How to get a letter from Santa

The U.S. Postal Service can help you keep the magic alive with a personalized response from Santa!!! This makes for a great after-Thanksgiving dinner activity, but will also work so long as the letter is received by December 15th.

Here are the steps for your child to get a letter back from Santa:

1. Have your child write a letter to Santa and place it in an envelope addressed to: Santa Claus, North Pole.
2. Later, when alone, open the envelope and write a personalized response.
3. Insert the response letter into an envelope and address it to the child.
4. Add the return address: SANTA, NORTH POLE, to the envelope.
5. Affix a First-Class Mail stamp, such as a new Christmas Carols Forever stamp to the envelope.
6. Place the complete envelope into a larger envelope — preferably a Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope — with appropriate postage and address it to:

North Pole Postmark
Postmaster
4141 Postmark Drive
Anchorage, AK 99530-9998

“Letters from Santa” must be received by the Anchorage, AK, postmaster no later than Dec. 15. Santa’s helpers at the Postal Service will take care of the rest.

Tips

• To save paper, write Santa’s response on the back of your child’s letter. If you keep them together, your child will also be able to recall what he or she wrote.
• 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.
• This is a great activity to do at Thanksgiving that the whole family can enjoy, including parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other caregivers.
• The Letters from Santa program adds to the excitement of Christmas and is ideal for interesting youngsters in letter writing, stamps and penmanship.
• The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
• Be sure to share the experience on social media using #LettersFromSanta.

Originally published on November 22, 2017. Last Updated on November 12, 2018 by Pattie Cordova