Letters to Santa Kits are a fun way to pull a Holiday activity together for you children or grandchildren as they get excited for the Christmas season! You can easily pull together little individual kits for each child that are just for them, and will keep them busy, quiet, and "extra good" for a short time, while they correspond with the "big guy" on their holiday dreams!
I'm a new grandma with 3 "grandlittles" all aged 4 and under, so the Christmas spirit is all shiny and new again in my home, after many years of being in the "teenage and college kids" years, it is fun to have the little ones again that have such bright spirits about this time of year!
I wanted to put together a short activity to do with them, that we could work on together and I thought what better idea than to create them a letter to Santa kit! They can send off their letters for real (I'll show you how, and possibly get a letter back if I send them off in time) or I can pretend send them off, and keep the letters in a scrap book for them to give back to them years later. But either way, the moments together working on them will be a fun activity on a cold winter afternoon with busy, active grandchildren!
I started with a trip to my local Dollar Tree, but you can shop with them online as well! (did you know that?) Everything I needed was right there!
Kits:
Clip Boards
I bought each one a clip board. It just makes the kits easy to pull together as well, as make them feel like they each have their own "kit". These are at Dollar Tree in all sorts of colors and styles.
Paper:
You can use any kind of paper to write the letters, let them write their own ,or print off a templated letter online somewhere. I printed off a premade letter online, by typing in letter to Santa in my search bar. Many choices came up, and I printed one off. Dollar Tree has great packs of cute papers of all kinds! Just grab a pack and they are ready to go!
Envelopes: You can send those letters off in regular white envelopes. I actually recommend these envelopes if you want to run them through a printer and print any special fonts or graphics with an addresses to Santa. Dollar Tree has boxes of these for you also.
Who wants to write letters to Santa with ordinary pencils? Make it extra special with some festive ones! Dollar Tree has packs of Christmas pencils that they can choose just the perfect one for them to write their list with!
In store I found packs of 10 in a variety pack of pencils and Erasers individually. while online I found these cute Elf on a Shelf Pencil and Eraser Sets.
Christmas Stampers and Stickers: Adding the final touches to any letter to Santa wouldn't be complete without all the embellishments having the right sets of festive stickers and holiday stampers to decorate the letter and the envelopes is simply a MUST! They are like the candy sprinkles on the cupcakes! No worries! Dollar Tree has those too! a pack of each and you'll good to go!
Santa's Mailbox: Now.. the props in my photos are ones I've already had.. OK. my preschool teaching daughter has. and I borrowed., but have no fear. Dollar Tree has little mailboxes too. These are perfect if you do NOT want to really mail off the letters but want to feel like they are, and then store the letters for them for later on. I'll show you in a minute where and when to mail the letters through the Postal Service to get letters back to them, officially through the USPS.
Now.. Mailing those letters off officially! Here is the scoop from the USPS website:
This year.. You'll need to move Quickly!!!
LETTERS FROM SANTA
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And the Postal Service™ can help you prove it when Santa replies to your child’s letter to Santa — complete with the North Pole Postmark! The Letters from Santa program adds to the excitement of Christmas and is ideal for interesting youngsters in letter writing, stamps and penmanship.
Here's how:
- Have the child write a letter to Santa and place it in an envelope addressed to: Santa Claus, North Pole.
- Write a personalized response to the child's letter and sign it "From Santa."
- Insert both letters into an envelope, and address it to the child.
- Add the return address: SANTA, NORTH POLE, to the envelope.
- Ensure a First-Class Mail stamp is affixed to the envelope.
- Place the complete envelope into a larger envelope, with appropriate postage, and address it to:NORTH POLE POSTMARK
POSTMASTER
4141 POSTMARK DR
ANCHORAGE AK 99530-9998
We recommend sending Letters from Santa by December 8 so that they can be received by the Anchorage, AK, Postmaster no later than December 15. Santa’s helpers in Anchorage, AK, will take care of the rest!
Be sure to share the experience on social media using #LettersFromSanta.
Go to their link above for their great tips! Such as how to save paper, how to make it the best letter ever, (they've seen ALOT of these!) and which day is the perfect day for making it an annual tradition
I have my kits already and just waiting for my grandkids arrival! I think I maybe more excited than they are!
Come enjoy some more Holiday Ideas using Dollar Tree as inspiration!
- Homemade Window Clings - Easy DIY Christmas Craft for Kids by Apron Strings and Other Things
- Christmas Tree Table Centerpiece by Daily Dish Recipes
- DIY Christmas Jenga Ornaments by Day to Day Adventures
- Christmas Votive Candle Holders by Family Around the Table
- Holiday Spiced Nuts by Our Good Life
- 20 Amazing Gifts You Can Make- All For Under $1.00 by The Farmer’s Lamp
- Letters to Santa Kits by Tip Garden
