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Even though this is Santa’s busiest time of year, he still has time to make a personalized video for your child. Whether your child has been naughty or nice, Santa has a personal message for your child that you can help him create.
Portable North Pole is a website where you can design a free personal video from Santa to your child. Here’s a YouTube video showing how PNP works:
http://youtu.be/rx4Bktwri3c
PNP isn’t just for kids. You can have fun creating a personalized Santa video for adults, whether they’ve been naughty or nice!
Creating Your PNP Video
To get started, head to the Portable North Pole website and click “Start Here”. You will be asked a series of questions so you can personalize your Santa video, such as whether the video is for an adult or a child, and whether they’ve been naughty or nice.
You enter the person’s name and are offered choices of pronunciation so you can be sure Santa says the name correctly. You then answer a series of questions about the person to help Santa get to know them a bit better. You can upload photos of the person, a gift and yourself to make the video even more personal.
Santa compiles this data and makes a personal video for you which you can watch, send to someone via email, and share on Facebook and Google Plus via a link.
PNP’s Privacy Policy is available for your review.
Here is my PNP video a dear friend created for me:
Oops. I’ll try harder to make the Nice List next year…
PNP Store
Although the Santa video is free, you can purchase a downloadable version of the video for you to keep, upload to YouTube, embed in your blog, etc. The video file is available from the PNP store online for $3.99.
You can get other personalized Santa goodies from the PNP store such as a phone call from Santa, a personalized letter to your child, books, placemats, stickers and more. A portion of the proceeds from sales at the PNP store goes to the PNP Children’s Hospital Program.
Wonder of Tech readers can get 20% off of your purchase at the PNP store with this coupon code, good for a single use until January 2, 2014: BLG20FGZ
Apps
This year Santa is especially tech-savvy, with mobile apps available for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch as well as Android. From the app you can watch the PNP videos you’ve created and create your own videos. The app also has an advent calendar, a countdown interactive snow globe calendar, and Santa’s Radar.
The best part of the app is that you can password protect a parent’s section so your kids can’t accidentally see the videos you helped Santa create.
The PNP app is available for:
- iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch at the iTunes App Store for $3.99 (iOS 7 or later)
The app gives you five credits which you can use to get downloadable videos or purchase phone calls from Santa (one credit per downloadable video or phone call).
Reviews on the Android app are mixed but I tested the iTunes app courtesy of PNP who provided me a promo code for review. The app worked well for me, I created my video above on my iPhone using the PNP app.
Your Thoughts
Have you ever made a Portable North Pole video? Have you been naughty or nice this year? Is Santa bringing you your favorite gift this year? Let us know in the Comments section below!
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2013 Rewind from YouTube
The fun folks at YouTube have been busy mashing and spoofing popular videos from 2013 to create a new video titled 2013 Rewind from YouTube.
Check out this goofy video showcasing the best music and videos from 2013. See how many videos you can recognize:
Watch until the end to see which videos were included in the mashup.
Enjoy!
Hi Carolyn,
Oh yes….I love this Santa for sure 🙂
I remember how you shared this North Pole Santa’s video with us the first time, and even sent me one and I was pretty excited! Then I sent it to my kids, cousins, and the chain reaction has been carried on since then…lol….i do love it.
I think the best part is to see Santa speak so well, and it almost sounds so personal and as if he’s really speaking to you – you can feel it so well. This time some apps seem to have been added. I guess I’d share that info with my tech girls if they’d like to check it out.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Hi Harleena, Yes, you were my first commenter two years ago when I first wrote about Portable North Pole! When the developer contacted me to let me know about the apps and other changes this year, I knew I had to write about Portable North Pole again.
Yes, the apps make it handy to show your Santa videos to others or create your own from the app. If you create a video on the computer you can watch it on the app by linking your PNP account. I do like the parental passcode option so you can protect the videos from prying eyes if you want!
I hope your girls enjoy their PNP videos this year too, Harleena!
This looks awesome!
It’s really great that they are doing this free. Like Harleena mentioned, the best part is the video is personalized (it will certainly help to make a lot of kids around the world happy).
I am going to create one for my sister 🙂 See how it goes (I really don’t know what she wants for Christmas, probably need to ask my mom).
Thanks for sharing this app, Carolyn. I do appreciate it. Hope you are having a good week!
Hi Jeevan, Yes, it’s great that this is free and it’s amazing how it seems as if Santa were talking right to you, including personal information and your name. I hope your sister enjoys her PNP video!
Hi Carolyn
I made my kids each a video with Portable North Pole last year and they loved it.
I haven’t done so far this year but it’s great that you reminded me about it.
I bought the iPhone app last year and might get it again this year.
I’ve been quite nice this year so hopefully Santa will be good to me :-)!
Have a great week.
Tim
Hi Tim, Yes, my kids love PNP, we’ve created their videos for years. My children look forward to them every year, even though they are teenagers now. You definitely should make new videos for your kids this year, Tim!
I hope you get everything on your wishlist, Tim!
Hello,
I wasn’t aware that there a cool app for PNP. I’m gonna try the android version lets see how it goes. Between all the videos above listed are really cool.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Samir, Yes, the app is a new development since I first wrote about PNP last year. I hope you enjoy the app and your Santa video, Samir!
That was a really cute video Carolyn that someone sent you but I think Santa has it wrong. You shouldn’t be on his naughty list at all. My goodness, you’re the last person I would think would be on the naughty list.
I saw that other video that YouTube had spoofed of the all the music for the past year. I thought that was really very clever although I’m not familiar with a lot of the music. Still kind of fun to watch.
Hope your week started off well. Have a good one my friend and stay on that nice list now! 😉
~Adrienne
Aw, thanks, Adrienne. Maybe Santa was just trying to get out of giving me that Batmobile for Christmas?
I’m glad you like that YouTube video too. Some of the songs I didn’t recognize either, but it was very helpful to see which ones they used at the end of the mashup.
I hope you get to stay on Santa’s nice list, Adrienne! Apparently, it’s not an easy list to make it onto but if anyone can, you can! 🙂
Hi Carolyn,
I made a PNP video last Christmas and another one two years ago. It is nice and creative. I will surely do another this year. It is fairly simple. The only thing I am careful is the image I use.
As for the rest. Let’s have some fun.
Btw, you were on the naughty list. Probably too much Triberr … . 🙂
Have a beautiful Christmas
Hi Silviu, Is it possible to have too much Triberr?
Yes, be very careful about the image you use. You want to stay on the nice list, Siviu! 😉