Introduction: Kid's Santa Texter

By www.facebook.com/app_scoped_user
About: Hello, I am currently completing my dietetic internship to become a Registered Dietitian. I love all things related to food and nutrition and am always striving to find new ways to make meals easier and health…

Are your kids still at that age where they idolize Santa? My niece is so I decided to create a device that would keep the magic alive! When my niece texts "Santa" this device sends an automatic reply such as

"HO HO HO good to hear from you Anna!" or

"Rudolph can't wait to lead the sleigh to your house in Boston!" or

"the elves are busy at work this year!"

You get the idea, program the device to respond with a personalized message for your little believer.

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies

To get started you will need:

  • LinkIt One Media Board
  • Battery
  • Sim Card

Step 2: Installing a Sim Card

To install the Sim card, flip your LinkIt One over. You are going to slide the Sim card into the raised metal attachment as shown above.

Also, make sure to flip the SPI/SD switch to 'SPI' mode so that the device can receive text messages.

Step 3: Create Santa Phrases

Put together a list of phrases you want to Santa to respond back with. You will probably want at least 8 different messages so that your little believer doesn't catch on too quickly. Here are some examples:

"HO HO HO good to hear from you Anna!"

"Rudolph can't wait to lead the sleigh to your house in Boston!"

"The elves are busy at work this year!"

Step 4: Programming

Your LinkIt One should have SMS capability built right into it, which makes this really easy to text people through the code and programming! The code acts as a giant switch statement. When we receive a text from a lucky kid who got Santa's number, we send them one of our pre-made responses! In order to keep it fresh, we will just keep track of which number we are on and cycle through all of our responses. Then it'll start over.

We could make it more complicated and add some sort of random generator in here, but that would make things pretty complicated. This is mainly targeted at 5-7 year olds. I'm betting on them having short memories :)

Attachments

Step 5: Tell Your Kids to Text Santa!

Now that your Sim card is installed, you're on SPI mode, the battery is plugged in, and the code is uploaded you are all set to conveniently leave Santa's cell number on the kitchen table for the kids to find!

Step 6: Spread Christmas Cheer!

Good luck on future Santa applications!