Building a personalised Santa video call web app as a solo dad

Santa Playtime — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 05:47:08 +0000

Building this as a solo dad means I have to keep the scope small, but the core experience is specific: a grown-up enters a child's name, age and wish, then an animated Santa video call made with AI says the child's name and talks about the wish. The aim is a personal Christmas moment, rather than a generic clip with a name pasted on.

The difficult part is making that feel natural and dependable. Names are not just text: spelling, pronunciation and accents can all make generated speech sound odd. I'm exploring how to make pronunciation easier to guide and how to handle a result that still sounds wrong. Because this is for children, safety has to shape the experience. I'm aiming to keep the interaction adult-led, with a bounded Christmas conversation rather than an open-ended chatbot; I'm also thinking carefully about the information collected and what a family should be told about AI-generated media.

It also needs to work beyond my laptop. On phones and tablets, layout, touch targets, audio playback, camera framing and variable network conditions all change the experience. Testing on real devices is as important as getting the desktop version working.

I'm building a few small browser Christmas games alongside the call. Families can try the games free for three days. If they choose a personalised call, the price is a simple one-off from £4.99, with nothing that renews. No subscription.

I'm building this independently, so feedback from people who've worked on speech interfaces, child-safe products or responsive web apps would be especially helpful. What would you test first, and where would you set the boundaries for generated dialogue?

You can see it at https://santaplaytime.com, and feedback is very welcome.

DEV Community: Santa Playtime

Building a personalised Santa video call web app as a solo dad