Greetings
Video, letter or call?
Three formats that share one intention and almost nothing else. The right answer depends mostly on two things: how late it is, and whether you need a reply or just a moment.
Free, no sign-up โ make it yourself
Video
A clip addressed to the child by name
- Free?
- Sometimes โ but most free tiers want an email before they show you anything
- How late
- Instant to same-day, right up to Christmas Eve
- Watch out for
- Watermarks on free output, and price-per-child rather than per-family
Letter
A written reply, posted or delivered as a file
- Free?
- Yes, where a national postal programme exists
- How late
- Postal deadlines fall in early December and are firm
- Watch out for
- Most search results are templates the child writes, not replies they receive
Call
A recording, or a performer on the telephone
- Free?
- Automated calls often are; live calls never
- How late
- Live slots sell out by early December
- Watch out for
- A live call means a stranger speaking to your child โ supervise it
The part every comparison gets wrong
Most pages in this category compare a few American services and stop. But across the 55 countries covered here there are 64 different gift-bringers, arriving on eight different dates. A video from a red-suited Santa is the wrong character in Czechia, where the presents come from Jeลพรญลกek; in the Netherlands, where Sinterklaas arrives on 5 December; and in Spain and Mexico, where the Three Kings come on 6 January.
That is what the country pages are for. Each names the local figure, gives the local date, and lists only the services that actually operate in that market โ written in the language spoken there.
Find your country