I know Christmas is still 7 1/2 months away, but when it comes to handmade creations as gifts, Christmas can sneak up on you before you know it!
This year, I’m getting a larger jump on providing y’all with my cutoffs for “guaranteed” orders….orders that as long as you order and pay in full by the listed date, your order will be guaranteed to arrive for Christmas. Those of you who are familiar with my lead times will wonder why these dates seem to be padded, and let me share with y’all why….last year, I gave cut off times based off my normal production time and USPS Priority shipping time of 3-5 business days (even though Priority is 1-3 business days). I had over half my Christmas orders, shipped late November/early December, take 5-8 business days to arrive to their forever homes……after charging my customers for Priority service. Understanding holiday volume increases for the USPS, I made sure to ship by the time they said would arrive in time….and I had a couple shipments not arrive in time, in addition to the slow transit times. To me, this is not acceptable. You did your part by ordering and paying in time, I did my part in getting your orders finished and shipped in time… the USPS just took a ridiculous amount of time for a Priority service that, well, wasn’t.
I love using the USPS for a variety of reasons, and I decided to go ahead and use USPS for 2015 holiday orders…..but I’m going to give plenty of time that the holiday influx shouldn’t be an issue. It isn’t fair to you fine people who pay for unique, handmade items and a priority shipping option to not get them when you should. Especially for Christmas. So this year, my lead times may seem a little cautious, but I would hate for y’all to order for Christmas and NOT get your orders in time.
So without further ado, here are my Christmas 2015 ordering cutoffs:
- Blankets (including custom order): October 16th
- Dolls: November 2nd
- Clothing/Shoes/Slippers: November 2nd
- Hats: November 23rd
- Cozies: November 26th
Orders placed after these cutoffs ARE NOT guaranteed to be completed/shipped in time for Christmas delivery.
I want to have everything finished and shipped by early-mid December to ensure that all of you will receive your items by Christmas, even if the USPS has slow shipping issues. If you have any questions about my cutoffs or ordering, please feel free to email me.