month for international mail, so leave a margin.
Do I need a customs form to send a Christmas card to Australia?
Not for a card with only personal correspondence inside, which Royal Mail excludes from its customs data rule. If you add a gift, it needs a customs declaration: a CN22 for contents worth up to £270.
What can I do if I've missed the last posting date for cards?
Send an e-card or a video message timed for Christmas morning their time, or order from a card company that makes and posts cards inside Australia. A Same Skies box, with your words behind a QR code on the card inside, can be ordered until 11:59pm Sydney time on Tuesday 15 December for most of Australia, which is 12:59pm UK time.
Missed the card post?
Choose a box, add your message, photo or video, and we'll pack it in Sydney. Order by 15 December for most of Australia.
Send a gift from the UK