For kids around the world, sending a letter to Santa is part of Christmas joy. But send that letter how? Millions of letters to Santa go off route. This Christmas, Finland’s postal service is fixing the world’s biggest address mix-up, launching a campaign with creative agency, Sek.

Every year, millions of letters are sent to Santa at the North Pole. But his official hometown is in the Arctic Circle in Finland in a city called Rovaniemi. This Christmas, Finland’s postal service is calling on the world to get his address right. Earlier this year, the European Union’s Intellectual Property Office upheld the city’s registered trademark, “The Official Hometown of Santa Claus”. 

Special Santa mailboxes will appear in selected locations, giving people the chance to get their letters directly to the Arctic Circle. The North Pole Redirect makes sure every letter is heard. Posti is particularly targeting countries where the North Pole is deeply established as Santa’s address, including the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. Throughout the holiday season, special Santa mailboxes will be introduced in London, New York and Toronto, and every letter collected from them will be delivered to Santa Claus’ Main Post Office before Christmas.

Posti is also inviting other postal services around the world to forward letters addressed to Santa at the North Pole to the Arctic Circle in Finland. In some countries, postal operators already go the extra mile. MaltaPost, for example, provides a special mailbox each Christmas and forwards thousands of letters to Finland every year.

“People write to Santa to be heard. Their hopes and wishes matter to us. By our estimate, millions of letters to Santa are misdirected every year, and we don’t want a single wish lost along the way. That’s why this Christmas we’re making it easier for more letters to reach Santa,” stated Jenni Ihatsu, vice president, brand and marketing at Posti.

Santa Claus’ Main Post Office is not simply a Christmas attraction. It is an official branch of Finland’s postal service, operated by Posti throughout the year. Six postal elves work there year-round, with the team growing to around 20 during the peak Christmas period. The post office receives approximately 500,000 letters every year. In the busiest weeks of the holiday season, as many as 30,000 letters arrive in a single day.  Letters to Santa are sent from nearly every corner of the globe, from Europe and Asia to North America and beyond. Over the years, Santa Claus’ Main Post Office has received more than 25 million letters from 200-plus countries. 

“On any given day, we might be reading letters from Poland, Taiwan, Italy, Japan or Finland. Each one of them brings a small piece of the world to our door, in different languages, drawings and stories. My elf team and I never stop marvelling at them, and we’re ready for more,” stated Katja Tervonen, chief elf at Santa Claus’ Main Post Office.

How to participate.

In participating countries, find a special mailbox: Official Santa mailboxes will be available at selected locations: 

•    Leicester Square, London, United Kingdom (4–8 November)
•    Domino Park, New York, United States (18–22 November)
•    Sankofa Square, Toronto, Canada (2–6 December)

Write to a country-specific campaign address: 

In the UK:
North Pole Redirect
P.O. Box 2662
275 New North Road
London, N1 7AA

In the US:
North Pole Redirect
P.O. Box 5044
697 Grand St
Brooklyn, NY 11211

In Canada: 
North Pole Redirect
P.O. Box 427B
2967 Dundas St. W.
Toronto, ON M6P 1Z2

Letters arriving by December 15 will be gathered and transported to Lapland, where they will be hand-delivered to Santa at Santa Claus’ Main Post Office.

As an added incentive, participants can also enter a social media challenge, with a winner receiving a trip to Rovaniemi and Santa Claus’ Main Post Office. 

In other countries use, Santa Claus’ Official Address:  

Santa Claus’ Main Post Office  
Arctic Circle  
FINLAND