Santa’s Magic Key

How to make Santa’s magic key

1. Type your family name as you want it to read, such as “The Hansen Family” or “Ella, Noah & Leo” (up to 28 letters), and check the year.
2. Pick a poem, a key and a tag shape. The hanging tag shares a sheet with six keys, the door hanger with four, and two round ornaments with four keys. All six puts a different key in every place.
3. Download the PDF and print it at 100% (“Actual size”). Each key is 36 × 120 mm (about 1.4 × 4.7 in). Cut along the grey lines, punch or snip the hole, and tie the key to the tag with ribbon.
4. On Christmas Eve, hang it on the front door handle, or leave it by the door with the milk and cookies. In the morning it is gone, because Santa took it back to the North Pole.

The key lets Santa in; the reindeer wait outside. For them, the other Christmas Eve printable here is magic reindeer food labels: bag toppers and labels with your child’s name and a poem, for a bag of oats and coloured sugar to sprinkle on the grass before bed.

Our poems

The poem usually printed with these keys is passed around online without a known author, so we do not copy it. These five were written for this page, and you are welcome to print them for your family.

Questions

What is Santa’s magic key for?

It answers the question many children ask in December: how does Santa get in if we have no chimney? Families in flats, apartments and new houses hang a “magic” key on the door on Christmas Eve. The story is that it works only for Santa and only on that one night, so he lets himself in, leaves the presents and takes the key away. Some families have the key come back with a thank-you note on Christmas morning. The tag tells whoever finds it what the key is for and whose home it opens. With the year printed on it, it also becomes a keepsake to keep in the ornament box.

Is this printable really free, and can I put our own poem on it?

Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no paid version, and the PDF is made in your own browser. Choose Write my own to type any poem of up to 8 lines. The text shrinks to fit, so a long poem comes out smaller, and the page tells you if a line would not fit on the shape you chose. The door hanger has the most room. The black and white design also suits a poem written by hand: print it, then write on it.

How do I print it on card?

Use matte cardstock of 160 to 250 g/m² (about 60 to 90 lb cover). That is stiff enough to hang on a handle without curling, and most home inkjet and laser printers take it. Check your printer’s limit, which is often printed inside the paper tray. In the print dialog choose Actual size or 100% (not “Fit to page”), and a “card” or “heavy paper” setting if there is one. Feed one sheet at a time if it jams. Inkjet ink does not dry on mirror or foil card. For a shiny key, print the black and white design on matte gold or silver shimmer card, or cut the keys from glitter card on a cutting machine. The colour designs run 0.8 mm past the cut line, so a slightly wobbly cut does not show white.

How do I cut the key with a Cricut or Silhouette?

Press SVG cut file. The file holds the sheet you see at true size, with its width and height in millimetres. Every key and tag is one closed outline, plus a loop for each opening in the key bows and for the tag’s hole. In Cricut Design Space choose Upload, then Upload Image, add the file to the canvas and check that the size matches the one shown under the buttons. The whole sheet fits a 12 × 12 in mat. Ungroup it to cut only the keys, for example from glitter cardstock with the matching material setting. The smallest openings are 3.2 to 3.6 mm across: the little baubles in the Christmas tree key and the centre of the royal filigree. If they tear, pick the heart, star or trefoil key, which have bigger openings. Print Then Cut only handles a printed area of up to 6.75 × 9.25 in (17.1 × 23.5 cm), which is smaller than this sheet. So send one tag and a key at a time, or cut the keys plain and print the tag separately. Silhouette Studio needs Designer Edition or higher to open SVG files.

How do I hang it on the door?

Thread ribbon, baker’s twine or curling ribbon about 30 cm long through the tag’s hole and through an opening in the key’s bow. Every key has an opening at least 5 mm across, which fits ribbon up to 5 mm wide. Then tie the ribbon around the outside door handle. The door hanger needs no ribbon. Its 38 mm hole sits round the neck of a knob or a lever handle, and the slit lets the card open to slip over the knob. Paper outside gets damp overnight, so hang it on the inside of the door, or slip it into a self-laminating pouch first. The round ornament hangs on the tree with an ornament hook. Print two and glue them back to back if you want both sides decorated.

What age is the magic key for?

It suits children who believe in Santa, usually about 3 to 8. Younger children like holding the key and posting it on the door. Older ones read the poem aloud. Let an adult cut the keys: the shafts are only 5 mm wide, and the openings in the bow are easiest with small scissors or a craft knife. A child of 6 or more can cut the tag along its straight edges. For toddlers, print the black and white design and let them colour the key and the tag before you cut them out.

A4 or US Letter?

Both. The page starts on US Letter if your browser is set to US or Canadian English, and on A4 everywhere else. Either way, every key and tag sits at least 8 mm inside the paper edge, more than the 3 to 5 mm most home printers cannot reach. The PNG is the same sheet at 300 dpi, if you would rather print from a photo app.