Operation Santa: What you can do now to help a child in need this holiday season

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Published  September 17, 2025 11:52am CDT
FOX Local

FILE - Postal volunteers from the Portland area send replies to letters addressed to Santa collected over the holiday season from around the state of Maine. (Staff photo by Derek Davis/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)

The Brief

    • Operation Santa, a Postal Service program to help children in need during the holidays, has kicked off for its 113th year. 
    • USPS says they receive far more letters than donors each year. They’re hoping that changes in 2025. 

The U.S. Postal Service’s Operation Santa program is under way, giving children in need a chance to send their wishlists straight to Santa, and generous donors a chance to help. 

Now in its 113th year, Operation Santa connects letter-writers with people and organizations that can fulfill the children’s holiday wishes. This year, donors have the option to fulfill wishes from multiple people within a single household by adopting a family letter.

What they’re saying: "For more than a century, USPS Operation Santa has brought communities together to make the holidays brighter," Sheila Holman, USPS marketing vice president, said in a statement. "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, which makes it possible to fulfill the wishes of an entire household at once."

READ MORE: Bath & Body Works is hiring 30,000 workers for holiday season

How it works

Timeline:

For those wanting to adopt a letter/wish list, you can register to do so on the Operation Santa website starting Nov. 17. When letter adoption opens, adopters can use Operation Santa’s online catalog to buy and send gifts to children in need. Letters to Santa must be postmarked by Dec. 6. 

What you can do:

To write a letter to Santa, take the following steps: 

  1. Write Santa’s mailing address on the envelope: 

            Santa
            123 Elf Road
            North Pole, 88888

  1. Include your full name and return address along with your apartment number in the upper left corner. 
  2. Attach a first-class stamp in the upper right corner
  3. Make sure the letter’s handwriting is legible, and list the gifts you want in order of preference.
  4. Be specific when asking for gifts. 

You can find templates available for download on the Operation Santa website. 

The history of Operation Santa

The backstory:

Established in 1912 by Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock, Operation Santa began with postal employees responding to letters addressed to Santa.

Over the years, it expanded to involve the general public, charitable organizations and corporations.

The Source: This report includes information from the U.S. Postal Service and previous LiveNow from FOX reporting. FOX's Austin Williams contributed.

Holidays