Cards and letters move on a yearly rhythm: Valentine’s Day in February, graduations in May and June, Halloween in October, and the long Christmas season that closes the year. This standing calendar maps the mailing occasions of a typical American year, month by month, together with the federal holidays when Post Offices close — so you can plan any mailing before it becomes urgent.
For the current Christmas season specifically, see the 2026 Holiday Mailing Calendar and When Should You Mail Christmas Cards in 2026?
Key Takeaways
- Work backward from the day the card should arrive, and give every occasion a two-to-four-week runway.
- For Christmas 2026, USPS recommends mailing First-Class cards by December 17 — a recommendation, not a guarantee; Priority Mail’s recommended date is December 18 and Priority Mail Express’s is December 19.
- Mail the farthest destinations first, and build in extra margin for places with hard December weather; local and hand-delivered cards go last.
- Federal holidays are closed days: Post Offices shut and mail does not move, so slide your schedule earlier for each closure inside your runway.
- Hanukkah runs December 4–12 in 2026, so Hanukkah cards belong in the mail in late November — a separate, earlier batch.
How to Use This Calendar
- Work backward from the occasion. Pick the day you want a card to arrive, then subtract time for writing, addressing, and transit. Domestic First-Class letters commonly need several days in the postal system, and more in December.
- Watch the closed days. On the federal holidays listed below, Post Offices are closed and mail is not delivered. A mailing dropped off just before a holiday effectively starts moving the next business day.
- Official dates come from USPS. USPS announces its recommended holiday mailing dates each fall in its newsroom. Until that announcement appears, treat any “last day to mail” — including advice on this site — as a planning recommendation, not an official deadline. See Sources & References for where to check.
A Simple Planning Method: The Four-Week Runway
Whatever the occasion, the same backward plan works — count back four weeks from the day the card should be in the recipient’s hands:
- Four weeks out — list and supplies. Confirm the address list against last year’s returns and corrections, choose the card, and make sure you have envelopes and stamps on hand. Anything that needs ordering happens this week.
- Three weeks out — write and address in batches. Address in sittings of ten or fifteen cards rather than one marathon session, so mistakes surface while an envelope can still be redone.
- Two weeks out — mail the farthest first. International cards, opposite-coast cards, and anything with a hard deadline go into the mail now; distance and seasonal volume are the variables you cannot control.
- One week out — the rest, plus hand delivery. Local cards can go this week; cards for people you will see in person can be hand-delivered instead.
Two adjustments make the method reliable. First, closed days do not count: if a federal holiday falls inside your runway, slide the schedule one day earlier for each closure it crosses. Second, December compresses everything: treat the four-week runway as a minimum then, and let the 2026 Holiday Mailing Calendar set the specific deadlines.
International Mail Needs a Longer Runway
Cards leaving the country face more sorting stages, a border crossing, and a second country’s delivery network. Plan them in weeks rather than days, keep them in their own pile — they need international postage, not a domestic Forever Stamp — and mail them ahead of the domestic batch. USPS’s published international send-by dates, when they appear each fall, override any rule of thumb, including this one.
Worked Example: An Atlanta Family Plans December Backward
This calendar is edited from Atlanta, so take one Decatur household as the worked example — grandparents in Savannah, a brother in Chicago, a sister in Minneapolis, cousins in Seattle, and close friends in Sandy Springs who celebrate Hanukkah. Working backward from Christmas with the four-week runway looks like this. Cards and stamps are in hand by mid-November, before Thanksgiving, while designs are still in stock. The Hanukkah pile is written first and mailed right after Thanksgiving, because those cards need to arrive inside December 4–12, not alongside the Christmas batch.
December itself sorts by weather — the recipients’, not Atlanta’s. A mild Georgia December is no help to a card crossing the Upper Midwest, so the Chicago and Minneapolis envelopes go out in the first week of December, well ahead of USPS’s recommended First-Class send-by date of December 17, with Seattle’s pile right behind them. That December 17 date (and December 18 for Priority Mail, December 19 for Priority Mail Express, if a late gift package enters the picture) is the official recommendation, and it is a sensible last resort — but as an editorial matter, this site’s advice from the Southeast is to let the snowy end of each route set your schedule, not the mild end. The Savannah cards, a short in-state hop, mail in mid-December with margin to spare, and the cards for Decatur neighbors are hand-delivered on the last weekend before Christmas, no stamps at all. Every date on the plan is a recommendation rather than a promise — but a family that mails its farthest pile first almost never has to think about the last one.
Federal Holidays USPS Observes (Post Offices Closed)
| Holiday | When it falls |
|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | January 1 |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Third Monday in January |
| Presidents Day (Washington’s Birthday) | Third Monday in February |
| Memorial Day | Last Monday in May |
| Juneteenth National Independence Day | June 19 |
| Independence Day | July 4 |
| Labor Day | First Monday in September |
| Columbus Day | Second Monday in October |
| Veterans Day | November 11 |
| Thanksgiving Day | Fourth Thursday in November |
| Christmas Day | December 25 |
When a fixed-date holiday falls on a weekend, USPS observes it on the adjacent Friday or Monday. Confirm the current year’s observed dates on usps.com.
Month by Month
January
Occasions: New Year’s cards, holiday thank-you notes, winter birthdays. Planning notes: The post-Christmas quiet period is the natural time for thank-you letters — see How to Write a Holiday Thank-You Letter. Post Offices close January 1 and on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. If your household sends New Year greetings instead of Christmas cards, early January mailing keeps them feeling intentional rather than late.
February
Occasions: Valentine’s Day (February 14), Presidents Day weekend correspondence. Planning notes: Valentine’s cards are a short-hop mailing: a card sent in the first week of February has a comfortable margin for domestic delivery. Buy stamps ahead — February is also when many people restock after the holidays. Post Offices close on Presidents Day (third Monday).
March
Occasions: Easter in some years (it falls in March or April), spring event invitations, early graduation announcements for May graduates. Planning notes: A quiet mailing month with no federal holiday closures — a good time to update your address list, order stamps, and prepare spring invitations without December-style pressure.
April
Occasions: Easter in most years, spring weddings and showers, graduation season begins. Planning notes: Invitations traditionally go out six to eight weeks before an event, so April is invitation season for late-spring and early-summer gatherings. No federal holidays this month, which keeps transit times predictable.
May
Occasions: Mother’s Day (second Sunday in May), graduations, Memorial Day (last Monday). Planning notes: Mother’s Day cards should be mailed in the first days of May to be safe. Graduation announcements are typically sent around the ceremony — before or shortly after both work. Post Offices close on Memorial Day.
June
Occasions: Father’s Day (third Sunday in June), weddings, summer camp letters. Planning notes: Post Offices close June 19 for Juneteenth. June is also a sensible mid-year point to check your stamp supply and address book before the heavy fall season begins.
July
Occasions: Independence Day (July 4), summer party invitations, “Christmas in July” promotions for businesses. Planning notes: Post Offices close on July 4 (or the observed weekday). Businesses that plan holiday mailings seriously often use July to decide on card designs and mailing lists — the Business Mailing guides are written with that lead time in mind.
August
Occasions: Back-to-school notes, late-summer event invitations, early fall planning. Planning notes: The calmest mailing month of the year, with no federal holiday closures. Families can photograph, organize, and update the holiday card list now; schools and nonprofits typically finalize fall mailing plans in August.
September
Occasions: Labor Day (first Monday), fall event season opens, early holiday preparation. Planning notes: Post Offices close on Labor Day. September is the planner’s month: order holiday cards, confirm addresses, and decide mailing dates while printers and schedules are still wide open. Our Mailing Timeline & Planning guides help you set those dates.
October
Occasions: Columbus Day (second Monday), Halloween (October 31), Thanksgiving preparation. Planning notes: Halloween cards and party invitations go out in mid-October. For Christmas mailers, late October is the time to have cards in hand and stamps bought — see the Stamp Buying Guide. Thanksgiving cards need to be mailed by mid-November, so October is when they are written.
November
Occasions: Veterans Day (November 11), Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday), the Christmas mailing season opens. Planning notes: Post Offices close on both Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day. Mail Thanksgiving cards in the first half of the month. For Christmas, USPS publishes its recommended mailing dates during the fall — check the USPS newsroom, then set your dates with How Early Should You Send Holiday Cards? and the Christmas Card Mailing Checklist.
December
Occasions: Christmas (December 25), Hanukkah and Kwanzaa observances, New Year’s greetings. Planning notes: The busiest mailing month by far. Cards mailed in the first week of December travel with the most margin; mid-December mailings are a calculated risk that depends on distance. Post Offices close on Christmas Day. Cards that miss Christmas can still be sent as New Year greetings in late December — a well-established and perfectly polite practice covered in Christmas Card Etiquette.
Keep the Rhythm All Year
Most mailing stress comes from starting at the last minute, not from any single complicated rule. Use this calendar to give every occasion a two-to-four-week runway, keep a small stock of Forever Stamps on hand — see What Is a Forever Stamp? — and check the Mailing Guides index whenever a new kind of mailing comes up.
One habit keeps the system working: a short January reset. Correct your address list with every change the mail revealed — returns, moves, marriages — add anyone new who belongs on next year’s list, and store leftover stamps flat and dry with it. Ten minutes in January makes the next November feel organized instead of archaeological.