Santa Bruce

The times we live in are once again forcing parents to examine if and how we do things that in the past seemed so innocent.  Since 1954 children have been addressing letters to Santa at the North Pole.  Those letters were forwarded to North Pole, Alaska where a group of volunteers answered each letter.  Far across the country in Maryland, a postal worker recognized a registered sex offender working as a volunteer in Operation Santa.  Due to rule changes, it is now up to the individual post offices to decide if they want to go through the time consuming effort to shield child information.

The good news is that there are alternatives for children to get a letter from Santa, but it will require a little more effort from the parents.

• Do without a response letter

Many organizations will allow children to deposit their letters with them, if you visit a Santa or have one in your home you can always have the child hand him their letter.    There is no need for a last name or an address, after all, Santa knows who they are.   Macy's in their "believe" campaign is donating a $1 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation for each letter deposited in Macy's Santa Mail.

• Third party Letter's from Santa

There are many companies that will create and mail a letter with a holiday postmark to your child.  These companies take the data, create a letter, and send a batch of letters to one of the Post Offices that have a holiday postmark.  It is always a good idea to look at the "About" or "Contact" information to understand who you are dealing with and where they are located.   Check for a privacy statement that indicates they will attempt to protect your information.

• Create your own letter from Santa

The office supply stores stock Christmas stationary so why not create your own letter.  Craft stores that carry rubber stamps often have one that is an old time stamp and postmark that you can use on the envelope.   If you do not feel creative, there are web sites (some free) that allow you to generate and print your letter from Santa.  They usually guide you through with several templates to choose from.  If you still want a true holiday postmark like the North Pole there are guidelines from the Post Office.  Basically you put the letter and envelope (addressed to the child) inside an envelope that is mail to the Post Office who has the Post Mark you want.  The Post Office opens their letter and re-mails the child's letter with the desired postmark.