How to make the letter to Santa a family tradition

A letter to Santa can be a list scribbled on the back of a receipt, or it can be the evening that starts Christmas in your house every year. The second version takes about an hour and very little money. What it needs is a fixed day and a little structure. The same evening works whoever brings the presents in your house: Father Christmas, Sinterklaas, the Christkind or the Three Kings.

Choose a day and keep it

Late November suits most families. It is early enough to be useful to whoever does the shopping, late enough that wishes have settled, and it leaves time if you plan to mail the letter. Put it in the calendar. Make hot chocolate, put on music and clear the table. The evening matters as much as the letter.

Give the letter a shape

A blank page tends to produce a long list of toys. A little structure produces something worth keeping.

• A greeting and a question for Santa. How are the reindeer? What is the weather like at the North Pole?
• Something I am proud of this year. Learning to swim, being kind to a new classmate, losing a tooth.
• My wishes. A popular rule uses four lines: something I want, something I need, something to wear and something to read. It keeps expectations realistic and gives relatives clear ideas.
• A wish for someone else. For a sibling, a grandparent or the dog.
• A thank you, and a signature.

Children who can’t write yet can dictate while you write, then decorate the page with stickers and drawings. Cutting pictures out of a toy catalog and gluing them on is a good option for three- and four-year-olds.

Sending it

How the letter leaves the house is part of the ritual. Pick one way and repeat it every year.

• Put it in a small mailbox at home that is mysteriously empty the next morning
• Leave it on the windowsill overnight
• Take it to a real mailbox. In the UK, Canada and several other countries the postal service runs a Santa reply program, each with its own address, deadline and rules, such as a return address on the envelope. In the US the postal program works differently. Check your national post office’s website in November, because the dates change every year.

Stamp the envelope with a red ink stamp, or let an adult close it with a wax seal. Sealing wax is hot and needs a flame, so that step is for adults only. Before the letter goes anywhere, take a photo of it or make a copy.

The reply

A reply is not required, but children enjoy getting one. A short letter that mentions the thing the child was proud of shows that Santa read every word. Keep it brief and warm, avoid promising specific presents, and write it in handwriting your child won’t recognize, or print it. A certificate for the nice list is a good extra for younger children.

Keep every letter

Put each year’s letter, or its copy, into the same box with the year written on the back. Add the reply. In ten years you will have a record of handwriting, spelling, obsessions and kindnesses to sit beside the photo albums. Reading the old ones aloud before writing the new one makes a good start to the evening.

A short checklist

• A date in the calendar
• Paper, envelopes and pencils on the table
• Hot chocolate
• A photo of the finished letter
• The box

For parents: when the questions start

At some point a child will ask who really reads the letters. The tradition doesn’t have to end there. Many families change it. The older child becomes a helper who writes the reply for a younger sibling, or the letter turns into a “letter to the family” with the same sections: what I am proud of, what I wish for, what I wish for someone else.