Christmas
Christmas gifts for family in Australia from the UK
Choose for their first Christmas away, one person or a whole household. Add a familiar detail and plan delivery with care.
Read guideChristmas
Christmas Gifts for Family Interstate
What to get Mum, Dad, siblings, grandparents, the in-laws and the one who moved, whether to post it or have it delivered, and the 2026 order-by dates.
The short answer
Christmas Gifts for Family Interstate
The best Christmas gifts for family interstate are small, cosy and easy to use up, and they land a few days early. For free Standard delivery from us before Christmas 2026, order by 15 December for most of Australia, 14 December for WA, and 10 December for the NT or a regional address.
Someone's bringing the pav, someone's already arguing about the cricket, and you're on speaker from another state. That's fine. This guide covers the bit you can control: what to get each person, how to get it there, the dates, and a few cheap ways to be in the room when the paper comes off.
Post it yourself, or have it delivered?
This is the first decision, and most people skip it until the post office queue is out the door. Each way has a catch.
Posting your own. You wrap it, you tuck the kids' drawings in, it feels like it came from you. The catch is postage on anything heavy, a December queue, and a hard cut-off. If you're posting from NSW to a metro address, Australia Post's 2026 Parcel Post cut-offs are Tuesday 22 December within NSW, Monday 21 December for the ACT, Victoria, Queensland, SA and Tasmania, Friday 18 December for WA and Wednesday 16 December for the NT. Posting from another state or to a regional town? Check our Australia Post Christmas cut-off dates by state and allow extra days.
Ordering from a shop near them. Great for food. A supermarket order to their door for Christmas lunch, the good ham, a box of cherries from a local grower. Nothing crosses a border, so you dodge the WA and Tasmania food rules altogether. The catch: things shipped straight from a big retailer can turn up in plain cardboard with a packing slip, so ask whether it's wrapped and what paperwork goes in the box.
A gift box sent for you. Packed, delivered, card inside, nothing to queue for. That's what we do, so we're biased, but it's the easy option when you've got four houses in three states to cover. Our Christmas gift boxes page has the lot in one place.
Christmas gift ideas for family interstate, person by person
Picture each person on the slow days between Christmas and New Year, once the dishes are done. Buy for that moment, because the main event already has plenty going on.
Mum
If Mum hosts, she gets roughly four minutes to herself on Christmas Day. Give her something clearly for afterwards: a long bath, a face mask, chocolate she doesn't have to share. Add a line in the card promising you're on dish duty next visit, then actually turn up and do it.
Our For Her box is built for exactly that wind-down, with a Collagen Hydration Mask, Botanical Bath Soak, Sculpted Bubble Candle, Crochet Comfort Companion, A3 Matte Art Print (unframed), Candy Kittens Strawberry sweets and GNAW Milk Chocolate. Honest take: it suits the Mum who'll run the bath. If yours is out in the garden at 6am and never sits down, a bag of good potting mix from the local nursery might win.
Dad
Dad says he doesn't need anything, and he's probably right. Skip the gadget and give him things he'll use up: coffee he wouldn't buy himself, a rub or seasoning for the barbie, snacks for the Boxing Day Test. Consumables never end up in the cupboard of good intentions. If you'd rather it arrived ready to go, For Him has a Pour-Over Coffee Duo, Jalapeño & Lime Salt, Australian Shortbread and Honey-Glazed Popcorn, plus a crocheted character he'll pretend not to love.
A brother or sister
Siblings are where an inside joke beats an expensive gift every time. The lolly you fought over as kids, the holiday that went sideways, the nickname they pretend to hate. A streaming gift card with a note saying which show you're both starting on Boxing Day works too. If you want to put a box together around the joke, build your own: the Twilight Box holds 6 gifts and the Midnight Box holds 8, chosen from our item range.
Grandparents
Grandparents mostly want more of the family and less stuff. Recent photos, a drawing from the grandkids, a short video of everyone yelling Merry Christmas slightly out of sync. A digital photo frame you can load from your phone keeps giving all year. There are more ideas on our parents and grandparents page and in our guide to gifts for grandparents interstate.
The in-laws
Play it safe and shareable. Something for the table, a tin of shortbread, good coffee. Sign the card from both of you, and get your partner to check the spelling of everyone's names. Trust us on that one.
The one who moved
Then there's the one doing Christmas in a new city, maybe with a share house full of people who also couldn't get home. They don't need reminding what they're missing. They need proof they're still in on the jokes.
The Hug Away From Home box was made for them: an A3 Matte Art Print (unframed), Botanical Bath Soak, Hand-Poured Soy Candle (hand-poured in Australia), Crochet Comfort Companion, Marc de Champagne Truffles and Candy Kittens Strawberry sweets. The print is A3 and unframed, so it suits someone with a bit of wall and some Blu Tack. Our guide to gifts for someone who moved interstate has more.
Christmas 2026 order-by dates for delivery across Australia
Every Same Skies box ships with free Standard delivery. To arrive before Christmas, order by 11:59pm Sydney time on these dates:
| Delivering to | Order by, 11:59pm Sydney time (Standard, free) |
|---|---|
| NSW, ACT, Vic, Qld, SA and Tas | Tuesday 15 December |
| WA | Monday 14 December |
| NT, and regional or remote addresses anywhere | Thursday 10 December |
They're based on Australia Post's Christmas sending dates for parcels sent from NSW, less the time it takes us to pack. Express is available at checkout for $15, but we don't put a date on it. Adding a Poco Vino Piccolo? Use the Standard date for that address.
- Send it where they'll be. If Mum's doing Christmas at your sister's this time, decide whether the gift gets opened there on the day or waits at home, and address it to match.
- Wine needs a person. The optional Piccolo needs someone 18 or over to sign for it, so it has to go to a street address, and wine can't be delivered to the NT.
- Otherwise PO Boxes and Parcel Lockers are fine, which helps if they're out visiting all week.
- Earlier beats exact. Australia Post doesn't promise delivery days. A box that turns up early with a "not until the 25th" warning is a much better problem than one that turns up on the 29th.
Free ways to be there on the day
A box on the doorstep is half the job. The other half is the bit where they feel you in the room, and most of it costs nothing.
Book the video call like you'd book lunch, and check the clock. Over summer, Perth runs 3 hours behind Sydney and Melbourne, and Brisbane runs an hour behind because Queensland has no daylight saving. A 10am unboxing in Melbourne is 7am in Perth. Fine for small kids, brutal for a teenager.
Start a shared photo album in early December and get everyone adding to it, so the grandparents scroll through the whole family's Christmas by the arvo. Do the same with a playlist. Even the uncle who only adds one song. Then both kitchens play the same list while the cooking happens. It's daggy and it works.
If you're sending one of our boxes, your words live behind a QR code on a premium card inside the box. A message of up to 280 characters is free, and you can add a photo or a video. They point their phone camera at the code and it opens on their screen. Film the bit they'd normally be part of: the toast, the cracker joke read out badly, the dog in antlers. Thirty seconds is plenty, and it replays for around six months.
What not to send interstate at Christmas
- Anything that needs the fridge. A summer delivery van is no place for it, and WA and Tasmania have their own rules on food coming in. Check before you send fresh food, and read our guide to sending food to WA or Tasmania.
- Flat-pack anything. Nobody wants to spend Boxing Day hunting for the right Allen key.
- Big and heavy. If they're travelling to someone else's place, they have to get your gift home again in a car that's already full of leftovers.
- Chocolate in a heatwave. As general summer advice, if a parcel could sit on a hot doorstep all afternoon, a Parcel Locker or PO Box pickup is kinder to anything that melts.
- Gifts that create work: plants that need repotting, a 3,000-piece puzzle, a voucher they have to book around everyone else's plans.
How a Same Skies box gets there
We pack every box ourselves in Sydney (that's Lewis and Jess), Monday to Friday, and send it with Australia Post. Order to door is 3 to 7 business days for most of Australia, and regional and remote addresses can take longer. Tracking is emailed to you as the sender, so forward it to whoever's most likely to be home. There's no price in the box and the receipt comes to you, so all they find inside is the gift and your card. Delivery is free on every box, and our FAQ covers the rest.
Build your own
Start with an empty box. Fill it with them.
Choose every piece from the UK, pick a print that feels like them, then add your letter with a photo or video behind the QR card. We hand-pack it in Sydney and deliver it in Australia.
- You choose every piece, and the print on the lid
- Your letter, plus a free photo or video behind the QR card
- Built from the UK, hand-packed in Sydney, delivered in Australia only
Questions people ask
What's the last day to order Christmas gifts for family interstate?
For free Standard delivery on a Same Skies box before Christmas 2026, order by 11:59pm Sydney time on Tuesday 15 December for NSW, ACT, Vic, Qld, SA and Tas, Monday 14 December for WA, and Thursday 10 December for the NT and regional or remote addresses.
Is it better to post Christmas presents myself or have them delivered?
Posting your own lets you wrap it and add personal bits, but you pay the postage and have to beat Australia Post's cut-off. Having a gift delivered saves the queue, and ordering food from a shop near them avoids interstate food rules altogether.
Will my family see the price of the gift?
Not with a Same Skies box. There's no price in the box, and the receipt and tracking go to you as the sender.
Can I send food to family in WA or Tasmania for Christmas?
Both states have their own rules on food coming in, and fresh fruit and vegetables are the usual problem. Check our guide to sending food to WA or Tasmania, or order the food from a shop in their state instead.
Can I send a Christmas gift to a PO Box or Parcel Locker?
Yes. PO Boxes and Parcel Lockers are fine for every Same Skies box, except boxes with a wine Piccolo added, which need a street address and someone 18 or over to sign.
Is Express delivery faster for Christmas?
Express is available at checkout for $15, but we don't put a date on it. If the day matters, order by the Standard date for their state.
Christmas, sorted from over here
Pick a box for each person on the list, record the video, and order by the date for their state.
Shop Christmas gift boxesKeep reading
A little more inspiration.
Birthdays
Birthday gift ideas for family and friends in Australia
Choose around their routines and interests, with a personal touch that makes a birthday feel closer.
Read guide