Twilio’s SantaPhone hack lets kids say what they want for Christmas

One of the Christmas traditions that kids have long relied on is giving Santa Claus a full account of the presents they want to receive on December 25. Now, Twilio’s newest project makes it possible for kids to share their Christmas wish list without having to go to the mall to see the jolly man himself. Called SantaPhone, the feature is designed to let kids call and leave a recorded message that is emailed to parents in real time.

As part of this release, Twilio has promised that it will donate $1 for each of the first 10,000 calls made to SantaPhone.

Adults and children can visit the SantaPhone website and schedule a call with one of Santa’s “elves.” From there, a text message is delivered to verify the authenticity of the phone number provided. At the agreed upon time, a phone call will be made, and a pre-recorded message will ask the child what they want for Christmas. Afterwards, the recording is forwarded to a pre-designated email address to let Santa’s “helpers” know what their kids’ are dreaming of. It can also be forwarded to family and friends just by sharing the link or downloading the audio file. Finally, an MMS of the North Pole will be sent to the phone number, using Twilio’s Programmable SMS product.

Why was SantaPhone created? Well, it’s the holiday season and it seems Twilio wanted to build something lighthearted and fun while also giving back to those less fortunate — it has a pattern of doing that. It’s also likely that SantaPhone was a byproduct of a hackathon the company hosted recently and was too great a program to pass up.