When to order a letter from Santa for Christmas 2026.

• US addresses: order by Sunday, December 6 for arrival before Christmas.
• Canada: order by Friday, December 4.
• Other countries: order by Sunday, November 29.
• Ordering today, a US letter typically arrives around November 14 at the earliest.

All of these are estimates, not guarantees. Mail is mail, and December is its busiest month. Our dates are worked out from typical delivery times, not from a promise by the post office. For the Postal Service’s own recommended dates, and our dates for Christmas cards too, see Christmas mailing deadlines.

You don’t have to wait until December to order. Order today, pick the day you’d like the letter to arrive, and we mail it so it typically arrives around then. Santa letters can arrive any day you choose; for Christmas we suggest between December 1 and December 20. Here’s the last day to order for a few popular arrival dates (US mail):

A full letter can take a little longer to write than a card, so if you’re choosing the full letter, ordering a few days before these dates gives it extra room.

Every letter is written with a real pen before it’s mailed, and that takes time. We allow about 5 days to write and mail it. Then US First-Class mail typically takes 3 to 7 days; we plan on 5. From November 15 to the end of December, we add 3 more days for the holiday rush. Letters are mailed Monday to Friday, never on a postal holiday, and mail is delivered Monday to Saturday.

For Canada we plan on about 8 days in the mail (5 to 12), and for other countries about 12 (7 to 21). The order-by dates above aim for the letter to arrive 5 days before Christmas, so a slow week still lands in time.

Some families like the letter to arrive on a day that already means something: the weekend the tree goes up, the first snowfall (if you are lucky with the guess), the day school breaks up, or Saint Nicholas Day on December 6 for families who celebrate it. Pick the date and Santa’s letter is planned around it.

If you’re sending to grandchildren, nieces or nephews in another house, pick a day when someone will be home to make a fuss of it. A letter that sits in a pile of holiday cards for a week loses a little of its sparkle.

• The letter is written for your chosen arrival date, so ordering in October or November costs nothing extra and takes it off December’s to-do list.
• You can read Santa’s letter, change it and listen to his voice message (if you add one) without a rush.
• If you add Santa’s video, there’s time to watch it and ask for a new one if you’d like.
• Mid-December letters have a week or two on the mantelpiece before the big day.

You can still order a letter after the order-by date; it just may arrive after Christmas. Santa writes all year round, and a letter that lands between Christmas and New Year, thanking your child for a kind thing they did over the holidays, can be just as lovely. Pick the earliest arrival date offered and it will be written and mailed at the first chance.

If you’d like something for Christmas morning itself, print a free Nice List certificate to tuck in a stocking. It takes a minute and needs no account.

Tell Santa about your child, read his letter, pick the arrival date and pay. See how it works for parents for each step, or start your Santa letter now.