Deadlines for sending Christmas post from France to UK and other destinations
Deadlines for many international destinations are different
Deadlines differ between La Poste and private companies
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Those yet to send Christmas parcels are being reminded of upcoming deadlines and advised to ensure they send packages early enough to guarantee Christmas arrival.
With 2025 set to be a bumper year for delivery companies – and hours-long parcel queues being reported by some – it may be prudent to send items before these deadlines for extra piece of mind.
La Poste expects to send up to 100 million parcels for Christmas this year.
Deadlines for parcels sent through other senders such as FedEx and Mondial Relay also differ from La Poste.
Send parcels as soon as possible
Parcels sent through LaPoste use the ‘Colissimo’ system and have their own deadlines.
For some worldwide destinations, these pre-Christmas deadlines have already passed, with December 9 being the deadline for international destinations such as Australia and New Zealand, and December 13 for the US/Canada.
Parcels can still be sent to these locations but are not guaranteed to arrive before Christmas Day.
Several EU countries have parcel deadlines of December 15/16, although if you are sending parcels to the UK – as well as Austria, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – you have until Thursday December 18 to guarantee pre-Christmas arrival.
For parcels sent to domestic addresses (mainland France and Corsica), deadlines range from December 20 for two-day delivery (J+2) to December 23 for same-day delivery (J). Parcels sent on these deadlines should arrive by Christmas Eve at the latest.
However, La Poste advises sending parcels as soon as possible.
Letters and cards sent through Chronopost can be sent up to December 22 (via express stamp) to arrive before Christmas at domestic French addresses.
UPS Express guarantees pre-Christmas arrival for domestic parcels sent no later than December 22 – as does FedEx Express – and DHL Express has an even later deadline of December 24 to guarantee Christmas arrival, according to site parole des mamans.
In these cases, this is limited to more expensive ‘express’ services, standard delivery deadlines fall earlier.
This is also the case for parcels sent to international addresses such as the UK, which may face different deadlines for guaranteed arrival before Christmas.
You can check deadlines by simulating sending a parcel on the websites of each company to see if pre-Christmas arrival is offered.
