Santa Claus loves to get mail, and every year he gets letters from children all around the globe. If you’d like to encourage your kids to write to old St. Nick, here’s a free printable Dear Santa letter template you can print out. This Santa letter template is a .jpg image that measures 8 x 10.5 inches so it can be printed out on standard letter-size paper with a margin. Simply click on the image, which will open in a new page, and print it or save it.

For tips on helping your kids write a letter to Santa, try How to Write a Letter to Santa at HowToDoThings.com.

More Letter to Santa Templates:
Christmas Letter Tips.com offers a free lined Dear Santa Letter template that includes an image of Santa and a North Pole sign.

Disney’s FamilyFun offers a letter to Santa postcard with a cute red design with Santa Claus and some toys.

One of the busiest U.S. post offices during the holidays is the one in Santa Claus, Indiana. The only post office in the world named after Santa Claus post helps keep ol’ Kris Kringle’s magic alive by offering special “picture postmarks” during December.

The city has been offering a picture postmark every year since 1983. Each year’s unique postmark is designed by a local high school art student as part of an annual contest.

“The holiday postmark has become one of the most popular in the nation over the past two decades,” said Santa Claus Postmaster Marian Balbach in a 2008 USPS press release. “Postal patrons world-wide request the picture postmark. Also, many customers traditionally drive hundreds of miles to personally obtain the cancellation on their holiday mail.”

In 2008, the Santa Claus post office expected half a million pieces of mail to come through the office between November 15 and December 20. During the rest of the year, the post office processes only about 13,000 pieces of mail per month.

The postmaster offers these guidelines for individuals interested in getting a Santa postmark:

- Allow at least a two-inch by four-inch space in the stamp area for the picture postmark;
- Have postage applied to cards or letters before bringing or mailing them to the post office;
- The picture postmark is only available during the month of December;
- In order to ensure a good postmark imprint please do not enclose large or bulky items in your holiday mail (i.e.; reindeer food, snow flakes, glitter, stickers, etc.);
- There is no charge for postmarking—however there is a limit of 50 picture postmarks (hand cancellations) per person per day.

Customers who wish to have the Santa Claus Post Office mail Christmas cards should package them—with postage stamps affixed—in a sturdy envelope or box, and mail to:

Santa Claus Postmark
Postmaster
Santa Claus Station
Santa Claus, IN 47579-9998

Make sure you send your envelopes early. The post office should receive them no later than December 15 to ensure delivery to your recipients by Christmas.

Instaletter is a new service that lets you create printable Christmas letters from Santa (as well as the Easter Bunny, Cupid and soon the Tooth Fairy) and customize both the text and art with simple drag-and-drop simplicity. It’s easy enough for anyone to use.

The best part about the service is that you can create as many letters as you like with your annual membership, which is just $14.99 for a whole year. So if you’ve got two or more kids, nieces, nephews, or grandkids, you can create Christmas letters from Santa Claus for all of them for one low price.

Instaletter makes it easy to customize both the text and the artwork. First they give you several types of letters from which to choose, such as letters for kids who made Santa’s good list or just visited Santa. Then you can select up to three types of text customization to add to the letter (friends’ names, accomplishments, hometown, etc), and see a preview of how it will look in the final letter.

Once you’re happy with the text, you can choose from a variety of Christmas backgrounds for your letter. You can even add to the background artwork by dragging and dropping images of Santa, elves, reindeer, Christmas trees and more. It’s easy to create just the look you want. The quality of the artwork is great, and you can also create an envelope to go along with the letter.

If you’re looking for a truly customized Christmas letter from Santa, try Instaletter.