Writing a letter to Santa Claus is one of those wonderful ways to really kick off the holidays – along with building gingerbread houses and decorating the tree.
Even better than drafting a letter to Santa is seeing the look in your child’s eyes when they actually get a personalized response back – direct from the North Pole. The United States Postal Service can help make that happen through their Greetings from the North Pole Post Office program, and here’s how:
Have your child write a letter to Santa and place it in an envelope addressed to: Santa Claus, North Pole. Write a personalized response to the child’s letter and sign it “From Santa.” To save paper you can write the response on the back of your child’s letter. When responding as Santa, make the response as personal as possible by highlighting your child’s accomplishments over the past year. For example, helping around the house, receiving good grades in a particular subject at school or participating in community service activities.
Insert both letters into an envelope, and address it to the child. Add the return address: Santa, North Pole, to the envelope. Make sure a First-Class Mail stamp is affixed to the envelope, and then place the complete envelope into a larger envelope, with appropriate postage, and address it to:
North Pole Postmark
Postmaster
4141 Postmark Drive
Anchorage, AK 99530-9998
The Postal Service recommends sending letters to Santa by Dec. 7 so that they can be received by the Anchorage Postmaster no later than Dec. 14.
This is a great activity that the whole family can enjoy, including parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other caregivers. It adds to the excitement of Christmas and is also a good way to get kids interested in letter writing, stamps and penmanship.