Home
News
Family News
Millions of letters to Santa are being sent to the wrong address! Here's how to make sure yours reaches him this Christmas

Millions of letters to Santa are being sent to the wrong address! Here's how to make sure yours reaches him this Christmas

Millions of children write to Santa at the North Pole, but his official home is in Finland. Here's how to get your Christmas wish list to him.

Serafina Kenny

Published: November 4, 2026 at 11:46 AM

Save

Every Christmas, millions of children around the world sit down to write their letters to Santa, sharing their Christmas wish lists, hopes and festive wishes. But there's one small detail many families might be getting wrong: his address.

While most of us have grown up believing Santa lives at the North Pole, his official hometown is actually Rovaniemi, in Finnish Lapland, right on the Arctic Circle.

And this year, Finland's postal service is on a mission to make sure no Christmas wishes get lost in the post, launching a special campaign to help letters addressed to the North Pole find their way to Santa's real home.

So, where does Santa Claus really live?

Although the North Pole is perhaps the most familiar address associated with Father Christmas, the Finnish city of Rovaniemi officially holds the title of 'The Official Hometown of Santa Claus'.

The city's status was recently upheld by the European Union's Intellectual Property Office, confirming its registered trademark.

Santa's Main Post Office is also based in Rovaniemi, within the Arctic Circle, and is run by Finland's postal service, Posti.

It's a rather busy place, too. The post office receives around 500,000 letters every year, with as many as 30,000 arriving in a single day during the busiest weeks of the Christmas season.

Since 1985, Santa's postal elves have received more than 25 million letters from over 200 countries.

POSTI_JPP_outdoor_51

Why are millions of letters to Santa going to the wrong address?

To tackle what it calls 'the world's biggest address mix-up', Posti is launching its North Pole Redirect campaign, encouraging families to send their Christmas letters to Santa's official home in Finland.

The initiative is particularly targeting countries where the North Pole is commonly used as Santa's address, including the UK, US and Canada.

Special Santa mailboxes are being introduced in London, New York and Toronto, with all letters collected delivered to Santa Claus' Main Post Office in time for Christmas.

Jenni Ihatsu, Vice President of Brand and Marketing at Posti, explains that the campaign is about making sure children's wishes are heard, wherever they live.

By our estimate, millions of letters to Santa are misdirected every year, and we don't want a single wish lost along the way.

Jenni Ihatsu, Vice President of Brand and Marketing at Posti

"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," she says.

How can UK families send a letter to Santa this Christmas?

UK families can get involved by visiting a special Santa mailbox in London or sending their letters directly to the campaign's dedicated postal address.

The London mailbox will be located at Leicester Square from Wednesday 4 November until Sunday 8 November 2026.

If you can't make it into the capital, there's also the option of posting your child's letter to the campaign's UK address: P.O. Box 2662, 275 New North Road, London, N1 7AA.

Letters must arrive by 15 December to be collected and transported to Lapland, where they will be hand-delivered to Santa at his Main Post Office.

There's even an extra festive incentive. Families taking part can enter a social media challenge, with one lucky winner receiving a trip to Rovaniemi to visit Santa's Main Post Office.

What is Santa's correct postal address?

If you're planning to send a letter to Father Christmas this year, here's the address to put on the envelope: Santa Claus’ Main Post Office, Arctic Circle, FINLAND.

And don't worry if your little one has already written 'North Pole' on their envelope. Posti says postal services around the world already help redirect letters with incomplete or incorrect addresses to Lapland.

In fact, around 200,000 letters reach Lapland each year with missing or incomplete addresses. Even letters simply addressed 'To Santa' can find their way to his Finnish home.

Are adults writing letters to Santa, too?

The Christmas tradition is clearly not just for little ones. According to figures shared by Posti, around 25% of all letters received at Santa's Main Post Office are written by grown-ups.

The oldest person known to have written to Santa was a 93-year-old from France, proving that you're never too old to make a Christmas wish.

And while toys and gadgets might feature heavily on children's wish lists, not every letter is about presents. Around 75% of letters ask for intangible things, such as peace and love in the world.

Katja Tervonen, Chief Elf at Santa Claus' Main Post Office, says the team is continually amazed by the letters they receive from around the globe, with different languages, drawings and personal stories arriving every day.

"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," she says.

So, whether your little one is asking for a particular toy, sending a drawing or simply wishing for a little Christmas magic, it's worth remembering that Santa's official home is in Finnish Lapland.

And if you're writing to him this year, you now know exactly where to send that all-important letter.

Authors

Serafina Kenny journalist headshot

Serafina KennyDigital Journalist

Serafina Kenny is a Digital Journalist at MadeForMums. She writes news and features and has expertise in health, nutrition, relationships, and history. She has previously written for Business Insider, Women's Health, Stylist, Men's Health US, The i Paper, Dazed, and more. You can contact her with tips and story ideas (or compliments!) at serafina.kenny@immediate.co.uk.