Does Santa have a ZIP code?

November 19, 2014 6:40 AM

I seem to remember that it used to be a thing that your kid could send their letters to Santa to a particular address and they'd get a nice reply from "Santa." Now that I'm old enough to have a kid of my own who wants to send a letter to Santa, I'm not sure where to send the thing.

Google shows an infinite number of places to send an "online" letter to Santa. But having read my kid the riot act about needing to write an old-fashioned letter (he originally asked if he could just email Santa a link to his Amazon wish list!), I'm not willing to go that route. There are also a variety of places where you can send $5-10 and get a letter back. Not interested in that.

I did find where you can send a letter to the post office in Santa Claus, Indiana and get a letter sent back to you with a Santa postmark . Is that my best option?

posted by DirtyOldTown to Society & Culture (13 answers total)

You can get a North Pole, N.Y., postmark. (Turn your speaker volume off or way, way down!)
posted by jgirl at 6:44 AM on November 19, 2014

I think the USPS accepted letters but (surprise!) it was actually your parents writing back as Santa. I believe I saw a news clip years ago that showed a depot with millions of Santa letters received by the postal service, which showed that occasionally they we're read and employees responded to letters that stood out (I'd like to have food for dinner, I'd like Dad to stop hitting Mom, etc.)
posted by stillmoving at 6:46 AM on November 19, 2014

Here is Santa's Official Address according to Canada Post. Indeed kids will get letters back via the neat volunteer Santa Letter-writing program.
posted by Lescha at 6:49 AM on November 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Here's what you can do. Have your kid write a letter to Santa. Have him give it to you to mail. (Or look over his shoulder while he writes it so you can respond correctly to it.)

Read the letter and write a response. Address the envelope to your kid, and stamp it. Send it to:

NORTH POLE HOLIDAY CANCELLATION
POSTMASTER
4141 POSTMARK DR
ANCHORAGE AK 99530-9998

You will get your letter back from Santa with a North Pole post mark.

Easy-peasy!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:50 AM on November 19, 2014 [15 favorites]

Have your kid mail their letter to

Santa Claus
North Pole, Canada
HOH 0H0

Santa will write back to your kid on lovely Christmas stationary. No need to write a letter yourself.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:52 AM on November 19, 2014 [13 favorites]

Yup, mail it to Canada. Canada post has a bunch of volunteers that write (short, fairly generic, but charming, and handwritten!) responses and send them back. Plus the postal code is great :)
posted by quaking fajita at 7:01 AM on November 19, 2014 [2 favorites]

Actually I'm not clear on whether they will send letters back internationally, sorry. Didn't think of that. There's no indication on their website whether they will or not.
posted by quaking fajita at 7:08 AM on November 19, 2014

Yes, they do respond internationally at Canada Post. After all, they wouldn't want to get on Santa's naughty list!
posted by saucysault at 7:11 AM on November 19, 2014

I recall sending letters to the north pole, postal code H0H 0H0. The response was a printed form letter, but colorful, with a nice background picture. And there was a one-line handwritten personal message at the bottom.
posted by PercussivePaul at 7:55 AM on November 19, 2014

Also, you can write to Santa at not Christmas time. If your kid were to send a thank you note after Christmas, he will get a letter back from Santa about how he is relaxing after the holidays and he is glad your kid like the gifts.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:38 AM on November 19, 2014

It's as easy as mailing it to Santa Claus, North Pole. I used to work for the USPS processing mail (remote encoding center) and when we got letters addressed to Santa, they were all sent to North Pole, AK to be postmarked and replied to by volunteers.
posted by flod logic at 8:39 AM on November 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Santa is magic and therefore does not deal with USPS or Canada Post. As a child we burned our letters after we wrote them. And we always got what we wanted.
posted by vespabelle at 1:06 PM on November 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

I used to have my kids write their letters, seal them in an envelope labeled "Santa Claus," then burn them in the fireplace. We didn't do this as kids in my family, but I read about it somewhere and liked the magical aspect of it. It helped contribute to the magical answers to their practical questions about how Santa got into houses/apartments without fireplaces, how did he manage to deliver so many presents to so many millions or kids all over the world, etc.
posted by primate moon at 5:30 PM on November 20, 2014