How to write a letter from Santa your child will believe

A child can tell when a letter is really about them. They cannot say how. They just know. This guide is about the difference, and how to get the letter on the right side of it. It works whether you write the letter yourself at the kitchen table or let the Bureau do the drafting.

Start with one true thing

The best letters open with something only Santa could have noticed. Not "you have been very good this year". Something small and specific. The first time on a bike without training wheels. The tooth that finally came out. The night they shared the last cookie without being asked.

Pick one. Write it plainly. Santa does not need to gush. He needs to have been paying attention.

Use the right names

First names only, and the ones the child actually uses. If the dog is called Biscuit, Santa calls him Biscuit. A brother named June, a best friend named Theo. Two or three names is plenty. A letter that name-checks the whole family reads like a form.

Say one thing about their year

Something they worked at. Something they are proud of. A kind thing they did. These are the lines a child reads twice, because they prove Santa knows the hard parts, not just the wish list.

Keep it to one or two. The letter is one page. A child will read a short letter four times and a long letter once.

Be careful with the gift

If they are hoping for a sled, Santa can say he heard about the sled. He should not promise the sled. A promise on Bureau letterhead is a promise you have to keep on Christmas morning. "I heard a sled has found its way into your thoughts" keeps the magic and keeps your options.

Leave these out

• Anything you did not tell Santa. A letter that invents a pet or a school play breaks the spell at once.
• Threats. "Santa is watching" is for parents in November, not for a letter a child keeps.
• Grown-up jokes. The child is the reader.
• More than one page. Really.

End warm, sign clean

A closing line, then the signature. "With warmth from the workshop" does more than a paragraph of good wishes. The signature matters more than you would think. A child will compare it to last year’s.

Then read it as your child

Before it goes near a printer, read it out loud in the voice of a seven-year-old. Every line that makes you wince, cut. Every line that makes you smile, keep. That is the whole editing method, and it is the one the Bureau uses too: nothing prints until a parent has read every word.

If you would rather not write it yourself

That is what the Bureau is for. You give the details, Santa drafts the letter in his own voice, and a check throws away any draft that invents something you did not say. You read it, change it if you like, and approve it. Then it is printed on cream stationery, signed and sealed, or sent to you as a PDF to print at home. The questions parents ask page covers the rest.