Personalised Letters from Santa: Six Ways to Post Christmas Magic

Nobody wants to think about Christmas while the garden furniture is still out. The awkward part is that the Santa letters are the most involved things we make. Each one is written around a particular child, foiled, sealed with wax by hand and checked over before it goes anywhere near a postbox. Thinking about them early is most of the trick.

Everything below is made to order in our studio in Hessle, and you see a proof before anything is printed or foiled. That matters more here than almost anywhere else in the shop, because a letter from Santa lives or dies on small details. A misspelled name. The wrong street. The sibling who got left out. You approve all of it first, which is the point.

Here are six ways to put a bit of Christmas in an envelope.

1. The vintage letter from Santa, £12.50

This is the one most people picture. It is printed on vintage style, coffee stained paper with gold foil detailing, sealed with a wax seal we pour by hand, and it comes with a scratch to reveal certificate.

The questions we ask are the interesting bit. Does your family say Santa Claus or Father Christmas? Where will he be visiting? What is your child's name, written exactly as you want it to appear? And then three special things about your child. That last box is where the letter stops being a template and starts being about a real person, so it is worth a minute of proper thought. There is a spare box for any extra touches. We also ask what the scratch certificate should reveal, Nice or Naughty, and that decision stays firmly with you.

2. The luxury letter, with a wishing coin, £19.00

Same idea, different finish. This version is printed on premium white card with gold foiling rather than the aged paper look, and it adds Santa's wishing coin, a golden coin to hold tight and make a wish on before the certificate gets scratched. The personalisation questions are the same as the vintage letter. Younger children tend to go for the coin. Older ones, the ones starting to ask questions, are usually more convinced by coffee stains and wax.

3. An invite to Lapland, £12.50

The Lapland invite is the same vintage build as the Santa letter, with foiled lettering, a scratch to reveal Naughty or Nice certificate and a wax seal made here rather than bought in. It asks for less: your child's name, a date for the visit if you have one, and anything else you would like added.

It is the obvious choice if there is a real trip booked, and a much better way to break the news than an email confirmation on a phone. It works just as well for a day at a local grotto.

4. The gold foiled train invitation, £11

Our Magical Polar Express Invitation Letter is printed on premium cardstock with the same coffee stained vintage finish, and your child's name is foiled in gold on the front. You give us the name, a date for the invite, and anything you would like us to include.

It is the cheapest of the letters at £10, and it is the most flexible. It works for an actual Christmas train ride, a Santa special at a heritage railway, or a night in with the film and hot chocolate. The invitation is what makes the evening feel planned rather than improvised.

5. Santa labels with a QR tracker, from £2.50

These are the small, cheap detail that does a surprising amount of work. Each label carries your child's name and address, with a QR code that links to a Santa tracker. Stick them on the parcels under the tree and the whole thing has a plausible origin story.

Ten labels are £2.50 and fifty are £7.00, with postage included. All we need is the child's name and address.

6. Scratch reveal tickets for the big present, from £10

If the gift is a trip, an experience or something that will not sit under a tree, a foiled ticket gives you something to actually hand over. There are four festive versions: the Christmas Scratch Reveal Ticket, the Christmas Reveal Ticket Bow with a foil bow across it, the Lapland Foiled Ticket with a scratch off date, and the Polar Express Foiled Gift Ticket, which takes passenger names, a departure date and time, and a station.

They all start at £10 on plain white card, or £11 if you want one of the 32 foil shades, which run from gold and silver metallics through to rose gold holographic and rainbow glitter. The ticket versions come in white, black or navy card, and the scratch panel is silver or gold. One honest warning that we put on the product pages too: dark foils on black card do not stand out well, so pair them carefully.

How these are made, and what to know before you order

We are Lee and Sam, a husband and wife studio in Hessle, HU13. Nothing is held in stock. Every letter, invite and ticket is set up for the child it is going to, and you see a proof before we print, foil or seal anything.

• Read the proof slowly. Names, street names and dates are the things people skim and then regret.

• Because every item is made for one child, personalised orders cannot be returned if you simply change your mind. That is why the proof stage exists.

• These are made one at a time, and the proof goes back and forth. The earlier in the season you order, the more room there is for that conversation.

Where to start

If you only order one thing, make it the letter. The whole Christmas collection sits together on our Christmas page, the reveal tickets live in Foiled Tickets, and if you want the card to match the letter there is a whole range of personalised Christmas cards as well.

If it is the foiling that appeals rather than the Santa side of it, we have written about how our foiled keepsakes are actually made and about foiled concert and theatre ticket keepsakes, which use the same card, foil and scratch panel as the Christmas ones.

And if ordering Santa letters this early feels slightly ridiculous, you are in exactly the right place. The calmest Decembers belong to the people who sorted the letters while it was still warm.