2 October 2013

Stamps signal countdown to the great Kiwi Christmas

The countdown to Christmas has (un)officially begun – with the release of the Christmas 2013 stamp issue.

Christmas stamps have been an annual event on the Kiwi calendar since 1960 - and for some people they’re the first signal that the festive season is just around the corner.

New Zealand Post’s stamps spokesman Simon Allison says they’re always a very popular stamp issue, due to the large number of cards and letters sent around Christmas time.

“We’re really pleased with this year’s Christmas stamps because they really reflect what New Zealand Christmases are like – probably more so than ever before,” Simon Allison says.

“The Christmas 2013 stamps show scenes that are played out in homes the length and breadth of New Zealand, and the fact we can do that reflects the fact we’ve really come of age as a nation.

“There’s something a bit hokey about a lot of the Christmas imagery you still see around on cards and wrapping – with snowmen and icicles and kids bundled up in scarves and mittens.  If you wore that on Christmas day in New Zealand you’d probably suffer a heat stroke.

“Singing Christmas carols, opening the prezzies, noshing into a big feed, a leisurely game of cricket on the beach, hanging tinsel on the tree...  those are the experiences that most kids – including big kids like me - will remember about Christmas in New Zealand.  We’re really pleased to have captured those moments in this stamp issue,” Simon Allison says.

The five stamps in the Christmas 2013 issue are:

     70c Gift Giving       
-     $1.40 Christmas lunch    
-    $1.90 Decorating the tree
-     $2.40 Cricket on the beach      
-     $2.90 Carol singing

Click for big version.

The stamps are gummed (the type you lick or moisten to stick on a card or envelope) – with the 70c, $1.90 and $2.40 stamps also available in self-adhesive versions.

Two First Day Covers are also available – one with the gummed stamps, the other with the self-adhesive ones.  The former features a traditional pine Christmas tree, while the latter shows the New Zealand Christmas tree - a pōhutukawa.

The Christmas 2013 stamp issue is available from today (Wednesday 2 October) at PostShops, REAL Aotearoa stores, and online at nzpost.co.nz/christmasstamps or by phoning 0800 782 677.

ENDS

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