Christmas Delivery Cut-Off Dates

There is one date that matters and it is not ours, it is Australia Post's. We dispatch weekday orders placed before 12pm the same day from our Corio, VIC warehouse, tracked with Australia Post. What decides whether a hamper lands before Christmas Day is how long the network then takes to your recipient's postcode, and in December that is longer than it is in June.

Australia Post 2026 Christmas cut-offs

Australia Post has published its recommended last lodgement dates for delivery by Christmas Day, Friday 25 December 2026. A lodgement date is the last day a parcel can enter the network and still be expected to arrive in time, so it is our last dispatch day. Because a weekday order placed before 12pm leaves the same day, these are also the last days to order, by midday, with no margin at all.

These are Australia Post's published dates for metro locations. Their full state-by-state breakdown is on auspost.com.au.

Why the date in the table is not the date to aim for

A last lodgement date assumes nothing goes wrong. Three things decide how much earlier you should go.

Where it is going. A parcel staying inside its own state moves fastest. Interstate is slower. WA, the Northern Territory, Tasmania and anywhere the network calls regional are slower again, because the parcel is crossing water or the Nullarbor before it starts on local delivery. That is why their Parcel Post date is a full week earlier than everyone else's.

What day you order. Weekend orders do not get dispatched until Monday, so an order placed on a Saturday afternoon has effectively lost two days before it moves. Both Parcel Post cut-offs fall on a Monday, so the weekend before each one is the trap: order by the Friday and you have a buffer, order on the Sunday and you are relying on Monday morning going perfectly.

How much slack December adds. This is the variable everyone underestimates. The whole country posts at once for about three weeks, and network timeframes stretch accordingly. Whatever a parcel takes in October, give it more in the week before Christmas, and do not treat a normal estimate as a promise.

The practical version: for WA, NT and Tasmania, order in the first week of December. For everywhere else, aim for the first half of December rather than the second, and treat Express Post as the fallback, not the plan.

Our own dispatch, precisely

• Orders placed before 12pm on a weekday are dispatched the same day from our Corio, VIC warehouse, tracked with Australia Post.
• Orders placed after midday leave on the next business day.
• Weekend and public holiday orders leave on the next business day.
• Each hamper travels as its own parcel, which is how it arrives intact and why shipping is worked out per hamper.
• We do not offer same-day delivery. Same-day dispatch and same-day delivery are different things, and plenty of sites blur them in December.

For live estimates to a specific address, the postcode calculator on our delivery page is more use than any table, because it reads the actual service options for that postcode.

The dates that are already fixed

Christmas Day 2026 falls on a Friday, which makes Thursday 24 December the last trading day for most Australian workplaces. If you are sending to an office rather than a home, that is your real deadline, not Australia Post's, because a parcel that arrives at a closed reception on 28 December has not arrived.

Business orders have an earlier deadline again, because a bulk order takes longer to build than a single hamper. Early Bird Special, order before 19 November: A FREE bottle of G.H.Mumm Champagne for every $1,000 of hampers ordered. PLUS 10% off orders of 10+ hampers. The business Christmas orders after 19 November post covers what changes once that date has passed, and corporate gifting is where bulk orders start.

Questions people ask

What is the last day to order a Christmas hamper?

For a metro address in VIC, NSW, ACT, QLD or SA, before 12pm on Monday 21 December by Parcel Post, or Wednesday 23 December by Express Post. For WA, NT and Tasmania by Parcel Post, Monday 14 December. Those are Australia Post's last lodgement dates and they assume nothing goes wrong, so a few days earlier is the sensible version, and regional addresses need more time again.

Do you deliver on Christmas Eve?

Deliveries are made by Australia Post, so their network decides. We do not guarantee a delivery date, and we do not offer same-day delivery at any time of year.

What happens if I miss the cut-off?

A digital gift voucher arrives by email rather than by post, so it works when nothing else will. Our last minute Christmas gifts page sets out what still works and what does not.

Can I choose a delivery date?

You can time when you order, which is the closest thing available. Enter the postcode on the delivery page to see current service options before you decide.

Will you be open between Christmas and New Year?

The warehouse closes for a shutdown period over the break. The dates will be added to this page once they are confirmed.

Three you can order in October

Everything in these is shelf stable, so buying early costs you nothing except the deadline.

• Gourmet Selection Hamper, $89.95. The all-rounder for a household you are sending to interstate, where the timing risk is highest.
• Greatest Gourmet Hamper, $129.95. Over the free shipping line and alcohol-free, so nobody needs to be home to sign for age verification.
• Gourmet Emporium Hamper, $169.95. The one to send to WA or the Territory in the first week of December and then forget about.

Order early and stop thinking about it

The cheapest way to solve a delivery deadline is to remove it. Shelf-stable hampers can be bought in October and still be right in December, which is what most of the Christmas hamper range is. Our guide to when to order Christmas food and hampers sets out what can be bought early and what cannot, and if the parcel is crossing the country, sending a Christmas hamper interstate is the specific version.