Family Tree Gifts for Christmas: What to Order, and the Last Dates

A circular family tree chart is a good Christmas present for the one person in every family who does the research, and an even better one for the relatives who have never seen the results laid out. But it is not a stock item. Every chart is designed from the family's own names and dates, sent to you as a proof, and only printed once you have approved it. That is what makes it worth giving, and it is also why the order dates come earlier than the post office's.

This guide sets out the dates first, then works through how the timeline adds up, which finish to choose for whom, and what to do if you are reading this after the print cut-off has passed.

The Last Order Dates for Christmas 2026

Each date below is the day to place the order and send your family tree file. The "order by" date for a print is the same wherever it is going: Monday 30 November. It gives you a few days in hand for a proof correction or a slow carrier. The "last chance" column works only if you send the file the same day and approve the proof within a day of receiving it.

What you are giving	Order by	Last chance	Expected to arrive
Framed or unframed print, delivered in the United States	Mon 30 November	Fri 4 December	Mid-December, inside the USPS Ground Advantage cut-off of 17 December
Framed or unframed print, delivered in the UK or Ireland	Mon 30 November	Mon 7 December	Around 21 to 22 December by tracked delivery
Digital file (PDF, JPG and SVG by email, anywhere in the world)	Mon 14 December	Wed 16 December	By email on approval of the proof, between 21 and 24 December

Two things to bear in mind. First, these are our own dates, not the postal ones. Royal Mail and An Post publish their last posting dates each autumn, usually falling in the third week of December for tracked parcels, but a chart has to be designed, approved and printed before it can be posted at all, so our dates come well before theirs. Second, the United States Postal Service has already published its 2026 recommendation: parcels sent by Ground Advantage should be in the post by Thursday 17 December for delivery before Christmas. Our US print partner ships by that service, which is why the last-chance date for a US print falls a few days ahead of the UK and Ireland one.

How the Timeline Adds Up

Our turnaround figures are simple, and they have not changed for the season: design takes about 5 working days once your verified family records arrive, and after you approve the digital proof, printing, framing and tracked delivery take 3 to 5 working days depending on where you are. What stretches the calendar is the two steps that depend on you.

Step	Who	Typical time
Choose the design and pay	You	Ten minutes
Send the family tree file (GEDCOM export or our spreadsheet)	You	The same day, if the tree is ready
Check the records and design the chart	Mark	About 5 working days
Review the digital proof and approve it, or ask for changes	You	A day, if you are watching for it
Print, frame and deliver by tracked post	Print partner and carrier	3 to 5 working days

Put together, a print normally arrives 11 to 13 working days after you order, and a digital file lands in your inbox 6 to 7 working days after you order. Working backwards from a delivery on Monday 21 December gives the UK last-chance date of Monday 7 December in the table above, and the other last-chance dates follow the same arithmetic. The order-by date of Monday 30 November sits a working week ahead of that, which is the margin for a proof correction or a slow December post.

Where the Days Are Lost

In practice the design step is the predictable one. The days that go missing are almost always at the two ends: a tree that is "nearly ready" and takes a week to export, and a proof that sits unread in an inbox over a weekend. If you do only two things to protect the Christmas date, do these:

1. Export the tree before you order. The GEDCOM export guide covers Ancestry, MyHeritage, Findmypast, FamilySearch and the desktop programs, and it takes a minute or two. Run the file through the free GEDCOM Checker while you are at it; it runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded, and it catches the impossible dates and detached people that would otherwise come back to you as a query.
2. Watch for the proof. It arrives by email and in your client portal about five working days after the file. A same-day reply keeps the whole chain on schedule.

Which Finish for Which Person

There are three finishes, and the right one depends as much on who is receiving the chart as on the budget. All three are the same 16-inch six-generation design in your choice of layout, style and heritage motif. Prices are from the figures shown; the connectors option adds a small amount.

Finish	From	Best for	Delivered
Framed print Giclée print on archival art paper in a solid wood gallery frame, matte black or matte white, ready to hang	£85	The gift that is opened on the day and on the wall by Boxing Day. Parents and grandparents; a couple's first Christmas in a new home.	UK and Ireland free and tracked; US shipping quoted at checkout
Unframed print The same 16 × 16 inch giclée print, posted flat in archival packaging	£65	Someone with a strong view on frames, or a house where the mount and frame should match what is already on the walls.	UK and Ireland free and tracked; US shipping quoted at checkout
Digital file High-resolution JPG, print-ready PDF and an infinitely scalable SVG	£45	Family abroad, anyone outside the UK, Ireland and the US, the relative who shares everything online, and every order after the print cut-off.	By email, anywhere in the world

Single or Couple in the Centre

A chart centred on one person shows that person's six generations. A chart centred on a couple shows both partners' ancestry side by side, and it is the natural choice for parents, grandparents or a couple married this year. If the gift is for a couple and you only have one side researched, a single-person chart of the side you know is a better present than a couple chart with one half empty.

Complete or Partial Lineage

Very few trees have all 63 names. The partial lineage layout is designed for that: the branches you have traced are drawn in full and the empty positions are left open, so the chart still reads as a finished piece and leaves something to add. If you can name at least one great-great-great-grandparent you have six generations of material; the guide on how many generations a chart should show explains how to count.

"But It Is Their Tree, Not Mine"

The question that stops most people ordering a chart as a surprise is where the data comes from. Three answers cover nearly every case.

• The recipient is a parent, grandparent, sibling or child. Their ancestors are your ancestors, so your own tree already holds most of what the chart needs. Export the whole tree and tell us who sits in the centre; the people outside their six generations are simply not drawn.
• The recipient is the family researcher. Ask for a copy of the tree "to keep a backup", or ask to be invited to their online tree, then export it yourself. Researchers rarely refuse to share their work, and the surprise survives.
• You have names but no file. Fill in our spreadsheet template by hand after you order. It asks for the same names, dates and places a GEDCOM would carry, and the template suits a tree that lives in a notebook.

If the records are thinner than you hoped, order anyway and choose the partial lineage layout. The chart will show honestly how far the research stands, and that often becomes the conversation on Christmas Day.

If You Have Missed the Print Dates

Order the digital file. Up to Wednesday 16 December it will reach you by email before Christmas Day, as a print-ready PDF, a JPG for sharing and an SVG that scales to any size without losing its crispness. Then do one of three things with it:

1. Print a card. Put the JPG on the front of a card, or print the PDF at home on good paper, and give that on the day with a note that the framed print follows.
2. Order the print in January. The design is already done, so the second order is only the print and frame.
3. Have it framed locally. The PDF is sized for a 16-inch square print, and any high street framer or online print service can work from it. This is the route for family outside the UK, Ireland and the United States in any case.

After 16 December we will still take digital orders, but we cannot promise the file before Christmas Day, and a print ordered after the dates above will arrive in the new year.

Thanksgiving, for Readers in the United States

Thanksgiving falls on Thursday 26 November this year, and a chart on the wall for the family gathering is a popular idea. The same arithmetic applies: order and send your file by Saturday 31 October for a print delivered comfortably before the holiday. Prints for US addresses are made by our US print partner and shipped within the country, so they do not cross the Atlantic.

Before You Order: a Short Checklist

• Who sits in the centre, and is it one person or a couple?
• Can you name at least one of their great-great-great-grandparents? If not, five generations in the partial lineage layout still makes a handsome chart.
• Is the tree exported, or is the spreadsheet ready to fill in?
• Which finish: framed, print or digital? And if a print, is the address in the UK, Ireland or the United States?
• Which of the dates above applies, and have you left yourself a day to answer the proof?

One last practical note. Because every chart is made to order, a cancellation is refunded in full before you send your data and less a design charge once the proof stage has begun, and cannot be made once you give final approval. The returns and refunds policy has the detail. Damaged prints are replaced, so a parcel that arrives the worse for a December sorting office is not your problem.

Read next

How Many Generations Should a Family Tree Chart Show? Why six is the sweet spot for a wall print, how to count yours, and what to do about the gaps. How to Export Your Family Tree as a GEDCOM File Exact export steps for Ancestry, MyHeritage, Findmypast, FamilySearch, RootsMagic and Family Tree Maker.