Writing Letters to Santa with Your Kids

Pick your reply route before anyone writes

Decide first how a reply will come back. That choice sets your mailing deadline and tells you whether the envelope needs a return address and stamp.

• Write the reply yourself: This is the most reliable option, with no deadline, and it works in any country. Leave it under the tree or slip it into your own mailbox. Write it in a different hand from your usual one, such as all capitals or your other hand, or print it in a curly font on cream or colored paper. Answer your child's question by name so it reads like a real reply.
• United States: Letters to Santa Claus, 123 Elf Road, North Pole 88888 go to USPS Operation Santa. Volunteers may adopt them, but a reply isn't guaranteed. For a guaranteed North Pole postmark, write the reply yourself and send it through the USPS North Pole postmark program. Check usps.com for this year's address and cutoff.
• Canada: Send to SANTA CLAUS, NORTH POLE H0H 0H0. No stamp is needed. Include a full return address.
• UK: Send to Father Christmas, Santa's Grotto, Reindeerland XM4 5HQ with a stamp and a full return address.
• Australia: Australia Post has run a Santa reply service in past years. Check its website for this year's address and cutoff.
• No mail at all: Some libraries, malls and town halls put out a Santa mailbox in December. Many UK families send the letter up the chimney or leave it on the hearth instead. Both suit a last-minute letter, and the reply, if you want one, comes from you.

Cutoffs change every year and usually fall in early-to-mid December. If you post by December 1, you'll be safely inside all of them.

Match the letter to your child's age

• Ages 3-5: Your child draws and you write down the words they dictate. Keep it to 10-15 minutes before attention runs out.
• Ages 6-8: Use sentence starters, either printed or written at the top of the page: Dear Santa, my name is... This year I learned... I would like... My question for you is...
• Ages 9+: Let them free-write. Offer the starters only if they get stuck.

With siblings, give each child their own letter, sit them side by side, and help the youngest first. Allow about 10 extra minutes per extra child.

Two extra lines make the letter feel like a real letter rather than a shopping list. One is a thank-you or something they're proud of this year. The other is a question for Santa, which gives the reply something to answer. Many families suggest a short wish list of about three items so the letter matches what Santa can bring, but set whatever number fits your plans. Put your time into the drawing and decorating, which is the part kids remember. Skip correcting spelling, because invented spelling is part of the charm.

Keep a copy and close the loop

The classic first-timer mistake is sealing the envelope without recording the wish list, and then forgetting exactly what was asked for. Photograph every page before it goes in the envelope. Let your child lick or stick the envelope and drop it in the mailbox (postbox) themselves. That moment is half the fun.

You're done when three things are true: the letter is in the mail before your chosen cutoff, you have a photo of it on your phone, and you know who is writing the reply and roughly when it will arrive.