Santa reads childrens own Christmas letters back to them through new Hampton service

A Hampton business owner has built a way for Santa to read children's own Christmas letters back to them, out loud and word for word.

Paul Mathews launched Tinselton this autumn, encouraging parents to tell Santa a little about their child's year, such as a school certificate, learning to swim or being a kind big sister, and Santa records a personal video message about it.

Parents then read Santa's script first and can change anything before it's made.

The message ends by asking the child to write their Christmas list. When they have, a parent takes a photo of the letter and Santa sends back a second video reading it to them, creases and all.

Santa is an AI character, and Tinselton says so clearly. Children never appear in the videos, and parents never upload a photo of their child.

Speaking about Tinsleton, Matthews said: "I wanted Santa to talk about the things that actually happened in a child's year, not a template with their name dropped in.

"And reading a child's own letter back to them, in their own words, felt like the bit of magic that was missing."

Videos are £16.99 per child for both, or £14.99 for each extra child, for orders by Sunday, 15 November, when they increase to £19.99. Families are only charged when each video arrives, and there is no subscription.