Write a Letter to Santa Claus - and Get One Back!

Every year, kids across the world write millions of letters to Santa Claus. But they don't all get to where they're going and few get a reply. If you write a letter to Santa's real address, your kid will even get a reply letter from Santa Claus himself.

A quick Google search of "Letter From Santa" will show that there are plenty of websites started by entrepreneurial individuals who will send a letter to your kid from Santa Claus. Usually they charge from $5-$15 and often the letters are embellished with some kind of North Pole letterhead or other Santa-related insignia and stamps. They also all seem to be printed form letters with a hand-written signature and sometimes some filled-in information specific to your child.

However, there's a way for your kid to carry on a correspondence with Santa Claus this Christmas season that will cost you almost nothing and involve your child that much more. It's through volunteers of Canada Post. More than 11,000 people volunteer every year at Christmas-time to read every letter written to Santa Claus and to send a reply to each one.

First, have your child write a letter to Santa Claus. It doesn't matter what language he or she writes in, Santa Claus can respond to letters in any language, even Braille; and Santa will respond in the language in which the letter was written. Of course, if your child is too young, you can help them write the letter. The letter can mention anything they want: general well wishes, a wish-list, pen-pal type correspondence, whatever you want. Make sure that you include your return address when you write to Santa.

Santa's address is:

Santa Claus
North Pole
H0H 0H0
Canada

If you send the letter soon enough, you'll get a reply before Christmas-time. (Santa's "Postal Elves" are hard at work!) If you send it too late, you'll still get a reply after Christmas-time and the letter will acknowledge the fact that Santa Claus was a bit busy carrying gifts all over the world. Though the response is also a form letter, many kids will receive a hand-written note from "Santa Claus" referencing something they said in their original letter. The letter is also written on a North Pole/Santa Claus letterhead just like all the expensive letters you'd pay for. The difference is that your kid is expecting a response, since he or she wrote a letter to Santa Claus first.

If your child is especially computer savvy and you really don't want to take the time to go to the post office and buy a stamp to Canada, well, you can send an e-mail too! Just follow the link here to send Santa Claus a Christmas e-mail. However, with the e-mail option, Santa can only respond in English and in French and don't expect your child to be nearly as impressed as they would be with an actual paper letter from "Santa Claus"!

The truth is, people of any age can write a letter to Santa Claus and get a response. It's a great exercise for any foreign language class, especially with younger kids. The class as a whole could work together on writing the letter or they could each individually write their own. During my first year teaching French, I had my high school class write letters in French to Santa Claus and gave them the option of mailing them to him. Each student who mailed their letter received a response in French. In my letter to Santa Claus, I mentioned my desire to propose to my then-girlfriend on Christmas Eve. I received a hand-written note with the response that said (in French), "Good luck with the proposal!"

As you can see, anyone can write a letter to Santa Claus and it can make a Christmas season extra special for your children this year. One thing though: Canada Post asks that you don't include any type of food or treats with the letter. You know, terrorism and all that - I guess even Santa's not safe from the threat anymore. ;-) Merry Christmas!