December Stamps 2025: Efteling Reflections
On November 4th, I received news from PostNL regarding the 2025 December stamps featuring the Efteling as the theme of the annual issue. In the email, in red letters: EMBARGO until November 10, 2025. Why would there be an embargo on the annual December stamps? Surely they aren't special stamps. Or is that necessary because an official announcement is planned at the Efteling on November 10, 2025, and no one is allowed to know what the stamps look like? In the meantime, the Efteling stamps can be seen in various places, both in print and digitally, ahead of November 10, 2025! Furthermore, a few reflections to supplement Bate's blog about this issue.
Efteling reflections
Publication of December stamps 2025 On Thursday, November 6, 2025, I received from PostNL The package of flyers for the coming week in my mailbox. Also included is the Albert Heijn flyer (November 10 to 16, 2025), with a full-page advertisement for the 2025 December stamps on page 24, featuring images from the Efteling sheet and the marketing text: And they stuck happily ever after: https://www.ah.nl/bonus/folder/bonus-week-46-2025#31 The leaflet package also includes the Kruidvat leaflet (week 46, November 11 to 23, 2025), with the advertisement for the 2025 December stamps on page 15 featuring the images from the Efteling sheet. If you collect points with your Kruidvat card and redeem 200 points, the sheet is even 2 euros cheaper (= € 22,20): https://folder.kruidvat.nl/kruidvat-folder-week-46-10-november-2025-t-m-23-november-2025-preview/page/106-107 The complete Efteling sheet can be viewed digitally: https://www.kruidvat.nl/postnl-decemberzegels-2025/p/6386714
Advice from PostNL (who also read Postzegelblog)Stop with that nonsense about the embargo on the December stamps. The points of sale are already publishing them before that date, so earlier than PostNL's embargo date of November 10, 2025. And if they publish them earlier, what are your sanctions for them not adhering to your embargo date? Are you putting these points of sale on a blacklist so they are no longer allowed to sell the sheets? If there are no sanctions, then an embargo date serves no purpose whatsoever.
Issue details: designer Sander de Bruijn (Manager Design & Experience at Efteling), format: sheet with 20 December stamps in 10 different designs, price € 24,20. Each stamp has a value at the December rate of € 1,21. Edition 2.850.000 sheets. Printer Joh. Enschedé BV, Haarlem. The sheets are available at convenience stores, Kruidvat, and Albert Heijn, among others. Notably, the name of Sander de Bruijn (Manager Design & Experience at Efteling) appears on the back of the sheet. NOT ALLOWED is mentioned. Reference is made to www.postnl.nl/decemberzegels, but that link is not yet active at the time of writing this blog. You will then get the information regarding the 2024 December stamps.
Fairy tale book full December stamps
Each sheet contains twenty stamps: the ten designs appear twice. Whoever purchases two sheets (= € 48,40), receives a special gift: a free 50-page fairy tale book containing the ten stories from the 10 stamps. The introduction states the following: Buyers are encouraged to stick their stamps in the book. Do you want to make the fairy tales extra special? Then stick your fairy-tale December stamp in the shield of the corresponding fairy tale.
If you have 10 stamps left over because you only sent 30 Christmas cards, you can optionally stick the remaining 10 stamps in the fairytale book. You can also save the 10 stamps for next year's Christmas wishes. The text also appears at the back of the booklet (page 48): This unique fairytale book is a joint publication by PostNL and Efteling. The fairytales were written down by Efteling. The promotional terms and conditions are listed at postnl.nl/kerst2025. While stocks last. Not intended for sale. All rights reserved.
It is remarkable that on page 48 the name of Sander de Bruijn (Manager Design & Experience at Efteling) NOT ALLOWED has been mentioned. Reference is made to postnl.nl/kerst2025, but that link is not yet active at the time of writing the blog.
Another person who doesn't care about the embargo!
...and to the d and the t.
They could already be admired at Viking Direct on Sunday.
A squirrel is a symbol of frugality. Would the new fairy tale be about the land of never-rising postal rates and ever-increasing mail volumes? Would the book only be available at Albert Heijn? That store that watches the pennies. Are the print runs of the December stamps declining as well?
Jan, circulation figures? 2.850.000! More on that next week.
I get the impression that fewer cards are sent at the end of the year. It is therefore interesting to look at the print run figures over the years. I saw 3 million sheets listed somewhere. Weren't there once 10 million sheets or more?
Thanks for all the info, Randy!