Get a Santa Letter From the North Pole to the Hudson Valley
You still have time to take advantage of one of the Post Office's coolest holiday services.
If your child has written a letter to Santa you can plan ahead right now to make sure they get a personalized response from the North Pole. Imagine their surprise when the letter they sent is returned with a message from Santa, himself. Well, the Post Office is once again letting parents prove to their kids that Kris Kringle really does exist by helping them send a response to their child's Christmas list.
Here's how it works:
After your child writes their letter to Santa, take it from them and say you will put it in an envelope to mail. In secret, turn the letter over and write your response from Santa on the back. Be sure to include lots of personalized information, telling them what they did well this year and how proud Santa is of them.
Place the letter with Santa's response into a first-class stamped envelope and address it back to your child with a return address of "Santa, North Pole."
After you've sealed up the envelope, put it into a larger envelope with proper postage and address it to the Postmaster in Anchorage, Alaska:
NORTH POLE POSTMARK
POSTMASTER
4141 POSTMARK DR
ANCHORAGE AK 99530-9998
After receiving the envelope, the post office will open it up and mail back your child's original, enclosed letter from the "North Pole" with a special postmark to prove it.
A good tip for a skeptical child is to give them back a dummy letter in an envelope addressed simply to "Santa, North Pole" and have them drop it in the mail themselves. That letter will get routed to the dead letter office as the real letter makes it's way to Alaska and back. Just be sure there is no return address on the envelope or inside so you don't wind up getting both of them back.
Officials suggest sending out the letter no later than December 5 so it can get processed and sent back before Christmas. For more details you can check out official information on letters from Santa on the USPS website.