How to Make Money Writing Letters from Santa

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By LilBlackDress
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Make Money Writing Letters from Santa

Christmas is a season to celebrate. It is even more joyous when you can bring delight to a child by a writing a personalized letter from Santa AND put a few dollars in your pocket to help pay for holiday expenses. Here are step by step directions to make money writing letters from Santa.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Computer printer
Knowledge of word processing and mail merge
Holiday Stationary
Paypal Account for online sales
Optional: stickers & small coloring books

Step 1

Purchase holiday computer stationary and envelopes from paperdirect.com, imageshoponline.com, geographics.com, christianbook.com, Office Depot or Staples. Think about having a selection of at least 2 or 3 styles.
Step 2

Purchase mini-coloring books and/or colorful holiday stickers to include with the letters for a special treat. Check out resources for excellent buys on lil' treats to enclose in the envelope. Remember to stick to flat treats like stickers that will not increase the cost of postage.
Step 3

Write a general letter from Santa. Begin by sharing a little about what Santa has been up to on the North Pole. Then add elements that can be personalized by merging in details about the child. This should include the child's name and states. You may also want to include names of siblings, pet's name, favorite activities, Chrismas wishes, favorite color etc. Write the letter in such a way to include some of these details. For example
Dear Sally,
Santa is busy in the North Pole but looking forward to stopping by your house in Maine to visit. I am sure your brother Tom and sister Mary will be happy to see me also.
I understand you have been very good this year and .......etc.

When you take orders for the letters, ask for the answers to the personalized questions and fill them in on the templates as you make each letter.
Step 4

Price your letters accoring to costs. You will need to factor in price of stationary, printing costs, stickers, paypal fees and postage. Letters from Santa usually start around $7.00. If you add extra treats, you can increase your pricing.
Step 5

Advertise your Letters from Santa on the web. You can start a special "Letters from Santa" website at freewebs.com at no charge or use a Blog site like Blogger. Draw in traffic by placing allowable links at parenting sites and forums. Use craigslist.org also. Use Paypal to accept payments.
Step 6

Advertise your Letters from Santa in your community. Daycare centers, YMCA, schools, church etc. Make a stack of flyers and ask local businesses to give them out. Consider giving $1 back for each order. (Code the flyers so you know where the order came from). Craft fairs are another great sources for business. You can make the letters on the spot with a printer and computer.
Step 7

Using the information from your order forms, run off the letters merging the personalized information. Handsign each letter Santa Claus and put it in the matching holiday envelope.
Step 8

Put a holiday stamp on each envelope. You can save time waiting in line by ordering stamps online from USPS. It runs $1.00 to have unlimited stamps delivered to your door.
Step 9

Put all of your stamped letters from Santa in a padded envelope with the proper postage on the envelope and send to:
North Pole
Christmas Cancellation
Postmaster 5400 Mail Trail
Fairbanks, AK 99709-9999
Make sure these arrive at the Post Office by December 15th to ensure Christmas Delivery. They will Post Mark the letters from Santa at no charge and send them out.
Step 10

Keep track of your customer base and work to build your business by creating a quality product and providing timely delivery. You can build repeat business year after year. Byron Reese (see resources) built his Letters from Santa into a 1 million dollar a year business!
Step 11

See resources for a Santa Letters Start Up Kit with letter templates etc. Remember you are delighting a child so put the joy of the holidays into your letters and send them with love!