Make someone’s holiday wishes come true: USPS’s Santa mailbox is now open — here’s how to help

Work never stops at the North Pole as there are a lot of kids to deliver presents to. Santa Claus and his elves slave away diligently in order to make sure that wishes come true fo all on Christmas Day.

With such a monumental task in mind the US Postal Service decided to begin lending a hand with ‘Operation Santa’ over 100 years ago to pick up any slack and make sure that no kid falls through the cracks.

“For more than a century, USPS Operation Santa has brought communities together to make the holidays brighter,” said Sheila Holman, USPS marketing vice president, in a statement.

Operation Santa’s mailbox is ready and open for the 2025 season

The US Postal Service kicked off its 113th annual Operation Santa on 15 September. Individuals and families can now send letters with their Christmas holiday wishes to the USPS.

The Operation Santa program connects those letters with generous individuals and organizations who help fulfil those holiday wishes from people in need. They will be able to adopt a letter starting Monday 17 November.

Christmas wish letters must be postmarked by Saturday 6 December to be eligible for adoption. The last day to adopt a letter and shop for gifts this year is Saturday 13 December.

How does the USPS Operation Santa work?

Individuals and families can submit a letter following the program guidelines which are available at USPSOperationSanta.com.

In order to make things easier for adopters to shop and donate, starting last year, the US Postal Service introduced an online catalogue, which has been expanded this year.

For security reasons, potential adopters must be vetted. They will be asked to go through a short registration and ID verification process before they can adopt any letter.

Those who want to adopt a letter can register starting Monday 3 November. Once the adoption process opens, they can read letters that have been submitted and pick one or more to fulfil.

This year, the USPS is allowing adopters the ability to fulfil the wishes of an entire household. “Each year, we receive far more letters than we have adopters, and this year we want to change that - especially by encouraging participants to adopt family letters,” said Holman in a press release

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