Whether you're one of the 40 million people who do their shopping online for gifts, or you're sending one of the 700 million Christmas cards to brighten up someone's festive season, we're ready to deliver your Christmas.

From last posting dates to Christmas deliveries, you'll find all your posting needs here with our one-stop guide to all things festive!

Last posting dates

To beat the Christmas rush, make sure you post before the recommended last posting date.

Your last posting dates for Christmas are:

Last recommended posting services Service

UK

Sat 18 Dec 2010 Second Class

Tue 21 Dec 2010 First Class
Recorded Signed For™ has the same last posting dates as the 1st and 2nd Class service that the customer has chosen to apply it to

Wed 15 Dec 2010 Standard Parcels

Special Delivery™

Thu 23 Dec 2010 Special Delivery™

International Airmail

Mon 6 Dec 2010 South & Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East (including Japan), Australia and New Zealand

Fri 10 Dec 2010 Eastern Europe, USA and Canada

Mon 13 Dec 2010 Western Europe

International Surface Mail

Thu 30 Sep 2010 All non-European destinations except Middle East, South Africa, Far East, the USA and Canada

Tue 5 Oct 2010 Middle East and Far East (except Hong Kong & Singapore)

Tue 19 Oct 2010 South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, the USA and Canada

Tue 9 Nov 2010 Eastern Europe, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Malta and Iceland

Tue 23 Nov 2010 Western Europe

British Forces Mail: Find out the latest date you can post to BFPOs worldwide (new window).

Christmas deliveries

We'll be trying our very best to get all your Christmas post to you as soon as we can. To help us achieve this, we'll be offering you more services over the festive period:

Extra deliveries: In the week leading up to Christmas, we'll be delivering in the evenings and on Sunday 19th, Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd December.

Later opening hours: If you're out when we try to deliver, we've made it easier to collect your post from your local Enquiry Office, which will be open later from 13th December. The opening hours will be on your 'sorry you were out' card.

More redelivery options: You can arrange redelivery of your Christmas parcels to your home address, a neighbour's address or your local Post Office^®.

Please note there will be no collections or deliveries from 25th-28th December inclusive.

Wrapping and Packing

Make sure that your items are packed safely and securely, by viewing the wrapping and packing advice.

Addressing your post

Make sure that you have clearly labelled envelopes and always add the postcode so that it reaches its destination on time and to the right address - we can help with our address/postcode finder.

Getting the postage right

Make sure that you are sending mail with the correct postage on by using the price finder.

Understand the pricing for different sizes of mail to make sure that you don't incur a fine by viewing our size and weight formats.

Why not print your stamps straight from your PC or Mac with Online Postage?

Express and signature services

Get your parcels there with added speed, security and online tracking with Special Delivery™ 9am, Special Delivery™ Next Day and Recorded Signed For™.

Branch Locator

Gift-wrapped and ready to go? Locate one of our Post Office^® branches with our online branch finder.

Christmas Cards and personalised gifts

Royal Mail has teamed up with Greetz to let you create your own personalised cards online. Your cards are then printed and mailed directly to your friends, family, colleagues or customers.

Through our partnership with Albelli we are also offering you the chance to create your own personalised photo books, calendars and diaries. Buy them for yourself or as a gift.