Santa Sleigh Template

How to make the card sleigh

1. Print at Actual size (100%, not “Fit to page”) on card of 200 to 300 g/m² (about 0.25 to 0.4 mm), and check the 50 mm bar at the foot of each sheet with a ruler.
2. Cut out the two sides and the two windows in each, between the body and the runner. Side B is the mirror of side A, so the decoration faces out on both.
3. Cut out the floor strip (on the bigger sizes it comes in two or three pieces: glue each piece over the tinted flap of the one before). Fold every sawtooth tab towards the printed side, then fold the strip at its cross folds, printed side out.
4. Glue the strip between the sides. It runs down the inside of the backrest, along the floor and up the front, and its tabs glue to the plain inside of each side. Keep the floor level: it sits a little above the tops of the windows.
5. Let it dry for ten minutes with a book against each side, then fill it.

At the default 24 cm the sleigh is 24 cm long, 16 cm tall and 10 cm wide inside, on 3 sheets of A4. Each runner rests flat on the table for 17 cm, longer than the sleigh is tall, and the runners stand 10 cm apart, so it does not tip when you take a sweet out. It holds a handful of wrapped sweets, a small gift box or a candle in a jar; it is card, so keep it away from a flame and away from anything wet.

How to make the full-size sleigh

1. Choose Full size and type the length. Sheet 1 of the PDF is the layout map (every tile numbered, as it sits in the sleigh) and the cut list; the tiles follow.
2. Lay the tiles out like the map. On each tile, trim the edge marked “trim”, lay it on the dotted line of its neighbour so the round join marks sit exactly on each other, and tape. Tiles overlap by 12 mm.
3. Cut the taped template along the outline, trace it onto plywood, MDF or a big sheet of cardboard, then flip it over and trace the second side. Cut both with a jigsaw (a 10 mm drill hole in each window lets the blade in).
4. Cut the back, seat and front from the cut list. They are the outside width less two board thicknesses, so the sleigh comes out exactly the stated width. The dashed boxes on the tiles show where each one goes.
5. Fix each panel to both sides with glue and screws into square battens, sand the edges, and paint. The decoration panel and the name are marked on the tiles as a dotted box.

A prop, not a ride. The full-size sleigh is a display piece and a photo backdrop. This page states no weight it can hold, and nothing about it is tested for people: do not let anyone stand or sit on it unless you have designed the frame yourself for that.

Questions

Is there a free Santa sleigh template in full size, as a PDF?

Yes. Choose Full size, type the length from 90 to 240 cm, and press “Download tiles PDF”. It is free, with no sign-up and no watermark, and it is made in your browser, so you can download it as often as you change it. The PDF has the side profile at true size across A4 or US Letter sheets (the page picks the paper your device’s language suggests; switch it under Paper), with join marks in every overlap, a numbered layout map, and the cut list. “PNG” saves the sheet you are looking at as a 300 dpi image.

How big is a full-size sleigh, and how many sheets does it take?

The side is two thirds as tall as it is long. These are the sheet counts on A4, with an outside width of 45% of the length by default (you can type your own):

83 sheets is a lot of taping. For the biggest sizes, a projector or the grid method works too: draw the outline from the layout map, where every tile is a square of known size, onto the board yourself, and use the tiles only for the scroll and the runner tail, where the curves matter most.

Are there Santa sleigh plans with a cut list?

Yes, for a simple box sleigh: two sides cut from the profile, a back, a seat and a front. Type the board thickness (5 mm foam board, or 9, 12 or 18 mm plywood) and the page sizes the panels to fit between the sides. A 150 cm sleigh from 12 mm plywood needs two sides of 1500 × 996 mm, a back of 656 × 655 mm, a seat of 656 × 508 mm and a front of 656 × 421 mm, and stands 680 mm wide outside. Plan on two standard 2440 × 1220 mm sheets of plywood: one side from each, and the three panels from the offcuts.

Will the printable card sleigh really stand and hold sweets?

It stands on its two runners without glue on the table: the flat of each runner is about 1.1 times the sleigh’s height, and the runners are about two thirds of the height apart. The floor strip makes a closed box from the backrest to the front, 42% of the length wide inside, so a 24 cm sleigh holds sweets 10 cm across. Use 250 to 300 g/m² card; printer paper is too soft to hold its shape.

Can I cut the sleigh on a Cricut, Silhouette or laser cutter?

Yes. “SVG cut file” and “DXF” save the same lines at true size in millimetres: for the card sleigh, both sides and the floor strip with its folds on a separate layer (SCORE); for the full size, the side profile with its two windows. The DXF opens in Silhouette Studio’s free edition, which does not import SVG. After a download the page tells you which machine mat the file needs; a single card side up to 29 cm long fits a 12 × 12 in mat. The full-size profile is for a laser bed or a CNC router.

Can I put a name on the sleigh?

Type it under “Name on the side”. On the card sleigh it is printed in the decoration panel on both sides; on the full-size side the panel is marked on the tiles for you to paint, and the layout map gives the letter height. Leave the box empty for a plain panel with stars, hearts or snowflakes. The Colour-in design prints black outlines only, for children to colour before folding.