Order early and the timing looks after itself. Orders placed before 2pm Monday to Friday are dispatched the same day, and Royal Mail standard delivery usually takes two to three working days from there, with a next day option if you need it. Kits keep for months, so buying in October or November costs you nothing and removes the only genuinely stressful part of Christmas shopping, which is the last week of it.
Royal Mail publishes its last posting dates each autumn, and December is the one month when the post is under real pressure. Rather than aiming at a deadline, aim to be finished before the deadline is even announced. Here is how the process works at our end, and what to do if the present is going straight to somebody else's house.
When should you order a kit for Christmas?
As soon as you have decided. There is no advantage to waiting: our kits are dry goods with a long shelf life, so an October order sits happily in a cupboard until the day, and a December order is competing for space in the busiest postal weeks of the year.
Christmas shopping now genuinely starts in August for a lot of people, and the ones who order in October are the ones who never think about it again. If you are buying for several people, doing it in one order is tidier than half a dozen parcels arriving over three weeks.
What happens after you place the order?
Orders placed before 2pm, Monday to Friday, are dispatched the same day. Orders placed after that, or at the weekend, go out on the next working day. Everything is hand-packed in Britain, which is also why the box that arrives is a kit rather than a pile of loose sachets.
From dispatch, Royal Mail standard delivery is usually two to three working days. Standard delivery is £2.99 and free on orders over £15, and there is a next day service at £4.99 if you have left something later than you meant to.
What about last posting dates?
Royal Mail publishes its last recommended posting dates each autumn, covering the various services and destinations, and those dates are the ones to work to rather than any guess we could offer here. They are published on Royal Mail's own site once they are set.
Our honest advice is not to rely on them at all. A last posting date is a recommendation for when to post rather than a promise about when a parcel lands, and the days around it are the busiest of the postal year. Ordering a fortnight earlier turns a deadline into a non-event.
Does a kit mind being bought early?
Not in the slightest, which is what makes it such a sensible early purchase. Our food and drink kits carry a shelf life of eighteen months from packing, and cheese kits twenty four months. Every kit leaves us with at least twelve months still on the best before date printed on the outer box.
Store it the way you would store anything dry: somewhere ambient and dry, away from direct sunlight, which for most people means a kitchen cupboard or the top of a wardrobe. The kintsugi kit is not a food product at all, and its epoxy keeps well sealed and cool.
Can you send a kit straight to the recipient?
Yes, and for anyone you will not see on the day, it is much the better option. Enter their address as the delivery address at checkout and the kit is posted directly to them, with no second parcel and no forwarding.
Two practical notes if you do that. Give yourself the same lead time you would for a parcel coming to you, because the dispatch and delivery timings are identical. And let them know it is coming if they are the sort of household where an unexpected box gets opened immediately.
Which kits post particularly well as gifts?
Any of them, but three come up again and again in December. The Gin Making Kit is the easiest to send ahead, because the recipient only needs a bottle of inexpensive vodka to start, it infuses in under a week, and there is no distilling or equipment involved. It was named a top pick on ITV's How to Spend It Well at Christmas, where chef Matt Tebbutt tasted it. It is for adults aged 18 and over, as they buy the spirit.
The Cheese Making Kit, Cheeses of the World travels well for the same reason: the only shopping is fresh whole milk, never UHT, and most of the ten fresh cheeses are ready in around an hour, so it can be opened and used the same week.
The Kintsugi Kit is the one that needs nothing added at all, since two practice bowls come in the box alongside the two-part epoxy, gold-effect mica pigment, spreader, mixing card, gloves and booklet. That makes it the safest choice when you are posting to someone whose shopping habits you do not know. It is an adults-only kit, and repaired pieces are decorative: the adhesive is not food grade, so a mended bowl should not be used for food or drink.
Christmas delivery FAQs
When are orders dispatched?
Orders placed before 2pm Monday to Friday are dispatched the same day. Orders after that, or at the weekend, are dispatched on the next working day.
How long does delivery take?
Royal Mail standard delivery usually takes two to three working days from dispatch, and there is a next day option if you need the parcel sooner.
Is delivery free?
Standard Royal Mail delivery is £2.99 and free on orders over £15. Next day delivery is £4.99.
What is the last date to order for Christmas?
Royal Mail publishes its last recommended posting dates each autumn, so check those when they appear. We would suggest ordering well before them, since the days around the deadline are the busiest of the postal year.
Can I have the kit sent straight to the person receiving it?
Yes. Enter their address as the delivery address at checkout and the kit is sent directly to them.
Will the kit still be good if I buy it in October?
Yes. Our food and drink kits have an eighteen month shelf life from packing, cheese kits twenty four months, and every kit leaves us with at least twelve months on the best before date.
Ready to get it done early this year? Browse our gift kits and take the last week of December off.
