An Post

An Post Santa Letter (2026) — Free FREEPOST Letter to Santa from Ireland

An Post Santa Letter reply program — how to send a free FREEPOST letter to Santa from Ireland, the mailing deadline, and the guaranteed bilingual reply in English or Irish (Gaeilge).

Last verified against An Post sources: May 2026

Santa's address in Ireland

Santa Claus Santa's Grotto The North Pole FREEPOST Ireland

Copy the address exactly — extra punctuation or missing lines can route the letter to the wrong sorting office.

Mailing deadline

December 12

Reply rate

guaranteed

Postage required

No (free)

Reply languages

English, Irish (Gaeilge)

What makes this program different

→FREEPOST — no stamp needed from within Ireland. An Post covers the postage.
→An Post replies in either English or Irish depending on the language of the letter.
→Reply rate is essentially 100% if posted by the cutoff date.
→An Post's Santa program has been running for decades and is one of the most reliable in Europe.

While you wait for Santa's reply

Once the letter is mailed, the wait begins. On Christmas Eve, you can watch Santa fly his sleigh through Ireland in real time on our free Santa tracker. It's a privacy-first simulation that runs in your browser, no signup, no tracking — and we've been refining it for years.

A short history of the Ireland Santa letter program

An Post's Santa reply service goes back to the 1980s, when individual posties in Dublin and Cork started writing personal replies to the Santa-addressed letters arriving each December. By the early 1990s An Post had formalised the operation with a national FREEPOST address and a dedicated reply team, and it's been running every Christmas since.

The Irish program is one of the few in the world that's both free to send and effectively guaranteed to reply — no stamp needed, no fee, and An Post commits to answering every letter that arrives by the cutoff with a return address.

An Post processes well over a hundred thousand Santa letters each season. Replies arrive on illustrated stationery with a Santa's Grotto postmark, written in either English or Irish (Gaeilge) depending on what language the child used. The bilingual reply is part of the charm — Irish-medium schools send whole class batches in Gaeilge.

What kids in Ireland traditionally ask for

🎁Irish wishlists run heavy on GAA gear — hurleys, sliotars, county jerseys for both football and hurling. Kids list their county and Santa's elves are expected to know the difference.
🎁Books from Eason and toys from Smyths dominate the under-10 category. The Late Late Toy Show in late November basically pre-loads the wishlist for half the country.
🎁Irish kids leave Santa a mince pie and a glass of porter (Guinness) or a small whiskey, plus a carrot for Rudolph. The porter thing is a cultural fixture — Santa apparently appreciates the gesture.
🎁Older Irish kids sometimes ask for Premier League jerseys (Liverpool, Man United) alongside GAA gear — the dual football culture means two sets of strips on the list.

Sample letter template (Ireland)

A starting point — change the names, the gift list, and the kind thing you did this year. Santa likes specifics over generic wish lists.

English

Dear Santa,

My name is [name] and I'm [age] years old. I live in [town, county].

I've been a good [boy/girl] this year. I [something specific — helped Mammy with the dishes, was kind to my brother, did well at school].

For Christmas I would love:
- [main wish]
- [smaller wish]
- [small wish]

I'll leave a mince pie and a glass of porter by the fire for you, and a big carrot for Rudolph. Safe travels across the Atlantic!

Love,
[name]

PS: My address is [address] so you can write back. Nollaig Shona duit!