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Adopting a Letter to Santa

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

What’s an Adopter?

When you adopt a letter, you take on the magical responsibility of helping Santa fulfill the writer’s wishes! To participate, every adopter must complete an ID verification and plan to ship all gifts by December 13.

    New for 2025

    Adopters can team up to fulfill a household of wishes together. Learn more.

    How to Adopt

    • STEP 1

      Create Your Account

      Create an account and verify your identity. Only verified users can adopt — this helps keep letter writers safe.

      Create an Account
    • STEP 2

      Read Letters

      Look though letters and find one or more you want to fulfill. You can use the filter to look for ones in your area.

      Read Letters
    • STEP 3
      New for 2025

      Adopt Solo or Share a Family

      Several adopters can easily team up to share a family of letters and bring more holiday sparkle to everyone’s holiday.

      Learn More
    • STEP 4

      Decide on Shipping

      There are two ways to fulfill gifts, either through our newly expanded online catalog, or by shipping packages from a Post Office location.

      See Shipping Guide

    Ready to Get Started?

    Read Letters

    Frequently Asked Questions

    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.  

    • Saturday, 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