Christmas stamps on sale this week

File photo / NZ Herald

This season's Christmas stamps will go on sale on Wednesday.

The stamps will feature the baby Jesus in his manger, an angel appearing before shepherds, Mary and Joseph with their infant son, shepherds cradling the baby Jesus, and the Three Wise Men holding the infant.

Two First Day Covers will feature the stamps on specially printed envelopes with colourful stained-glass designs.

New Zealand Post's stamp sales and marketing manager Simon Allison said traditional designs had always been very popular at Christmas.

The stamps had been designed to look best stuck on at an angle.

'So when you send your Christmas cards, letters or packages this year, domestically or overseas, these stamps really leap out - with their bright colours, golden metallic text and the quirky diamond-shape," Mr Allison said.

"They're genuinely festive stamps for a festive time of year."

The stamps come in five denominations - 60c, $1.20, $1.90, $2.40 and $2.90 - which are all available as gummed stamps.

Booklets of 10 self-adhesive stamps will also be available in denominations of 60c, $1.90 and $2.40, while boxes of 100 self-adhesive stamps will be available only as 60c stamps.