How To Write A Letter To The French Santa

La Poste, the French postal service, operates a Web site to write a letter to the French Santa (Père Noël) and for games and costumes. I have translated the instructions for writing your letter, playing the games and enjoying the other activities.

Enjoy Santa’s workshop (child or adult!) and the games arcade! Read the story: “Santa’s Workshop Is Open For Business“.

The site is filled with cartoon characters decorating a room, playing games in the snow under the tree, making costumes and masks, etc.

Everything written is in French but the fun is multi-lingual.

Keep reading and find out about more of the magic waiting for you in Santa’s workshop.

I hope these translations are easy to follow:

Skip the Introduction (Passer l’animation)

Star at bottom of pages – Return (Retour)

Writing to Santa
Enter the Web site: (Clique ici pour entree!)
Click on “Ecrire au Père Noël“(Write to Santa)
Follow this translation:
Your address – (Step 1 of 3) ton adresse

Your age
Your first name
Your name
(France only) write which floor you live onIn (France only) your building number
Your street
(France only) box number
Your zip code (code postal)
City (ville)
Country (pays – click on Etats-Unis)
email (courriel) is optional

Click on the arrow (suite)

Step 2 of 3 (Etape 2 sur 3)
Write a message to Santa Clause (Père Noël) – 45 lines maximum
Santa’s secretary does not open letters until November 22.

Step 3 of 3 (Etape 3 sur 3) is a verification.
The little bird says:
“Before sending this letter, check that your address is correct. Otherwise, you will not receive your card.”

Then you post the letter.

The response:
“Thank you for your nice letter! Check your mailbox because soon you will receive a letter from me. Have fun in my shop!”

Close the window (Fermer la fenêtre)

You can Invite a friend (Inviter un ami(e))
The email form opens. In the “To” section type in your friend’s email address.
The subject says: “Discover Santa’s Web site”.
The body text is as follows:

“Hi,
Discover the games, dress-up and activities in Santa’s workshop while you are getting ready for Christmas. Visit La Poste  and send a letter to Santa!

See you soon,”

How to Play the Games

Atelier Décoration
The rotating icons in the upper right-hand corner are different animated pages.
Star: home page
Video console: Toy shop: Atelier jeux
Scissors: Sewing shop: Atelier couture
Envelope: Write to Santa: Ecrire au Père Noël
Little girl: The Bonus page: Canal bonus
Paint brush: Artist gallery: Galerie des artistes

What to Do:

With the Chef, stream, and fishing characters, click on the characters and images to animate.
Recettes: Discover recipes from Père Noël (in French from 2010 and 2011)

Costumes
On the couture pages, hover the cursor and click on the characters for different projects. Make your accessories (Réalise tes accessories) Make your costumes (Réalise tes déguisements)
Masks (Tes masques de déguisement)
Wings (Les ailes de fée)
Hat, collar, purse, the elf (Le chapeau, la collerette, la bourse de lutin)
Instructions to make a panda

Toy shop
Flipper/Pinball (Joue au flipper) Play (Jouer)
Use the “L” key to lance the ball
Use “D” and “K” to work the flippers
Return to the toy shop (Retour à l’Atelier Jeux)

Put the puzzle together (Joue au puzzle)
Click on a puzzle piece, move it with your mouse
Two levels of difficulty using either 9 or 24 puzzle pieces

Hit the target (Joue au tape tape bonhommes)
Each of character has a different value. Use your mouse as a hammer. Watch out though, if you hit the little boy accidentally, you lose 25 of your points.

Artist Gallery (Galerie des Artistes)
Click here to find out where to send your drawings.
Every week Santa Clause will choose ten drawings that will be posted in the gallery with the name and age of the little artist. If you want to participate, send your drawing (on A4 paper or you could try it with 8 ½” by 11″) between November 2 and 25 to:
Dessins pour le Père Noël (Drawings for Santa)
Spiderdreams
65 rue du rocher
75008 Paris
Print (Imprimer)
Download  (Télécharger)

Canal Bonus (TV screen at the top of the page)
e-cards (Les e-cartes)
Choose your decoration (choisis ton décor)
Personalize your e-card (Personnalise ta e-carte)
Decorating Tips:
Hover your cursor over an image on the left card. Slide it over to the card to the right.
To make the image larger, hover and hold your cursor on the image, pressing the up or down arrow.
To rotate the image, hover and hold your cursor on the image, pressing the left or right arrow.
Write your message (Ecris ton message)

Your first name (ton prénom)
Your email address (ton adresse e-mail)
Your friend’s address (l’adresse e-mail de ton ami(e)
Your message (Ton message)
Send your card (Evoie ta e-carte)
Bravo! Your e-card was successfully sent to your friend.

Screen backgrounds (Fonds d’écran)
Click on the size you want, the image opens in a browser window.
Right click to save as a screen background

Animated Cartoons (Dessins animés)
Download Santa’s animated cartoons and choose your format preference (.mov or .avi)

Two of the bonuses are not yet ready when I am writing this “reportages” and “La Télé du Père Noël” (à venir)