Apollo's Templates
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Straight from the North Pole

Santa Letter Templates

Eight illustrated letters from Santa, free for Microsoft Word and Google Docs. Fill in the child's name and a couple of things they actually did this year, print it at home, and leave it under the tree.

Pick a design

8 designs · two formats each.

Every template ships in both Microsoft Word (.dotx) and Google Docs. The .dotx download opens in Word as a fresh document; the Google Docs link opens a copy directly in your browser.

Christmas Eve Flight
The showpiece. A night sky across the top with the full reindeer team pulling the sleigh over snow-capped rooftops, a moon behind them, and snow drifting down onto the letter.
From the Desk of Santa Claus
Santa's portrait — spectacles, floppy cap and all — set inside a holly wreath with a red bow. The classic “from the desk of” letterhead, and the warmest of the eight.
Official North Pole Seal
A government-of-Christmas conceit: a scalloped red seal reading OFFICE OF SANTA CLAUS around the rim, candy-cane rails down both margins, and an elf inspection number in the footer.
The Elves' Workshop
A workbench scene under a string of coloured bulbs — a gingerbread man, wrapped gifts, a brass bell and a toy train mid-assembly, with snow falling past the window.
Cookies & the Gingerbread Village
A thank-you note for the cookies. Plate and milk glass at the top, and a whole iced gingerbread village with candy canes running along the foot of the page.
Down the Chimney
A brick hearth with a fire going, four stockings hung along the mantel, and Santa's boots just landing in the firebox. Written as a note left behind on the mantelpiece.
Airmail Reply from the Mailroom
Framed as a reply to a letter the child sent. Red-and-blue airmail border, a North Pole postmark cancellation, a mail sack spilling envelopes, and a running count of letters read.
The Snow Globe
A drawn snow globe on a wooden base with an engraved plaque — a little house, two firs and falling snow under the glass. The quietest design of the eight.
Choosing one

Which of these should you use?

A letter from Santa works on exactly one thing: detail. A child who reads “you have been very good this year” knows they are reading a form letter. A child who reads that Santa heard about the sled they shared in February, by name, does not. Every one of these ships with the specimen text written around blanks — [Child’s Name], [something kind they did] — because those two or three specifics are the whole trick.

The artwork is drawn rather than photographic, so it prints cleanly on a home printer and holds up at full page size. The letter itself is real editable text in both formats; only the illustrations and Santa’s signature are fixed, so you can rewrite every word without anything sliding out of place.

Which one should you print?

  • First letter, younger child — Christmas Eve Flight or From the Desk of Santa Claus. Both put Santa or the sleigh right at the top where a four-year-old looks first.
  • The child wrote first — Airmail Reply. It is built as an answer, postmark and all, which makes the exchange feel real.
  • An older child starting to wonder — Official North Pole Seal. The bureaucratic detail, right down to the elf inspection number, buys a lot of credibility.
  • Left with the cookies— Cookies & the Gingerbread Village, or Down the Chimney as a note on the mantel next morning.

Printing it so it feels real

Use 28 lb paper rather than standard 20 lb copy paper — it is the single change that makes the biggest difference, and a ream costs very little. Nothing here bleeds to the paper edge, so you do not need borderless printing. If you want to go further, a cold cup of tea dabbed at the corners and ten minutes to dry ages it convincingly, and a red wax seal on the envelope finishes the job.

Free to download, print and edit for your own family. Please don’t redistribute the template files themselves elsewhere on the web.

More for the season: Christmas letterhead → · all holiday templates →

Updated through July 2026.

How to use them

Customize in two minutes.

  1. Pick a design and choose your editor — Microsoft Word downloads the template (a .dotx file; opening it creates a fresh document and leaves the original intact for next time), or Google Docs prompts you to make a copy in Drive.
  2. Replace the placeholder tokens — [Your Name], [Family Name], [Street Address], [Recipient], etc. Embedded graphics (monograms, crests, ornaments) can be replaced with your own — right-click → Change Picture (Word), or click → Replace image (Google Docs).
  3. Type your letter where the sample paragraph is. Save and print on standard 8.5 × 11 paper, or send as a PDF.
You’re free to customize these templates and use them without restriction — please don’t redistribute the files elsewhere on the web.
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