How to get a North Pole Postmark.... | The Diary of a Frugal Family

I am off work ill today as I have been up since about 4’o’clock coughing. I have dropped the kids off at school and am now snuggled up on the sofa watching Supermarket Sweep (feeling very sorry for myself might I add).

The kids were hyper this morning as they know that they can open their advent calendars tomorrow. I might as well put my day off to good use so I am trying to sort out their letters from Santa Claus.

Usually, I buy personalised letters from Ebay for about £2.50 each but this year the Frugal kids are getting a frugal version using this site

Free letters from Santa

You can download one of about six templates and personalise it with your child’s details. You could just pop it on your doormat one morning before the kids get up and let them discover it when they come downstairs.

Or if you want the letter to have a North Pole postmark on it you can do this quite cheaply. Put the letter you have downloaded or made into an envelope and write on your child’s name and address. You need to attach enough stamps to pay for postage from the US. Now put this letter into another envelope and address it to:

North Pole Christmas Cancellation,

Postmaster,

5400 Mail Trail,

Fairbanks,

AK 99709-9999

Again put enough postage on for the letter to get to the US and then pop it in the post. It needs to be arrive by 15 December. When your letter gets there one of Santa’s Elves will open the outer letter and send your child’s letter back to you with a North Pole stamp on it.

There is also a service ran by the US Postal Service where if you write to Santa and address it to Santa’s Grotto, Reindeerland, SAN TA1, you will recieve a personalised reply. The replies used to be written by volunteers in the US town of North Pole but apparently last year one of the volunteers was outed (is that even a word) as a peadophile and there are now concerns over the privacy of childrens information.

The service has now been reviewed and although it is still operating there have been some changed to protect children’s identities and the letters are no longer forwarded to the town of North Pole so I don’t think that they will have the traditional North Pole postcode on them anymore.

As its 2009, you can now also e mail Santa! I haven’t tried this but one of my friends has and she got a reply from him within minutes. Check it out here.

Can you imagine living in a town called North Pole, apparently all of their street names are Christmassy and the the streetlamps are made to look like candy canes…. I want to live there!