Updated: November 5, 2021
Sure, Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away, but kids around the world are already looking forward to Christmas. The season of candy canes, tinsel, and stockings hung by the fire is absolutely magical through a child’s eyes, and it all begins when they send a letter to Santa.
To help kick off the season, the second week of each November is designated as Dear Santa Letter Week, a time for children to seal their wishes for this holiday season in an envelope and send them off to the North Pole. It’s also a good opportunity to reflect on the past year with your kids and help them set goals for the New Year. The 5 tips below can help you make letter writing with your military kids a fun and rewarding experience.
1. Prepare the Wish List
A couple of days before writing the letter, sit down with your child and have them start brainstorming their Christmas list. Remind them to include the fun things they want, such as new toys or books, as well as practical gifts, such as a new pair of snow boots to replace the ones they’ve outgrown. This is also a good time to ask them to think beyond themselves and include items that their friends or family members might like, such as a box of chocolates for grandma.
Also, remind them that not all gifts come in a box. They can ask Santa to help keep their Military Community safe or to help their friends who have just moved to a new base find new friends.
2. Gather Supplies
Let your child’s creativity run wild by providing a variety of different craft supplies for their letter, such as construction paper, glitter glue, markers, and stickers. They can draw a picture for Santa or decorate the card in Christmas colors. This will help their letter stand out among all the mail that goes to the North Pole.
To make their letter writing even more exciting, here are some festive letter templates. Simply click, download and print!
3. Reflect While You Write
As your child writes their letter, remind them to include more than just their wish list and thank Santa for all the presents they got last year. Additionally, you can also remind older kids that Santa only brings presents to good boys and girls and ask them to write a list of some of the good things they did this year.
As a bonus, you can work with them to set goals on how they can be even better in the upcoming New Year.
4. Turn It into a Learning Opportunity
If you have younger kids that are not used to writing letters, this is a great opportunity to teach them out to structure a letter with a salutation, body, and closing. Help them choose the best salutation (such as “dear,” “to,” and “hello”) and closing (such as “from,” “sincerely,” and “yours) for their letter. You can also help them address the envelope with Santa’s address and their return address.
5. Send the Letter to the North Pole
It’s time for the exciting part! USPS makes it easy to send your letters to the North Pole and for your kids to get a response from Santa with the following process:
- Place your child’s letter in an envelope and address it to: “Santa Claus, North Pole.”
- Write a personalized response to your child’s letter and sign it “From, Santa.”
- Insert both letters into an envelope, and address it to the child with the return address “Santa, North Pole” and assure a First-Class Mail stamp is affixed to the envelope.
- Place the complete envelope into a larger envelope with postage and address it to:
North Pole Postmark
Postmaster
4141 Postmark Dr.
Anchorage AK 99530-9998
The Postal Service recommends mailing your letter no later than December 8.
