Sending Christmas Letters Digitally — Here's How in 2026

Many people assume "digital Christmas letter" means an email or a photo in a group chat. But there's a middle ground that few people know about: you write the letter digitally, but it arrives physically in the letterbox — with real paper, an envelope and a stamp. The benefits are numerous:

• You don't need to buy envelopes and stamps or dig out addresses from paper notes.
• You can send to several recipients at once without writing the same text by hand ten times over.
• The letter still looks personal and considered, since it's printed with attractive typography and can be complemented with a handwritten-style greeting.
• You can sit down and write your Christmas letter one evening in November, from the sofa, and then forget about the rest — the text is sent well in advance without you having to dash to the post office.

That last point is the one that saves the most Christmas card lists and Christmas letter traditions. The stress of "making it" to the post office before Christmas is the most common reason the Christmas letter doesn't happen at all.

Posta Brev is built exactly for this need: you write the text online, choose the look, and we take care of the rest — printing, enveloping and posting via PostNord.

Step by step

1. Go to /skapa-brev and choose to write a new letter.
2. Write your Christmas greeting, or use it as a starting point and personalise it for each recipient.
3. Enter the recipient's address — you can send to several addresses in a row if you have a list.
4. Choose paper, envelope and, if you like, a Christmas design to give the letter some seasonal flair.
5. Confirm and pay. We print, envelope the letter and hand it over to PostNord.

The whole process usually takes less time than hand-writing a single envelope. Want to see exactly what it costs depending on how many letters you're sending? There's a clear overview at /priser. Many people are surprised at how affordable it is — especially compared with the time and petrol spent driving to the letterbox.

What really determines whether your Christmas letter becomes stressful or smooth isn't the writing — it's the list of recipients. Here are a few practical tips:

• Create a document (or a spreadsheet) with names and addresses as early as October, while you still remember who's moved during the year.
• Ask relatives for their current address in a group chat before December — people move more often than you'd think, and a Christmas letter that comes back marked "undeliverable" is wasted effort.
• Divide your list into categories: close family, more distant relatives, friends, colleagues. This makes it easier to tailor the length and tone of the greeting for each group.
• If you still write some letters by hand, save a digital copy of the addresses so you don't have to dig them out again next year.

Tips for keeping track of addresses

A simple trick is to keep a "Christmas letter log" — a list where you note each year who received a letter, which address was used, and whether anything was returned. After a couple of years, you'll have a ready-made, up-to-date list that makes the whole process faster every Christmas that passes.

Postal delivery within Sweden normally takes a couple of working days, but volumes rise sharply in December and delivery times can be longer. A safe rule of thumb is to send domestic Christmas letters by around 15–18 December at the latest to be sure they arrive before Christmas Eve. If you want extra peace of mind, aim for the first week of December instead — there's no downside to wishing someone a merry Christmas a little early.

Last posting dates for international mail

If you're sending Christmas letters to relatives or friends abroad, the timeline looks different. International post generally takes longer, and the Christmas period is the busiest time of year for postal operators worldwide. Plan to send international Christmas letters by the end of November or the very first days of December at the latest. If you have recipients in several countries, check out our guide on /skicka-brev-utomlands for more details on delivery times and address formats by country.

A common misconception is that you have to choose between "impersonal digital" and "genuinely handwritten". But with Posta Brev, you can have both. Write the main text digitally for speed, and add a short personal line for each recipient — "Extra merry Christmas to you, Anna, hope to see you this winter!" — before sending the letter off. If you want to go even further with the personal touch for certain recipients, such as grandparents, you can instead choose our service for /handskrivet-brev-online, where the letter takes on a handwritten character even though you typed the text on a screen.

Christmas is the time of year when many people think of those who are otherwise overlooked in everyday life. If you have a relative in remand or prison, you can easily send a Christmas greeting through our service for /brev-till-intagen — a way of showing that you're thinking of someone even when you can't visit. If you have older relatives who aren't digital themselves but appreciate post in the letterbox, a physical Christmas letter is often the gift that means the most — more than a text message they might never open.

Posta Brev also handles other types of letters all year round, such as /tackbrev after Christmas presents, /gratulationsbrev for New Year and birthdays, or a /karleksbrev if Christmas is the perfect moment to say something extra to a partner. The Christmas letter is just one of many reasons to put words on paper.

Sometimes a single letter isn't quite enough — perhaps you want to add a quick message sent faster, for example as a reminder that "the real letter is on its way". In that case, a /digitalt-frimarke can be a handy complement, especially for less formal greetings. But for the Christmas letter itself — the one that should feel like a real Christmas present in the letterbox — the physical envelope with a genuine stamp is still the option that delivers the most feeling.