The Australian Gifting Calendar
Most gifting is reactive. Someone remembers on the Tuesday that the thing is on the Thursday, and the choice narrows to whatever can get there in time.
This is the calendar laid out so that does not have to happen. Dates are for Australia, and the ordering windows are the ones that actually work rather than the ones that technically work.
The rule underneath all of it
For a fixed-date occasion, order a week ahead for metro and two for regional. For Christmas, add a month to both. Almost every gifting problem is a timing problem wearing a different hat.
January to March
Australia Day, 26 January. Not a big gifting occasion, but it marks the end of the summer break and the point where corporate gifting restarts.
Lunar New Year, late January or February. The date moves each year with the lunar calendar. Significant for many Australian families and for businesses with clients across Asia. Worth marking properly if it applies to your list, and worth knowing that red and gold packaging matters here.
Valentine's Day, 14 February. Fixed. Order a week out, because everyone else leaves it to the Monday.
International Women's Day, 8 March. Increasingly marked in workplaces.
Easter, late March or April. Moves each year. A genuine corporate gifting moment for anyone whose clients disappear over the break.
April to June
Mother's Day, second Sunday in May. One of the two biggest consumer gifting days of the Australian year. Order by the Tuesday before at the absolute latest, and earlier if it is going interstate.
End of financial year, 30 June. The corporate one people forget. A thank you landing in early July, when everyone else has gone quiet, lands better than the same gift in December when it is one of forty. See end of financial year gift ideas.
July to September
The quiet stretch. July and August have almost nothing fixed in them, which makes them the best months of the year to send something for no reason. A gift with no occasion attached is remembered considerably longer than one that was expected.
Father's Day, first Sunday in September. Note this is different to the UK and the US, which fall in June. If you are sending to family overseas, check which one you are working to.
The start of corporate Christmas. September is when organised businesses set their Christmas gift budget and build the list. Not when they order, but when they decide. See when to order Christmas gifts.
October to December
October. Custom branding and bespoke hampers need starting now if you want them for Christmas. Lead times on anything customised are the first thing to disappear.
Melbourne Cup, first Tuesday in November. A workplace occasion more than a gifting one, though office and client entertaining picks up around it.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the last weekend in November. Increasingly where Australian Christmas shopping actually happens.
November, the whole month. The correct window for Christmas orders. Widest choice, deepest stock, and no anxiety about cut-off dates. If you take one thing from this page, take this.
Early December. Work Christmas parties, Secret Santa and Kris Kringle, and the end of the school year with its teacher gifts. See end of year teacher gifts.
Mid December. Delivery cut-offs start to bite, and regional and remote addresses go first. The confirmed dates are on our Christmas shipping page, published once Australia Post finalises its calendar.
25 December. Christmas.
The occasions with no date
These are most of the gifting that actually happens, and none of them can be planned for.
- Birthdays. Put them in a calendar with a reminder a week out, not on the day.
- New baby. Send in the first six weeks, and send for the parents. See new-baby gifts that help the parents.
- New home. Settlement day or the first week after.
- Illness, surgery, bad news. Immediately, and again a month later when everyone else has stopped. The second one matters more.
- Bereavement. Not immediately. The week after the funeral is when the house goes quiet. See what to send after a funeral.
- New job, promotion, retirement. The last week, not the first week of the new thing.
Frequently asked questions
A workable planning routine
Four things, done once, and the year mostly handles itself.
- Put the fixed dates in a calendar with a reminder ten days out. Not on the day. Ten days is enough to choose well and still arrive early.
- Keep a list of addresses. The single biggest delay in gifting is not choosing, it is chasing someone's postcode. Build it once and add to it.
- Decide the Christmas budget in September. Not November. September is when you have time to think about it.
- Keep two defaults. One gift you would happily send anyone, and one alcohol-free equivalent at the same price. Most last-minute gifting is solved by not having to decide.
If you are planning corporate gifting
The rhythm is different. Christmas is the peak, end of financial year is the one most competitors miss, and the ordinary weeks are where relationships actually get built.
The Australian workplace gifting handbook covers the decision-making, and corporate hampers covers the range. For a list of any size, the corporate team can take the whole thing on 1300 795 802.
Frequently asked questions
How far ahead is too far? For Christmas, you cannot really be too early, though ordering before October means the current season's range may not be live yet. For everything else, a fortnight ahead is comfortable.
How far ahead should I order? For most occasions, a week is comfortable. Orders placed before 1pm AEST/AEDT on a weekday are dispatched the same day, and delivery to capital cities usually takes one to five business days after that. For Christmas, order in November.
What about occasions I have missed? Late is almost always better than nothing, and a gift arriving after the date with an honest note about it is charming rather than awkward. Do not apologise twice.