Christmas cards to military APO/FPO addresses

A card to someone stationed overseas goes to an APO, FPO or DPO address, and it is mailed like a domestic letter. For 2026, USPS lists Wednesday, December 9 as the last recommended day for First-Class Mail to reach any of these addresses before Christmas. Below: how to write the address line by line, what to leave off, the stamp, and the full date table.

Ask the service member for the address instead of guessing it. The card list on this site can collect it through a link, so the exact lines they send end up on your labels.

The address, line by line

USPS Publication 640 (Addressing Military Mail) and the USPS page on shipping to APO/FPO/DPO addresses ask for the recipient's name, rank and unit, then the APO, FPO or DPO line with its 9-digit ZIP Code. Write it in this order.

1. Rank and full name. For example "SGT Maria Alvarez". Use the name the person gave you.
2. Unit line. Copy it exactly as the recipient wrote it. Depending on the post, that is a unit name, or a PSC or CMR number with a box number (my note: the recipient is the only reliable source for this line).
3. APO, FPO or DPO line. The post type, then "AE", "AA" or "AP", then the ZIP Code with its four extra digits, such as "APO AE 09xxx-xxxx".

SGT Maria Alvarez
PSC 1234 BOX 5678
APO AE 09xxx-xxxx

The ZIP prefix shows the region. Publication 640 groups 090-092 and 094-099 under Europe and the Atlantic, 093 under Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East, 962-966 under Japan, Korea and the Pacific, and 340 under Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

What to leave off

• City and country. USPS says to always use the APO or FPO address "without the name of the city and country". A line like "Baghdad, Iraq" or a base name does not belong on the envelope.
• "Any Service Member". Publication 640 states that mail to "Any Service Member" will not be delivered. Address the card to a named person.

Return address and stamp

Put your own address in the top left corner. Publication 640 says mail without a return address is opened at the Mail Recovery Center Network to find the sender, so a card with no return address and a problem may never come back to you.

USPS says that when you ship to an APO/FPO/DPO, you pay domestic prices. A standard card in a rectangular envelope up to 1 ounce takes one First-Class Mail stamp at $0.82 in 2026. Heavier or square cards cost more, see Christmas card postage in 2026.

USPS send-by dates for military addresses, 2026

These are USPS's recommended dates for delivery before Christmas Day, from the page 2026 Holiday Shipping Deadlines (usps.com), which I read on October 23, 2026. A card in an envelope goes First-Class Mail. Priority Mail Express Military Service (PMEMS) is offered only at selected military and diplomatic post offices.

Cards in a package or a box with gifts can use Ground Advantage, which has the earliest date. A card on its own is fastest by First-Class Mail, so Wednesday, December 9 is your deadline. Mailing a week or two before it leaves room for a slow route. The mailing-date guide has the dates for U.S. and international cards and a schedule that counts back from them.

Keep the address on your list

Military addresses change with every move, so a copy from last year may be wrong. On the card list you send one link, the service member (or a parent or spouse) types the lines in the order above, and you tick the card off once it is mailed. Labels print straight from the list. Free, no account.

Start a card list

More: how to address the envelopes for everyone else, how to collect addresses and what to do when the date has passed.