Revealed: What kids REALLY want for Christmas

Father Christmas’s team of Royal Mail elves, who manage Santa’s mailbag, have carried out the most authoritative survey of children’s wishes. Unlike most toy surveys in the run up to Christmas, the Royal Mail findings come directly from the children themselves.

The results show that the most popular toy is Frozen merchandise, overtaking one of the most traditional, Lego to the top spot this year.

Tablets have made a new entry at number 6 with One Direction merchandise falling from second place last year to eighth place in this year’s survey.

The findings come from Santa’s helpers’ analysis of many of the hundreds of thousands of letters sent to Santa, and reveal what children REALLY want for Christmas this year.

The top ten list revealed that traditional gifts such as bikes and dolls are again proving popular this year. Dolls remain a firm favourite for girls with Barbie, Snow Glow Elsa and Monster High dolls on the list.

For boys, Lego and scooters are amongst the most wanted presents. Peppa Pig also continues to be a favourite, moving from tenth place to seventh place this year.

The top ten most requested toys are:

Frozen merchandise

Lego

Bike

Scooter

Barbie and accessories

Tablet

Peppa Pig

One Direction merchandise

Snow Glow Elsa

Monster High dolls

The head elf in charge of Santa’s mailbag, Alex McConnell said: “We are very pleased that Father Christmas allowed us to take a peek at what children are asking for this year, to see what they really want for Christmas. All the elves have enjoyed reading the heart-warming questions that children have been asking Santa and the festive cheer these letters bring.”

Questions for Santa

These special letters have also shown that many children like to ask Santa questions instead of just asking for the latest toy. The most common questions that children have asked Santa are;

What will I leave you to eat on Christmas Eve?

How do you deliver all the presents in one night?

Do you want to have Christmas dinner with us?

Do you like travelling in the snow?

Do you have a sat nav?

What do you do in the summer holidays?

Do you ever get Christmas presents?

Christmas is the busiest time of the year for Royal Mail and we plan all year round to help ensure we deliver the best possible service to our customers. Every Christmas, we make a substantial financial commitment in additional resources to handle the festive mailbag.

As in previous years, in addition to the team of elves, we have recruited around 19,000 seasonal workers to help sort the Christmas post. They are supporting Royal Mail’s permanent 124,000 postmen and women who sort and deliver the mail all year round.

The last posting dates are: Thursday 18 December, 2nd Class and Royal Mail Signed For®; Saturday 20 December, 1st Class and Royal Mail Signed For®; Tuesday 23 December, Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed®.