Tips for writing a letter to Santa
The magic of Christmas is slowly spreading around. Shops are full of funny toys, mince pies, and candies, the streets are getting colourful and bright. There are lots of activities that will fill the holiday time and let everyone experience all the magic. One of them is writing a letter to the big guy in a jolly red suit. This is a super fun Christmas tradition which is very important for kids as it is the main way to get the presents they want.
Writing a letter to Santa can be one of the activities from an Advent calendar. We have prepared a guide to help kids create letters.
Attention! All letters to Santa need to have been sent by December 12 at the latest so that the elves have time to read them and prepare the presents. Start the writing process early for kids to have enough time to create their letters.
Step 1 — Draft a wish list
Before writing the letter encourage the kids to make a wish list: write down things they would like to get for Christmas. Ask them to look at that list again after a few days and reconsider it. In the end, the kids keep only the items (let it be 5) they really want.
Step 2 — Play Christmas tunes
Bring some Christmas music to your class. This will make the kids full to the brim with Christmas spirit.
Prepare pieces of paper and stationery
Ask kids to pick a piece of paper: it can be a plain white one or with colourful patterns. Make sure they also have extra paper in case of mess-ups. Don’t forget about a pen or a pencil. Kids are also free to use markers and crayons.
Step 3 — Writing process
When everything is ready, show kids the structure of the letter — heading, salutation, body, complimentary close, and signature.
Here is our example of the letter to Santa.
Heading: Write your address in the top left corner of the letter. Write the date below the address.
Salutation: Start the letter with Dear Santa, Santa Claus, St Nicolas, or Father Christmas.
Body: Write your name and age. Ask Santa: «How are Mrs Claus and the reindeer,? Is everything OK in Lapland?» Write how good you were and how you have studied at school this year. Tell Santa what presents you and your sister/brother want. Don’t forget to write ‘please’. At the end of the letter thank Santa and elves for their job.
Complimentary close and signature: Thank Santa for reading the letter and end it with the words like Best wishes, Lots of love, Sincerely, and then sign your name underneath.
Step 4- Decoration
Encourage the kids to sprinkle the letter with pictures, drawings, stickers, and sparkles.
Step 5 — Send the envelope
Once the letter is ready, put it into an envelope and write Santa’s address on the front side of the envelope: “Santa Claus, North Pole”. Seal the envelope and add a stamp.
To make this activity more challenging ask the kids to look at the map and show where they send the letters. Help them find Santa’s place and ask to describe it. You can say “What does it look like? What’s the temperature there? ”
There are a few ways to send a letter to Santa and even get a reply. These websites can help with that:
Or you can become Santa’s little helper and reply to the letters yourself.
This Christmas activity is not only an opportunity to practice writing skills but also have fun. In their letters to Santa, kids might write something they haven’t told anyone else. That gives a teacher a chance to find out something new about their students.
Вероника Аветисян 
