Every December, children everywhere wonder the very same thing: am I on the Nice List? Here’s a secret from the Mail Room. The Nice List isn’t about being perfect. It’s about kindness, trying your best, and making things right when they go wrong. Here’s how the elves keep it.
How Santa’s Nice List works
Step 1: The news arrives
All year long, Santa’s helpers at home send happy news to the North Pole: who learned to ride a bike, who shared their crayons, who was brave on the first day of school. The Mail Room elves sort every bit of it by lantern light.
Step 2: Juniper writes it down
Juniper, Keeper of the List, writes each name in the great big book with peppermint-red ink, in her very best curly letters. She never rushes. Every name deserves to look beautiful.
Step 3: Checked once, checked twice
Then she checks the whole list from the top. Then she checks it again from the top. On extra-snowy nights she checks it a third time, just to be sure nobody was missed.
Step 4: A gold star for every kind thing
Each time a child does something kind, brave or helpful, a little gold star goes beside their name. Some names have so many stars they sparkle right off the page.
Step 5: Santa reads it on Christmas Eve
Early on Christmas Eve morning, Santa sits down with his cocoa and reads the whole list one final time before the sleigh is loaded.
Want to know what else happens that morning? Follow Santa’s Christmas Eve timeline, hour by hour.
What puts a gold star by your name
- Being kind when nobody is watching. Holding a door, picking up a dropped mitten, saving a seat for someone new.
- Trying something hard. Even if it didn’t work the first time, or the fifth. The elves love a good try.
- Helping at home without being asked. Setting the table, feeding the cat, or carrying in the groceries.
- Sharing a turn. Letting someone else go first on the swing, or sharing the last cookie.
- Telling the truth, even when it’s tricky. Juniper says this one earns an extra-shiny star.
- Saying sorry and making it right. Everybody has grumpy days. Making up afterward is what counts.
- Taking care of animals. Gentle hands for pets, water for the birds, a friendly hello for the neighbor’s dog.
- Being brave. At the doctor, at the dentist, or on stage at the school concert.
A note from Juniper: nobody gets a gold star every single day, not even the elves. When someone has a grumpy day, I simply write “tomorrow is a new day” and keep watching for the next kind thing. There is always a next kind thing.
For grown-ups: a Nice List certificate
A Nice List certificate gives a child something real to hold: proof, on paper, that the North Pole noticed. Children show it to grandparents, pin it on the fridge and, years later, find it again in a keepsake box. The most meaningful certificates say why a child made the list, so it’s about effort and kindness rather than presents.
What a Peppermint Quill certificate says
- Your child’s first name, age and town, in Santa’s best script
- “Checked once, checked twice, and found to be truly, wonderfully nice”
- A special title from the elves, like Kindness Captain
- What they were noted for this year, and the wish on file
- A North Pole list entry number and Santa’s red “Checked Twice” stamp
- A gold ribbon seal, signed by Santa Claus and Juniper, Keeper of the List
Every printable letter from Santa comes with a personalized Nice List certificate, and the mailed keepsake bundle brings one in the mail. See both in the Parents’ Corner.
Six ways to give a Nice List certificate
Idea 1: Clip it to the letter
Fold the certificate in with Santa’s letter so it’s the second surprise. Children often read the letter, then gasp at the gold seal.
Idea 2: Frame it on the mantel
A simple frame turns it into a decoration that comes out every December. Inexpensive document frames fit a letter-size page.
Idea 3: Leave it in a stocking on December 1
Start the season with good news: an empty stocking with one rolled-up certificate tied with ribbon.
Idea 4: Let the elves deliver it
Tape it to the bedroom door overnight, as if an elf slipped by while everyone slept.
Idea 5: Save it for a kind moment
Hand it over right after your child does something thoughtful, so the news from the North Pole lines up with real life.
Idea 6: Start a keepsake folder
Write the year on the back and keep each certificate with that year’s letter. In a few Decembers it becomes a sweet little history.
Printing a Nice List certificate at home
Print at 100% (“actual size”) on bright white or cream cardstock, around 65–80 lb (176–216 gsm), so it stands up in a frame. Turn off the browser’s headers and footers so no web address or date prints along the edge, and let the ink dry for a few minutes before you roll it up with a ribbon.