The Netherlands – December Stamps

Every year PostNL releases new December stamps with which consumers and companies can send Christmas and New Year cards at a favorable rate. The December rate is unchanged and remains € 0.91 per stamp. The rate is valid from November 14, 2022 to January 6, 2023.

This year’s December stamps were designed by Miriam Bos. The well-known illustrator from Apeldoorn made playful drawings full of cheerful scenes in picturesque colors especially for these stamps.

Bob van Ireland, director of Mail at PostNL: ‘The holidays are just around the corner. A period in which it is all about warmth, love and attention for each other. Sending a card is a nice gesture to let them know that you are thinking of someone, it will make the recipient happy. We sincerely hope that many people will do the same again this Christmas. The special rate of the December stamps makes that extra advantageous.’

Exclusive gift

When purchasing two sheets with 20 December stamps each in the store, customers will receive an exclusive gift from Vondels (while stocks last) that has been specially designed for PostNL. This year the present is a gingerbread house for the Christmas tree, as depicted on one of the December stamps.

Happy atmosphere

With her illustrations Miriam often tries to radiate optimism to remind people that beautiful and positive things still exist in the world. She thinks that is important, especially after the past 2 years in which we were further apart than ever due to the corona measures. “All the more reason to opt for a cheerful atmosphere in the illustrations”, says Miriam. “It is a theme that recurs more often in my work.”

Finer pigment

For the December stamps, Miriam used gouache, which she applied with brushes of different thickness. “I enjoy working with gouache”, says Miriam. “Because it has a slightly finer pigment than poster paint. I also don’t use brushes that are too thin, otherwise the brush stroke will disappear.”

Hand lettering

The illustrations also contain texts written by hand. This form of illustration is called ‘handlettering’. Work by Miriam Bos can often be recognized by this. Handwritten letters have also been used for the typography at the bottom of all December stamps: a graceful letter for the value indication December and a sleek letter with varying thicknesses for the Netherlands 2022.

Boosting Colors

Miriam’s illustration style is often recognizable, also because of her use of bright and warm colours. She has used mutually reinforcing colors for the December stamps. “It took a while to figure out how to do that with 10 different illustrations. I could have made it easier on myself with a limited color palette, but that’s not for me. The Christmas green is complemented by red, turquoise, purple, pink and yellow, among others. The latter are not necessarily Christmas colors, but they combine well.”