When to order a custom portrait for Christmas 2026

Short version: our cutoff for Christmas delivery is Tuesday, December 15, and if you can order around Monday, December 7, you can stop thinking about it. Below is the math behind both, so you can check it yourself instead of trusting a countdown banner.

What happens between your order and your door

Nothing is printed ahead of time. Your canvas gets made after you order, and the time splits into three parts:

• About 2 days to check it. Someone on our team looks over your portrait before it goes to print, checking the quality of what will actually end up on your wall.
• 2 to 4 business days to print. Our print partner in the US prints the canvas and stretches it over the frame.
• 3 to 7 business days in transit. This is the part nobody controls, and it's the part that stretches in December.

Add it up and you get about 7 to 13 business days. Business days skip weekends, which catches people out: an order placed on Friday night doesn't really start moving until Monday.

The two dates, and why

December 7, the comfortable one. Count 13 business days back from Christmas Eve and you land on Monday the 7th. Order by then and the canvas still makes it even if every step takes its slowest version.

December 15, the cutoff. From the 15th there are only seven business days left before Christmas Eve. That's the fast end of our range. It works when the check, the printing and the carrier all move quickly, and in mid-December one of them often doesn't. It's the last date we'd still call possible, not the one we'd pick for our own family.

After the 15th we'll happily make your portrait, we just can't tell you it'll be under the tree. One thing people do: screenshot the preview, put it in a card, and let the real canvas show up a few days later as a second present.

The part you control

The slow step is usually the one before the order. Picking a scene, finding the right photo, asking your partner which one they like.

That part can be fast. A preview takes about 20 seconds and you don't pay anything to see it. You get three free previews, and three more if you leave your email, so you can try the same photo in two or three scenes tonight and decide with the results in front of you. If you're not sure which photo to use, this guide to choosing a photo will save you a round.

Ordered and then noticed you picked the wrong photo? You have 24 hours to tell us, and we'll change it for free. After that your canvas is already in line to print.

A few December habits that help

• Ship it straight to them. If the portrait is for grandparents three states away, put their address at checkout. One trip through the mail instead of two.
• Check the unit number. A package that bounces back in December almost always means no canvas by the 25th.
• Watch for the tracking email. We send it as soon as your canvas ships, so you'll know where it is before anyone asks.
• Shipping is $8.99, or free over $150. A single 24 × 36 canvas ($159.99) already clears that.

If it arrives damaged

Send us a photo within 30 days and we'll reprint it for free or refund you in full. You keep the canvas, no return shipping. To be straight with you: a reprint ordered on December 22 won't arrive by Christmas. That's one more reason the 7th is the date we'd circle.

Looking for something Christmassy

Most of our scenes aren't tied to a season, which means they stay on the wall in March. If you want one that is, the holiday scenes include a snow globe with your child and your pet inside it. Everything else is in all portraits.