Letters to Santa continue to rise despite digital age

Letters and parcels to Santa sometimes contain sweets, but mainly pacifiers. Keystone / Vadim Ghirda

Children in Switzerland sent 30,175 letters to Santa Claus last Christmas, almost 15% more than the previous year, says Swiss Post. 

The number of children’s letters to Santa continues to rise each year, Swiss Post announced on Tuesday. While the reason is not clear, it says that perhaps in an increasingly digital age the physical aspect is appreciated more.  

As in previous years, about 60% of letters came from French-speaking western Switzerland, where letters to Santa have a long tradition. One in five come from German-speaking Switzerland and around 15% from the Italian speaking south. 

The number of schools and kindergartens participating in letters to Santa operations is also up, with 308 classes and kindergartens participating this year, up 21% on 2018. 

Letters and parcels to Santa sometimes contain sweets, but it is mainly pacifiers that pile up on Santa’s assistants’ desks with children promising they no longer need them. 

As in previous years, a small team of six Swiss Post staff helped Santa to answer all the children’s letters – with Santa Claus mentioned on the envelope – on time. The team prepared golden reply envelopes with a Christmas stamp and a Bern-Bethlehem postmark, as well as a small surprise gift. In 2019, this was a small colouring book and Christmas-themed stickers. 

Employees were able to trace 91% of the children who sent the letters and offer them a personal reply from Santa.