This year I wanted to go all out with decorating my front porch for Christmas, so Chica helped me transform it into the North Pole post office, complete with signs, helper elves, mail bags, and tons of letters from Santa.

VIDEO: North Pole post office decor

Here's a quick recap of this entire project, showing our amazing North Pole Post Office all set up on the porch.

Keep reading to see details about all the DIY projects we completed to pull together this overall look that absolutely wowed my guests (and the mail carrier loved it, too!)

BEFORE: The empty front porch

We had several main goals when setting up this oversized front porch decor. I wanted to cover the door, take advantage of the tall windows, and fill the space with layers of decor. Just wait... you'll hardly recognize the space when we're done with it.

Making the North Pole post office door

We absolutely had to cover the front door with something, and wanted to make it look just like the door to the post office at the North Pole. When searching Home Depot for a material to cover it with, we hit the jackpot when we found 4'x8' sheets of PLAS-TEX waterproof wall panel.

Super strong, slightly bendy, totally waterproof, lightweight, easy to cut, and solid white... it was perfect for covering the door! We cut a piece to the size of the door and set the scraps aside for later.

The door would be red eventually, so I decided to first mask off the places I wanted to remain white, then I could spray paint red over everything. I started by designing a North Pole Post Office Sign as a .studio cut file for the Silhouette. I cut it out of vinyl and applied it to the door. (Remember, this is just a mask, so the color of vinyl doesn't matter.)

To decorate the sides, Chica applied double rows of painter's tape at an angle, temporarily using another double-row of tape between each one to guarantee they were spaced evenly.

Then a quick swipe with a metal ruler and a craft knife to cut clean edges, and we had a masked candy cane stripe down each side of the door.

To finish it off, we freehand masked a giant mail slot shape with painter's tape, and then put another vinyl decal, this time using our reindeer silhouette .studio cut file. Remember, all this tape and vinyl is just a mask, so the colors don't matter.

With everything masked, it was time to reach for the paint. Chica grabbed a can of our favorite spray paint, Rust-Oleum 2X Ultra Cover, this time in gloss Apple Red.

After spraying over the entire door, it was finally time to remove the vinyl and tape and reveal the bright white underneath. So satisfying!

We used some Command Strips and a little bit of tape to attach our new door over the existing one. Oh my goodness, what a difference just this one piece of decor made to my front porch!

Creating the large elf cutouts

The helper elves were a big part of this post office decor, and we designed two slightly different ones — one standing and one sitting. They are about 3' tall, and we made a big printable Elf pattern to make it easy for us (and for you!) to trace them and cut them out.

Chica printed the patterns out and taped the pieces together, then used carbon transfer paper to trace the pattern onto some 1/4" plywood that we first primed white.

We cut the elves out with our Ryobi One+ Jigsaw, and gave the edges a quick sanding to smooth out any rough bits.

Then I pulled out my versatile Americana Multi-Surface Satin acrylic paints to bring the elves to life. This paint has a built-in satin finish and works great for outdoor projects like this.

We perched the seated elf at the top of the doorway, centered on that big window. Doesn't he look adorable with that foot dangling down? While we had the ladder out, we also attached a flexible piece of plastic molding in an arch over the elf, and down the side lites on the door. (These pieces will hold the letters soon.)

Writing oversized letters to Santa

Now let's get to those letters to Santa! We took the scraps of wall panel and cut them down to rectangles (about 14-16" across) using our Ryobi power cutter, which zipped through the plastic panels like butter.

To decorate the envelopes, we designed a set of Christmas envelope decorations that we're happy to share with you. It includes Christmas stamps, wax seals, and striped patterns for edging the envelopes to look like Air Mail.

I printed these envelope designs onto white sticker paper, cut them out, and decorated the envelopes.

Then I enlisted the help of my daughters to address all the envelopes as if they were letters to Santa from children all around the world. Sometimes we wrote with our non-dominant hand to make it look more like children's handwriting.

We tried to mix them up so they all looked unique, and even drew in some postage cancellation marks on some of them, for extra authenticity.

Remember those pieces of trim we added around the doorway earlier? That was our frame for attaching the letters. We used some heavy-duty duct tape to attach the letters to the frame, securing them from behind.

We tilted and angled them as we went, so they would look like they were flying through the air up to the elf waiting atop the door, and we lined one up so that it sat on the elf's hand. So cute!

Adding fake snow drifts

To decorate the porch floor and make it look more like the North Pole, we wanted to add some snow drifts. We couldn't use any loose faux snow, or else it would blow away, but we found a great affordable solution. We got a super lightweight SUPER-TUFF paper/poly drop cloth runner and created billowy snow drifts with it on either side of the door.

Making mail bags stuffed with letters

To decorate the porch floor, we wanted to add some big mail bags stuffed with more letters to Santa. Once again, we made a printable Mail Bag Pattern to share with you, which you can print out and tape together to create a large template for tracing.

Using the same technique as we did for the elves, we traced and jigsawed two bags for the left side of the porch — one taller one and one shorter one — and added red vinyl decals of the reindeer silhouette for extra decoration. We glued some of our envelopes so it looked like they were bursting out of the bag.

We added another mail bag on the right side of the porch, and in front of it we placed our second elf, the standing one. He looks so happy to be sorting through the mail for Santa.

AFTER: The finished North Pole Post Office

The finished North Pole post office front porch decor came out exactly as I hoped it would and I love it so much. The multiple mailbags offer dimension and the flying letters give the decor a sense of movement.

The elf sitting on top of the door is probably my favorite part. It draws the eye up and that dangling foot just makes me smile every time I see it.

The transformation on the door itself is my other favorite part. With some masking and spray paint, we created a totally new look for the entry to our home and I love the whimsical stripes on the sides.

But the letters... the letters are my other other favorite part! Each one is different and special in its own way, and everyone who visits stops to read a few before coming in.

And don't forget that adorable elf with the mail bag. I'll just admit it now... all the parts of this porch decor are my favorite parts!