by Susie Turk

Created on: December 08, 2008   Last Updated: March 28, 2011

I began creating "Personalized Letter From Santa" as a tool to adjust the negative behaviors of the Foster children whom my husband and I had taken care of over the years. I'll tell you this; not only did they  love and appreciate their letters from Santa, but they also learned new behavioral management skills, too!

That said, the following is my own little recipe for creating wonderfully entertaining personalized letters from... ~ SANTA! ~

1) Around the end of November, assist your child/children in writing his or her own letter(s) to Santa Claus.

Be sure to have the child make references to MANY PERSONAL DETAILS. (Even Mommy's and Daddy's don't know everything)

2) Draw information out of the child by asking simple, yet direct, questions. Be sure to ask question that allow for Reflection, Self-Assessment, etc.

3) Once the child's letter to Santa is complete, have the child enclose the letter in an envelope, seal it, and address it simply to:

Santa Claus, North Pole (Be sure to inform the child a postage stamp really isn't necessary as Santa is Magic and EVERY LETTER reaches Santa...GUARANTEED!

4) Lastly, inform the child of your intention to personally hand-deliver, his, or her letter to the US Post Office ASAP!

Now, you have all of the information necessary to create your personalized letter from Santa Clause, but wait!

You'll need... Santa stationary and matching envelopes, too! Hurry! Run to Staples, or Wal-Mart, Office Depot, it's up to you. Or, if you're on a tight budget, simply put something adorably cute together on your own because I know just how creative you are!

Now,  begin creating the letter. I highly suggest writing a rough draft first, then editing, proofreading, and re-writing it into a (hopefully) flawless final draft.

How you choose to actually transfer text is once again up to you. Personally, I prefer to use my PC and Printer. I just type my text into Microsoft Word, then, format as desired, being sure to choose the most entertaining as well as age-appropriate font, color, and size, etc. Upon completing the text transfer, I print out my first printed draft letter on plain paper, then place it atop a piece of stationary, seeing if the text correctly aligns to the size and style of the stationary, and if all is good, I print a final letter on a crisp, clean piece of Christmas Stationary.

Be sure to review your work for errors, flaws, omissions, etc, and, if all is A-OK, then sign the letter with your best Santa's Signature (either in Cursive by hand using a Medium "RED" colored Sharpie, or by printing Santa's Signature using your printer) and VILOA, your letter is complete.

Finally, place the letter into its' matching envelope (if you have one), then address it either by hand, or feel free to print the address out using your computer's printer.

For your learning pleasure, or for those of you whom are feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of this HOOPLA, see the source cited below providing a link for your use (as a tutorial of course) to Personalized Letters from Santa. Here's where you'll find both a sample childs letter "TO" Santa, and a sample letter "FROM" Santa to the child.

It's as simple as that.

So, good luck, and Happy Writing to each of you wonderful, loving, Santa Clauses! Ho, HO, HO!

Sources

http://www.susieturk.com/personalisedlettersfromsant a

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