The Finnish city of Rovaniemi has been officially recognized as Santa Claus's "Official Hometown," and that's where children should send him their Christmas letters.

Every year, millions of letters are sent to Santa Claus at the North Pole, although his official residence is located within the Arctic Circle. Rovaniemi is officially recognized by the European Union Intellectual Property Office, which ratified Rovaniemi's trademark as Santa Claus's Official Hometown.

To this end, Posti, the Finnish postal service, which manages Santa Claus's Main Post Office, will install special Santa Claus mailboxes in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. All letters collected from these mailboxes will be delivered to Santa Claus's Main Post Office before Christmas.

Posti also invites other postal services around the world to forward letters addressed to Santa Claus at the North Pole to the Arctic Circle in Finland.

 

 

Santa Claus's Central Post Office is not just a Christmas attraction. It is an official branch of the Finnish postal service, operated by Posti year-round. Six postal elves work there year-round, and the team increases to about 20 during the peak Christmas season.

The postal service receives approximately 500,000 letters a year. During the busiest weeks of the Christmas season, up to 30,000 letters can arrive in a single day.

Letters to Santa Claus arrive from virtually every corner of the globe, from Europe and Asia to North America and beyond. Over the years, Santa Claus's Central Post Office has received more than 25 million letters from over 200 countries.

“Any day now we might receive letters from Poland, Taiwan, Italy, Japan, or Finland. Each one brings a little piece of the world to our doorstep, in different languages, with drawings and stories. My team of elves and I are constantly amazed by them, and we're ready to receive more,” says Katja Tervonen, head elf at Santa's Central Post Office.

 

 

 

How to Participate

Official Santa mailboxes will be available at selected locations:

• Leicester Square, London, UK (November 4-8)
• Domino Park, New York, USA (November 18-22)
• Sankofa Square, Toronto, Canada (December 2-6)

 

Write to the campaign address for your country:

• In the UK:

North Pole Redirection

PO Box 2662

275 New North Road

London, N1 7AA

• In the USA:

North Pole Redirection

PO Box 5044

697 Grand St

Brooklyn, NY 11211

• In Canada:

North Pole Redirection

PO Box 427B

2967 West Dundas Street

Toronto, ON M6P 1Z2

 

Letters arriving before December 15 will be collected and transported to Lapland, where they will be personally delivered to Santa Claus at Santa's Main Post Office.

Santa's Official Address:

Santa's Main Post Office

Arctic Circle

FINLAND