Christmas print deadlines in Glasgow 2026: order-by dates for menus, cards, calendars and posters

This is the one page to bookmark if you are ordering anything printed for Christmas 2026 from us. It lists every cut-off, explains why the outsourced ones are earlier, and links to each seasonal product. The dates were set on 19 September and they will not move later; if anything, an unusually busy December means we stop taking work sooner, so treat these as the latest, not the target. All the products mentioned are on the Christmas printing hub.

The 2026 cut-off dates at a glance

Outsourced finishes and products: Friday 11 December, 12 noon

This covers every corporate Christmas card, printed or foil, business cards, 2027 wiro and desk calendars, canvas prints, window vinyl and festive decals, cut stickers and product labels, and roller and PVC banners. Our trade partner does not publish its own Christmas dates in advance, so 11 December is our safe date with a margin built in. For calendars specifically, we suggest ordering by 4 December for comfort; 11 December is the hard stop.

In-house posted orders: Friday 18 December, 1pm

Anything we print on our own presses in Glasgow and post to you: Christmas menus, numbered gift vouchers, A1 and A3 year planners, photo and fine-art prints and posters, flyers and gift tags. Orders in by 1pm on Friday 18 December are printed and posted on Monday 21 December with Royal Mail Tracked 24.

In-house collection orders: Wednesday 23 December, 12 noon

If you can collect from Washington Street in Glasgow or Cadzow Street in Hamilton, in-house work runs until midday on Wednesday 23 December. This is subject to press time, so phone 0141 345 5841 before you send the file and we will tell you honestly whether it fits. Washington Street is walk-in; Cadzow Street in Hamilton is by appointment, so agree a collection time when you order.

Studio closure and reopening

We are closed from Thursday 24 December to Monday 4 January inclusive. Emails are answered from Tuesday 29 December, but nothing is printed until we reopen on Tuesday 5 January 2027 at 9am. If you need January sale signage or a New Year menu on the wall before then, it has to be ordered and collected before we close.

Why the outsourced dates are a week earlier

Two presses sit in our Glasgow studio: a Xerox digital press for menus, flyers, vouchers and A3 posters, and a 44-inch Epson for A2, A1 and A0 posters and photo and fine-art prints. Anything on those machines is under our control, which is why the in-house dates run so late. Every card this year, printed or foil, plus calendars with wiro binding, canvas stretching, window vinyl, cut stickers and banners go to a trade partner. Their minimum is 4 to 5 working days at the quietest time of year and December is not that, so we stop taking those orders on 11 December and would rather say no than promise something we cannot hold.

The same logic applies to rush work. Next-day is only possible on in-house products. If you need something faster than the standard turnaround, phone 0141 345 5841 for same-day or next-day and we confirm the timeline and the price on the call.

Royal Mail last posting dates for 2026

Royal Mail publishes its own last posting dates for Christmas each October. They are not out at the time of writing, and we will update this post and the table above the day they land. The pattern in recent years has been 2nd Class around 18 December, 1st Class and Tracked 48 around 20 December, Tracked 24 around 21 December and Special Delivery on 23 December. Our posted cut-off of 18 December at 1pm, with dispatch on Tracked 24 on 21 December, is built around that pattern. If Royal Mail moves earlier, so will we.

If you are posting Christmas cards yourself, the date that matters is the one for the service you use, not ours. Cards printed with us take 5 working days and must be ordered by Friday 11 December, and then you still need time to write and post them, so a card order in November or the first week of December is comfortable; later is not.

Turnaround by product, so you can count backwards

Menus, table talkers and drinks lists: 2 to 3 working days, same week guaranteed if ordered by Wednesday 1pm. Corporate Christmas cards, printed or foil: 5 working days, outsourced, order by 11 December. Gift vouchers: in-house, same turnaround as menus. Gift prints, framed or unframed: 3 working days, collection the same week. Canvas: outsourced, order by 11 December. Wiro and desk calendars: outsourced, order by 4 December for comfort, 11 December hard. A1 and A3 planners: in-house, to 18 December for post. Window vinyl and decals: outsourced, order by 11 December; a full custom window graphic is quoted within the working day. Posters and flyers: in-house, standard turnaround, and most posters can be same-day by phone.

Delivery and collection over Christmas

Delivery is free across Central Scotland on orders over £50. A same-day courier is £5 in the city centre and £15 elsewhere in Glasgow and is the answer for the restaurant that needs menus on the table tonight. Collection from either studio is by arrangement. Our hours through December are Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm and Saturday 10am to 6pm, closed Sunday, right up to the closure on 24 December.

What to order first

If you are working through a list, start with the outsourced items because they have the earliest date and the least flexibility: Christmas cards, window graphics, calendars and canvas. Then the in-house items that go to other people, which means vouchers. Menus last, because they are quickest and most likely to change. And if you are a market trader, the banner needs ordering before the stall is confirmed, not after; there is a separate checklist for Glasgow market traders.