Skip to main content

Adopting a Letter to Santa

Help make people’s holiday wishes come true by adopting a letter and sending them the perfect gift.

Steps to Adopt a Letter

You must complete the following steps in order to adopt a letter:

Step 1

Create Your Account

Create an account and get verified. This helps keep letter writers safe.

Step 2

Read and Adopt Letters

Look through letters and find one or more you want to fulfill. You can use the filter to look for family letters as well as ones within your region.

Step 3

Shop for and Ship Your Gift

Decide how you want to fulfill your gift, and aim to send it on its way as soon as possible:

Find a Gift Fast in Our Online Catalog

Send gifts directly from Santa's Gift Shoppe, our online catalog. It's quick, easy and saves you a trip to a Post Office™ location.

Keep in mind

  • Place orders as early as possible to help families plan

Shop On Your Own With USPS

Buy a gift from the shop of your choice, package it for shipping, then ship from a participating Post Office™ location.

Keep in mind

Make Even More of an Impact

Explore ways to make the most of the giving season:

Top FAQs

What are key dates to know for the 2025 program?

  • Monday, September 15: Letters can now be sent to 123 Elf Road, North Pole, 88888.  

  • Monday, November 3: Registration and ID verification for adopters begins.  

  • Monday, November 17: Letter adoption begins.  

  • Monday, December 6: This is the last day to send letters. Letters must be postmarked by this date.  

  • Saturday, December 13: This is the last day to adopt letters before the website closes at 8pm ET. Send packages before this date to be sure they arrive by December 25, but the earlier the better to help families plan ahead.

Can anyone in the continental U.S. adopt letters in the USPS Operation Santa® program?

Anyone in the continental U.S., Hawaii, and Puerto Rico can participate. All you have to do is sign up, create an account and get verified.

Is there a limit to the number of letters I can adopt?

Yes. Each registered person can adopt no more than 15 letters. Teams can adopt 15 letters per participating team member. 

Please be sure you are able to fulfill the letters that you do adopt. Every adopted letter is removed from the site. If you are unable to fulfill the request, cancel your adoption on the Your Letters section of your account so it can be adopted by another generous person.  

Can I adopt an entire family?

Yes. Letters from the same household are posted collectively as a family. Because we don’t want anyone to think Santa forgot about them, we encourage families to be adopted together and for each family member to receive something. You can adopt families individually or as a team — the team format is set up to make it easy to join forces, divide up the wishes and fulfill all the letters together!  

Why can't I see any letters on the site? When will there be more?

New letters are added to the site daily starting Monday, November 17 through December 13. In many instances, letters are adopted as soon as they are posted. If there are no letters, it means they’ve currently all been adopted and are getting their holiday wishes fulfilled. But check back — new letters are added to the site every day. 

See All FAQs