Ottawa Family Fun

I know, I know, if you want to write a letter to Santa, you can write to:

To: Santa Claus
North Pole H0H 0H0
Canada

*As long as you have your return address, Santa will write back

He also has email now! Just have the kids fill out the online form. It seems to be a bit impersonal, but with today’s rushed lifestyle, it might be a fun activity to sit down with the kids some night and email Santa.

But, did you know that they have added some new shipping features and enhanced theor website:
- You can do what they call Ship-in-a-click which allows you to print and pay for your shipping online. (I can see how this will help top avoid those lineups at the post office this year… to a point)
- Personalize Stamps if you really like the picture of the kids and just want to stick it all over.
- There are Games and Activities for the kids. (They are all pretty good too!
- You can order stamps for someone who might be interested in collecting. Kids love the images on stamps and are facinated by them. My daughter wanted to keep the Moose stamp from a parcel that their Great Grandmother sent them from Saskatchewan. She thought it was really cool.

And one last reason (although there I could not find a link from the main Canada Post site!) is Borderfree. I have known about Borderfree before it was even associated with Canada Post and thought it was a pretty good concept bacjk then. What they do is have a strong web interface that allows American Stores to sell products to Canadians easily. Popular stores have signed on and it makes it much easier to make some of your purchases cross-border. You don’t have to worry about handling fees or brokerage fees at the border. Everything is estimated for you at the time of checkout. If you go to their shopping directory, you will see several stores you may have assumed you could not easily purchase online from.

* Remember, if you are buying from a US Retailer and they ship via Fex Ex, you may be hit with additional Border and Brokerage Fees. (check with them before you purchase). Especially electronics as some warranties may not be valid in Canada if the product was purchased in the US (in most cases it should be ok).

Here are a few of the more populare stores that use Borderfree:
- Brookstone - All kinds of nifty and original gadgets.
- Crate and Barrel - housewares and furnishings
- Blu Sphere - Hip clothes and gifts for that picky teenager

If anyone has any past experience using Borderfree or shopping from any of the retailers I have linked to, please comment (good or bad). ***I have not purchased anything from these retailers yet, so I can only say that it looks good, but I have not actually seen the performance.

Have fun this weekend if you decide to take in one of the many Santa Claus Parades in and around Ottawa this weekend!

There are plenty of other great holiday websites to visit as well. I will be writing a separate entry with a list of them and some comments soon. For the meantime, here are some of the more popular ones:
- http://www.NorthPole.com/
- http://northpole.net/
- http://www.claus.com
- NORAD Track Santa
- Santa Claus’ Office
- Wikipedia - Santa Claus (For big kids who want to know the history of Santa)

I know, I know, if you want to write a letter to Santa, you can write to:

To: Santa Claus
North Pole H0H 0H0
Canada

*As long as you have your return address, Santa will write back

He also has email now! Just have the kids fill out the online form. It seems to be a bit impersonal, but with today’s rushed lifestyle, it might be a fun activity to sit down with the kids some night and email Santa.

But, did you know that they have added some new shipping features and enhanced theor website:
- You can do what they call Ship-in-a-click which allows you to print and pay for your shipping online. (I can see how this will help top avoid those lineups at the post office this year… to a point)
- Personalize Stamps if you really like the picture of the kids and just want to stick it all over.
- There are Games and Activities for the kids. (They are all pretty good too!
- You can order stamps for someone who might be interested in collecting. Kids love the images on stamps and are facinated by them. My daughter wanted to keep the Moose stamp from a parcel that their Great Grandmother sent them from Saskatchewan. She thought it was really cool.

And one last reason (although there I could not find a link from the main Canada Post site!) is Borderfree. I have known about Borderfree before it was even associated with Canada Post and thought it was a pretty good concept bacjk then. What they do is have a strong web interface that allows American Stores to sell products to Canadians easily. Popular stores have signed on and it makes it much easier to make some of your purchases cross-border. You don’t have to worry about handling fees or brokerage fees at the border. Everything is estimated for you at the time of checkout. If you go to their shopping directory, you will see several stores you may have assumed you could not easily purchase online from.

* Remember, if you are buying from a US Retailer and they ship via Fex Ex, you may be hit with additional Border and Brokerage Fees. (check with them before you purchase). Especially electronics as some warranties may not be valid in Canada if the product was purchased in the US (in most cases it should be ok).

Here are a few of the more populare stores that use Borderfree:
- Brookstone - All kinds of nifty and original gadgets.
- Crate and Barrel - housewares and furnishings
- Blu Sphere - Hip clothes and gifts for that picky teenager

If anyone has any past experience using Borderfree or shopping from any of the retailers I have linked to, please comment (good or bad). ***I have not purchased anything from these retailers yet, so I can only say that it looks good, but I have not actually seen the performance.

Have fun this weekend if you decide to take in one of the many Santa Claus Parades in and around Ottawa this weekend!

There are plenty of other great holiday websites to visit as well. I will be writing a separate entry with a list of them and some comments soon. For the meantime, here are some of the more popular ones:
- http://www.NorthPole.com/
- http://northpole.net/
- http://www.claus.com
- NORAD Track Santa
- Santa Claus’ Office
- Wikipedia - Santa Claus (For big kids who want to know the history of Santa)