Kits leave the workshop within one to three business days of the order, and from there they take roughly seven to fifteen business days to arrive, with tracking, to the United States, Europe and most of Asia. Put those two numbers together and you get the dates below. They are deliberately cautious. Carriers slow down in December, and a kit that arrives on the 27th is a worse present than a gift card on the 24th.
The dates
For a kit under the tree on 25 December 2026, order by:
- United States and Canada: Friday 4 December. Orders in the first days of December have the full fifteen business days with a few spare.
- United Kingdom, EU, Australia, New Zealand: Tuesday 1 December. These routes are usually no slower than the US, but customs adds a day here and there in December.
- Everywhere else: Friday 27 November. Shipping is free over $69 and $7.95 below that.
Order after those dates and the kit will very likely still arrive before Christmas. It just stops being something we would promise.
Why the window is wide
The quoted range is seven to fifteen business days because the slow part is the last leg, after the parcel lands in your country. Over the late summer and early autumn of 2026 most parcels to the US arrived in about twelve days, and nine in ten arrived within sixteen. A handful took three weeks. December is busier than September, so we build the dates around the slow tenth, not the median.
Standard kits and custom kits are different
The dates above are for kits from the catalogue, which are printed and packed as they are. A kit made from your own photo has an extra step: the photo is checked and the outline is prepared before anything is printed. Those dates are earlier, and they have their own page: Christmas order-by dates for custom kits.
If you miss the date
Three options, in the order we would take them.
The gift card. The Artistry By Numbers gift card is delivered by e-mail within minutes, so it works on the 24th. The person picks their own picture, which for a hobby kit is often the better present anyway: a cat person gets a cat, a Van Gogh person gets the Irises.
Order anyway and wrap the promise. Print the product page, put it in a card, and the kit arrives in the first week of January when the house is quiet and there is time to paint. Most people who receive a kit at Christmas do not open the paints until then.
Add the tools now. The brushes, easel, apron and brush rack ship the same way as the kits, and a tabletop easel under the tree with a gift card inside the box is a complete present on its own.
Picking the kit in time
If the dates above are close, the Christmas gift guide is the quickest way to choose, and the Christmas collection has the seasonal pictures. Every kit comes in five sizes; the 16x20 inch is the one to choose when you are not sure. The holiday gift guide matches kits to the person rather than the season.
A note on sizes and frames
Every kit comes in five sizes, from a 12x12 inch square to a 23.5 inch square, and with or without a DIY frame kit for a few dollars more. For a gift, the 16x20 inch canvas with the frame kit is the safe choice: it is the size most people paint, it fits a normal wall, and the stretcher bars arrive in the same parcel so the finished canvas can go straight on the wall. Choosing 36 or 48 colors adds a few paint pots and no extra shipping time. None of these options changes the dispatch window; the kit still leaves within one to three business days.
Questions people ask
Will I get a tracking number?
Yes. Every parcel ships with tracking, sent by e-mail once it leaves the workshop.
Can I pay for faster shipping?
Shipping is free to the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the EU, and free over $69 elsewhere. The dates above are built around the standard service, which is why they are conservative.
Can I have it sent straight to the person?
Yes. Enter their address as the shipping address at checkout and your own as the billing address.
