The bizarre and hilarious century-old letters to Santa 

From tobacco boxes to guns and fireworks, a series of 100-year-old letters to Santa reveal how much Christmas presents have changed over the past century.

Today’s hottest holiday lists for kids are dominated by video games, computer tablets and remote controlled drones.

But back in the days before tech ruled, children’s Christmas requests were a little more basic.

In the early 20th century, children were more practical, according to the R.L. Ripples ‘TweetsOfOld’ Twitter feed, which converts old newspaper articles into tweets.

From tobacco boxes to guns and fireworks, a series of 100-year-old letters to Santa reveal how much Christmas presents have changed over the past century

Ripples has been sharing the letters to Santas from kids all across America at the beginning of the last century. 

A wagon and a goat to pull it was a common request, while some asked for a stove or a steam hammer.  Others chose gifts which remain popular today, such as a brand new bike or a new doll.

But at a time before health and safety was a big concern, many of the letters to Santa would be unthinkable today.

Such as little 8-year-old Eugene, writing from Florida in 1899, who asked for Santa to ‘Please bring me anything. Don’t forget pap a box of tobacco for I am tired running to the store every evening.’

‘Dear Santa: Please bring me lots of fireworks that wont blow a boys hands off or put a boys eye out like Willie’s,’ added Jimbo, of Missouri, 1908. 

‘Dear Old Kris: I am a good little boy. Please bring me a choo-choo so I can ride. Do not forget my tobacco and papers, also a large gun,’ Oliver from Tennessee wrote in 1907.’ 

Some were simply bizarre, such as Drake B. Clopton, of Tennessee in 1901, who asked for Santa to bring him some festive… insurance policies.

‘Dear Santa: I am a tall boy. The girls all tell me my eyes are beautiful. Please bring me a pack of cigarettes and some insurance policies,’ he wrote.

While little Claude, 8, also from Tennessee, in 1911, was hoping Santa could bring a political uprising. 

‘Dear Santa, I am a boy 8 years old. Bring me a gun, a villospeed (bike) and a victrola (record player). Bring papa a new president. -your friend Claude.’

One little boy, Joe, from California in 1907, was clearly disappointed by Santa’s lack of response.

‘Dear Santa, I thought you was dead I wrote to you many times and you didn’t answer. The newspaper said you was living in a hotel,’ he wrote.

Many of the heartwarming letters are amusing but some are utterly heartbreaking.

Like Harriet, of Nebraska, who just wanted Santa to ‘Pleas ask God to give us back our mamma and you can give our presents to somebody else. We just only want her,’ in her letter in 1901.

‘Dearest Santa, This year only fill mama’s stocking, she’s sick. The doctor says wine and rent $. I tied the toes so they wont drop out,’ Marjo, of Kansas, wrote in 1895.

And 10-year-old Willie just wanted to help his mother.   

‘Dear Santa: I want a bicycle awful bad so I can get me a job with Western Union to help make a support for my mother,’ he wrote from Texas in 1912.  



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