Greetings!
You wanted us to remind you when it's time to write Santa. It's time! You checked the "I want gifts" box at our website, BeAnElf.org.
The sooner your family sits down to write letters to Santa and gets them in the mail, the closer to the front of the line you'll be to get a few extra gifts for your kids. There are no guarantees your letters will be adopted by a volunteer along its way to the North Pole, so of course parents need to provide their gifts, too. And luckily, Santa always comes through!
Some kids get a warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that Santa has many volunteers across the US who want to send extra gifts to families having a hard time with money this year. The public is permitted to read those children’s letters to Santa along their way to him at the North Pole. Volunteers can read and "adopt" letters selected by postal workers at a special Postal Service site, USPSoperationSanta.com.
If they find one letter that touches their heart, they'll adopt it and send gifts to the child or family who wrote to Santa. Your volunteer might be an older person living alone, or a family that wants to teach their kids the true meaning of Christmas.
If parents talk to older kids about this, let them know postal workers who select children’s letters for the website always put every letter right back in the mail to Santa. The USPS delivers every letter to the jolly man in red at the North Pole, and on Christmas Eve he’ll bring gifts to every child as he always does.
If your parents are struggling with money this year, ask them to enclose a letter together with your letter to Santa, right in the same envelope, to make the volunteer aware of those problems. This will help when volunteers read your family's letters, and with luck, they will adopt your whole family.
If your brothers or sisters are still too little to write, your parent can ask for things they need or might like, and so can you! Parents should list their kids' names, ages, clothing and shoe sizes, and baby supplies they may need. If kids are old enough, they can write their own letters.
Again, Santa and his volunteers like it best when your whole family puts all their letters in one envelope. That gives volunteers, or teams of them, the chance to adopt all of your family's letters. Make sure your parent includes a letter!
If there are no worries about money in your family, read no further. Write your letter to Santa and mail it soon!
Your family’s letters must be postmarked (mailed, with real stamps) between November 1st and December 10th, 2021, to be considered for posting at the USPS website.
IMPORTANT
It’s best if you mail your letter by mid-November, and sooner is even better.
Why? The Elves at the Post Office need time to read, select and upload all the letters to Santa to the website. After that, they do put them back in the mail, but it’s a long way to the North Pole, and the US Postal Service needs time to deliver all the letters up there. After that, Santa’s elves need time to prepare the gifts you ask for.
So, children and parents, we urge you to start writing your letters now and get them in the mail before December 10th. Letters mailed after that date will not be considered for the website, but they will definitely get to Santa.
Continue reading only if you think your parents might be worried about money this year. Ask them to follow these tips for writing a letter that will get the attention of volunteers along its way to the North Pole.
Absolutely ask Santa for whatever you want, but we again stress the importance of having one of your parents enclose a letter with yours. Ask your parent/s to read the web page BeAnElf.org/seeking-gifts, especially message to adults, under the letter to kids at the top.
We’re sad to tell you we do not know Santa’s email, and we have no direct contact with the jolly man. Santa does not use email that we know of. Emails sent to us will not reach Santa, and Be An Elf does not send gifts to families who contact us.
Here’s what does work: you need to handwrite or type a letter to Santa, add a stamp and mail it to him at the address below. Then your letter will get to him; that’s guaranteed.
Your parents' letter might begin, To Santa’s volunteer — and in it, your Mom or Dad should talk about their financial situation, health challenges and any other struggles they are having. It might be a hard letter for them to write, but it will greatly increase the chances that your letter to Santa will get adopted by a volunteer who reads it along its way to the North Pole.
We want you to know that last year we saw letter after letter from kids asking for a new tablet, a new laptop, a new iPhone, and a new X-Box or PlayStation — and often not much else. Santa might be able to make those wishes come true for some lucky kids, but we don’t think even Santa has enough devices to give to every child around the world who asks him for one. They are pretty expensive!
Most of Santa’s volunteers are ordinary people whose hearts are full of love, but almost none of these good people have the money to buy expensive devices.
So yes, ask Santa for your dreams, but also ask for something you want or need that a volunteer can afford. If a child asks Santa for new clothes, new shoes, a warm coat, a scarf, a hat, a cozy blanket, a backpack, or school supplies, volunteers are more likely to respond to that, and Santa will, too.
Ask your Mom or Dad to enclose a letter with yours. It's helpful because there are so many letters to Santa up for adoption online. Having your parents include their letter will make your letter stand out from others, and help volunteers understand there is true need in your family.
Put a stamp on your letter, or it will be returned to you. Every year Be An Elf gets letters from disappointed families whose letters were returned to them. They thought they didn’t have to add postage, and that was a mistake.
Whether your letter is handwritten or typed, Santa wants to get all his letters through the mail. He does not have an email address. We think he needs to get one, but he’s old fashioned and likes the US Mail.
In the upper left corner of the envelope, write your full name and address or Santa might not know where to deliver his gifts to you.
Here is his mailing address. We got it from the US Post Office:
Santa Claus
123 Elf Road
North Pole 88888
The Post Office prefers that every family put all their letters to Santa into a single envelope. That way, all the kids in your family will get gifts, not just you! Adding a letter from a parent will double the impact of children's letters. We recommend volunteers join together with their friends and whole families. With luck one will adopt yours! If not we're sure Santa will bring you his gifts, too.
On November 29th volunteers will start adopting letters at the Postal Service’s website, USPSoperationSanta.com. If you write in November, yours will be among the first posted at the site and the first in line for adoption.
When volunteers first go to the site, they will have a choice to either “Adopt a child’s letter,” or “Adopt a family.” Volunteers who adopt a whole family often organize their friends and work together in teams. They enjoy sharing the work, the fun and the cost. To be adopted as a family, all the letters from your family must be mailed in one envelope.
In conclusion, it adds real impact to add in a letter from a parent or caregiver, to Santa’s volunteer, telling them why their help with Christmas is very much needed this year.
All you need now is a pen or colored pencils, some paper, an envelope, a stamp, and your wishes for Christmas!
We invite children to forward this email to a parent and ask them to write a letter to Santa’s volunteers. If they do, maybe a volunteer will see it online and adopt your family.
Reading our Seeking Gifts? page and the rest of this message will help you write a letter that will stand out and motivate Santa's helpers to adopt the letter/s from your family.
Above all, be honest. Write only what is 100% true, and write from your heart. Write the emotions you experience as you write because those are powerful.
