To get a text message from Santa, make one here: add a first name, pick two to four of his messages and save the picture. It looks like a phone screen with a thread from Santa Claus. It's a picture for a grown-up to show or send, not a real text, so no phone number is needed.
Updated by the Frugal Santa elves
Add a name, pick Santa's messages, and the phone fills in as you go. When it looks right, save the picture.
This makes a picture of a text. It doesn't send a text message, and no phone number is needed. Nothing you type leaves this device.
There are four ways, from free to fancy. The quickest is a picture: use the maker above to draw a text thread from Santa Claus, with a North Pole contact picture, then show it on a grown-up's phone or send it to family. Nothing is texted, and no phone number is needed.
The second is a family trick. Save a grown-up's second phone, or the other parent's number, as "Santa Claus" in the contacts on your child's tablet, add the contact picture from this page, and send a few short messages. The third is a Santa text service that sends real texts to a number you give it; read the safety checks below before you sign up. The fourth skips typing: a live video call where Santa answers out loud. Keep any Santa text short. One plain text message holds up to 160 characters, so the maker stops each bubble there.
| Way to get a Santa text | Cost | Phone number needed? | Sends a real text? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A picture from this page | Free | No | No, it's a picture of a text | Showing at breakfast, sending to grandparents |
| Texts from a grown-up's phone | Your usual texting plan | Only your own family's numbers | Yes, from you, saved as Santa Claus | Kids with their own tablet or watch |
| A Santa text service | Read the terms first | Yes, given to the service | Yes, from the service | Families who want texts on a schedule |
| A live video call with Santa | $1 a minute | No | No, Santa talks out loud | Asking questions and hearing the answers |
Short, warm and specific works best. A good Santa text sounds like a busy man with a spare minute at the workshop: one piece of news, one kind word, then back to work. Mix up the moments. Early in December, Santa can say the elves have your child's report, or mention one real thing your child did, like learning to tie their shoes. Mid-month, try reindeer gossip: practice laps, Blitzen eating mittens, Comet asking for carrots. At bedtime, a gentle nudge to brush teeth works better than a warning. On Christmas Eve, a takeoff update builds the excitement.
Two things to skip: promises about a particular gift, and threats about a naughty list. Our Nice List checker never puts anyone on a naughty list, and Santa's texts shouldn't either. For true reindeer lore, see Santa's reindeer.
A Santa text service asks for a phone number, so check a few things before you hand one over. Use a grown-up's number, not your child's. Under the federal COPPA rule, a phone number counts as personal information and anyone under 13 is a child, so a service aimed at kids needs a parent's verifiable consent before it collects one from a child. Find out who runs the service and read its privacy policy: does it share or sell numbers?
The wireless industry's messaging guidelines say the sign-up page should link to a privacy policy, and the first text should name the program, say how often it texts, list any fees and explain how to get help and how to stop. Replying STOP should end the texts. If a "Santa" text asks for a card number or sends a link you didn't expect, don't tap it. The FTC says to forward spam texts to 7726 and report scams at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
What a proper first text looks like
North Pole Notes: You're signed up for Santa messages, about 3 a week until Dec 25. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel.
Timing does most of the work. Save the picture, then hand over the phone at a moment that fits the message: a reindeer update at breakfast, a bedtime nudge just before lights out, a takeoff message on Christmas Eve. A child who reads can scroll it alone. For a little one, read it aloud in your best Santa voice and let them point at the North Pole picture. To keep a thread going, save Santa's contact picture from the maker, make a contact called Santa Claus on a family tablet, and copy the words into real messages from a grown-up's phone.
Grandparents far away can get the picture too: tap Share, or attach the PNG to an email. If your child wants to write back, a letter to Santa gives them a place to say it, and a letter from Santa makes a paper reply. Counting down? The Christmas countdown shows the sleeps left, and the North Pole page has more to make and play.
A picture of a text can't answer a single question. If your child wants to ask how the reindeer fly, or tell Santa about their year, a call does what a text can't. You can talk to Santa on a live video call right in your browser. Santa here is an AI video character: he listens and answers out loud, live, on a phone, tablet or computer, with no app. You need a microphone, not a camera. Kids call with a grown-up, and grown-ups can call for themselves. After the call, every wish comes back as a wish list with real store prices and links, lowest first. It's $1 a minute, for as many minutes as you like. A video of the call is saved only if the grown-up asks. Here's how calling Santa works, from setup to the list.
No. It draws a picture of a text thread from Santa Claus that you can download or share. Nothing is sent to any phone, and the page never asks for a phone number.
This page doesn't send texts. For real ones, tap "Copy the words," then send them from a grown-up's phone that is saved as Santa Claus in your child's contacts. Your usual texting plan applies.
It's a simple phone screen in light or dark, with no phone maker's logo or app name on it. Santa's contact picture is a candy-striped North Pole under the stars, not a face.
The PNG is 1080 by 2340 pixels, the shape of a modern phone screen, so it fills the screen when you open it on a phone.
Yes. Edit any bubble, or pick "My own words" in the menu. Each message stops at 160 characters, the length of one plain text message.
Only in this browser, so you can come back and finish. Nothing is sent to Frugal Santa or anyone else. Tap "Start over" to clear it.
Live videoA text can't answer back. On a live video call, Santa listens and answers right away, and every wish comes back as a list with real store prices, lowest first. $1 a minute, no app.
Call Santa
Letter from SantaPrint a reply from Santa on North Pole letterhead.
Naughty or nice listType a name, watch the elves check twice, print the certificate.
Santa's reindeerAll nine names in order, what they mean, and which one you are.
Christmas countdownDays, weeks and sleeps until Christmas, live in your time zone.