Some traditions are very individual and unique to a person or family. Others are much more widely recognised and enjoyed.

For children, one of the highlights is often writing a letter to Santa Claus, sharing with him key milestones from the year, thoughts on the future and – of course – a few requests for what presents they’d like to receive at Christmas.

Receiving a letter back from Father Christmas himself takes the magic to a whole other level.

If you’re struggling with how best to go about the reply, we’ve just the thing for you.

We’ve put together a template letter from Santa that you are welcome to download & print yourself. It just requires you to add your child’s name, though you can of course add on any extra embellishments if you so wish.

We thought long and hard about whether or not to introduce the Elf on the Shelf tradition in our house.

We are still working with Wyatt on developing boundaries and teaching him that actions have a real impact. Therefore, the last thing we want to be doing is introducing naughty elves that carry out pranks, make a mess or create waste, because:
1) They aren’t the traits that we want to be introduced in our home.
And
2) We struggle to see how they embody the true meaning and spirit of Christmas.

But Wyatt is now at an age where he has conversations with his classmates and they all have a certain level of awareness & understanding. So, we also did not want him to feel as though he was missing out on something if his friends all of a sudden started talking about magical elves that Father Christmas has sent.

Our solution is a compromise. We will be introducing an elf, but will be doing so with our own Hollingworth twist. Ours will be the “Help Elf”.

Our Help Elf will arrive December 1st, armed with activities set to help us get into the festive spirit and encourage kindness and Christmas cheer in the run up the the big day.

We have even made our lives easier by creating a set of printable activity cards to keep us on track, which you can also use.

This does not mean to say it will be all work and no play! On the occasion(s) where the Help Elf has to return the North Pole (to update Father Christmas on how Christmas cheer is being spread or simply to just pick-up more secret supplies) we do have a Grinch who can step in and bring a little bit of waste-free, mischievous humour.

So, if you’re struggling with the concept of bringing mess and mischief into your house – at what is already a busy and stressful time of the year – why not try a Help Elf instead? Who knows what a kinder tradition could teach us all.