Children make their case to Santa

Kaleb Moodie claims he has helped his mum clean his bedroom several times this year, he has helped his dad push the family’s broken-down car into the garage, and he has been very polite to everyone.

"I didn’t swear this year - not even once," he said as he penned his first letter to Santa Claus.

And because he had been such a helpful citizen this year, he deserved to be on the good list, and he asked if Santa could bring him a toy aeroplane on Christmas Day.

The 6-year-old Carisbrook School pupil was one of about 20 children in his class who wrote letters to the Big Guy yesterday, and sent them off to the North Pole via New Zealand Post.

NZ Post consumer marketing and brand general manager Sarah Sandoval said this year would be the second year children have had the opportunity to receive replies from Santa, in two of New Zealand’s three official languages - te reo Maori and English.

"We absolutely love being able to offer Kiwi kids the magical experience of writing to Santa.

"We have developed a brand-new website where kids can send Santa an online letter, as well as having special access to Santa’s Ho Ho Homepage, where kids can read Santa’s emails, play games, listen to North Pole FM and browse Santa’s holiday snaps too."

Ms Sandoval said NZ Post responded to more than 70,000 children’s letters addressed to Santa Claus last year, and she believed there would be even more posted to Father Christmas this year.

Messages can be sent online using NZ Post’s website, or in the more traditional manner, by post.

She said all online messages received by Santa up until 5pm on December 23, would receive an email response from Santa, but the last day for posting handwritten letters was December 8.

The Freepost address is: Santa Claus, c/- Santa’s Workshop, North Pole 0001.

john.lewis@odt.co.nz