USPS® Celebrates the Spirit of Halloween with new Jack-o’-Lanterns Stamps
Halloween: falling leaves in crisp fall air, kids in costumes yelling “trick or treat”, jack-o’-lanterns, black cats, scarecrows and Halloween stamps on the letters in your mailbox.
Wait…What?
This fall, the U.S. Postal Service® will be celebrating a first – stamps dedicated to celebrating Halloween. The jack-o’-lanterns stamps issued on Sept. 29th give the American public a way to send holiday messages with Halloween-decorated postage. You might not realize it, but according to the greeting card industry, Halloween is the sixth most popular card-sending holiday in the United States.
These one-of-a-kind stamps feature photographs of four carved jack-o’-lanterns showing cheerfully creepy faces on a black background.
Halloween Traditions
Carving lanterns out of turnips during harvest festivals was common among the people of Ireland and Britain and became known as “Jack’s Lantern”. The tradition of carving versions of Jack’s lantern was brought to the United States by immigrants from Scotland and Ireland, where they discovered that the pumpkin was far superior for carving than turnips and potatoes.
Today, Halloween has become one of the most popular holidays in America. Many children enjoy dressing up in costumes and “trick-or-treating” door to door, looking for candy and other treats. Adults frequently participate in costume parties and other celebrations, dressing up as characters from popular culture or history.
Jack-o’-Lanterns Forever Stamps can be purchased at Post Offices™ or at the Postal Store®.
First Day of Issue Special Cancellations
Customers may order First Day cover items from the Collector’s Zone® (or by calling 1-800-STAMP-24) and can also obtain a special first-day-of-issue (FDOI) postmarks for their Halloween stamps and cards by mail for 60 days (until November 29).
For a special a FDOI postmark, affix the stamps to cards and envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:
Jack-O’-Lanterns Stamps
Stamp Fulfillment Services Cancellation Services
8300 NE Underground Drive, Pillar 210
Kansas City, MO 64144-9998.
The postmarked envelopes will be returned through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50 after which there is a 5-cent per each additional postmark. All orders must be postmarked by November 29, 2016.