USPS Operation Santa 2026: Santa’s address, key dates, and how to adopt a letter

What is Santa’s address?

The address USPS gives for letters to Santa is: Santa, 123 Elf Road, North Pole, 88888. There’s no state abbreviation; the city line is just North Pole and the ZIP Code 88888. USPS’s 2026 news release writes the same address as Santa Claus, 123 Elf Rd., North Pole, 88888, so either spelling of the name and street works on the envelope.

That address is what puts a letter into USPS Operation Santa, the Postal Service program that lets people read letters to Santa and answer them with gifts. The program traces back to 1912, when Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock let local postmasters allow employees and the public to respond to letters addressed to Santa Claus. It went nationwide online in 2020, and USPS opened the 2026 season on September 14.

The FAQ is blunt about the address: to be adopted, a letter must be addressed to 123 Elf Road, North Pole, 88888 and carry postage and a return address with the writer’s first and last name. If you already mailed a letter without the North Pole address, USPS suggests sending another one that meets the requirements.

• USPS Operation Santa: Writing to Santa ↗
• How to address an envelope ↗

USPS Operation Santa 2026 key dates

USPS published the 2026 schedule on September 14, 2026. The dates below come from the program’s FAQ and home page and match the news release; each weekday was checked against the 2026 calendar.

December 5 is a postmark deadline, not an arrival date, so there’s no reason to wait for it. Letters are added to the adoption site daily from November 16, and USPS notes they’re often adopted as soon as they’re posted, so a letter that arrives early spends more time on the site.

• USPS Operation Santa FAQs: key dates ↗
• USPS news release, September 14, 2026 ↗

How do you write a letter to Santa?

USPS doesn’t judge letters on need. Letters are posted at random for the public to choose from, but a letter has to meet these conditions to be included in the program:

• It’s legible.
• It has a valid return address, including any apartment number, in the letter or on the envelope. Put the writer’s full name and return address in the envelope’s upper left corner, and write the name and address in the letter too.
• It includes the writer’s first and last names. Last names don’t appear on the website.
• It’s addressed to Santa, 123 Elf Road, North Pole, 88888.
• It has the correct postage. USPS asks for a First-Class stamp in the upper right corner.
• It’s mailed through the U.S. Postal Service and postmarked by December 5, 2026.

• USPS Operation Santa FAQs: writing a letter ↗

What should a letter to Santa say?

Specifics help the person who adopts the letter. USPS suggests listing gifts in order of preference, naming the exact item, such as a game or book title, a size (infant, toddler, or teen), or a color, and not asking for gifts that may be too expensive. Younger children can get help: USPS says a parent, guardian, teacher, or caregiver can assist with the writing. The program site also has printable 2026 letter templates in English and Spanish.

A few packing rules decide whether a letter can be posted at all:

• Keep it flat. Glitter and glued-on objects such as macaroni or beads can keep a letter from being uploaded to the site.
• Families: put all of a household’s letters in one envelope and add stamps for the extra weight. Letters sent together have a better chance of being posted together as a family.
• Classrooms and organizations: send each letter in its own standard letter-size envelope, each with a First-Class stamp and the return address where the child will be during the holidays.
• If you move after mailing a letter, USPS suggests filing a change of address so a gift can find you.

• USPS Operation Santa: letter tips and templates ↗

What happens after you mail a letter to Santa?

Letters to 123 Elf Road are sorted, read, and published on USPSOperationSanta.com with personal information blacked out: last names, addresses, and school or community names. Adopters never see the writer’s address, and the person who sends a gift doesn’t receive the writer’s personal information from USPS.

There’s no guarantee at any step. USPS says sending a letter doesn’t guarantee that it will be posted, adopted, or that a gift will arrive, and it can’t confirm that a particular letter was received or uploaded. The only way to know a letter was adopted is that a package shows up. If one does, it could come any time after the website opens for adoption in November through mid-January 2027, and it comes from “Santa”: adopters are asked to keep gifts anonymous and sign any note from Santa.

Letters aren’t returned. USPS doesn’t keep the physical letters after the season, whether or not they were adopted, so make a copy first if you want to keep one. You don’t need an account to write a letter; accounts are only for adopters.

• USPS Operation Santa FAQs: privacy and receiving gifts ↗

How do you adopt a letter in USPS Operation Santa?

Anyone living in the continental U.S., Hawaii, or Puerto Rico can adopt. Military personnel deployed overseas can’t participate. Adoption happens only online; there’s no in-person adoption.

1. Create an account starting November 2, 2026, and verify your identity. USPS doesn’t carry accounts over from earlier years, so returning adopters register again. If online verification fails, you can choose in-person verification at a participating Post Office, which must be finished before December 12 to adopt.
2. Read letters starting November 16. You can filter for letters near you, and letters from one household are posted together as a family.
3. Adopt alone or as a team. Each person can adopt up to 20 letters; teams can adopt 20 per member. If you can’t fulfill a letter, cancel the adoption under Your Letters so someone else can take it.
4. Choose how to send gifts: buy from the program’s online catalog, Santa’s Gift Shoppe, which ships straight to the child, or shop on your own and ship from a participating Post Office.
5. Finish by Saturday, December 12, 2026, the last day to adopt and the recommended ship-by date for delivery by December 25.

• USPS Operation Santa: How to adopt ↗

How do adopters ship Operation Santa gifts?

Gifts you buy yourself go out only through a participating Post Office, of which USPS lists more than 19,000. Bring each package to a retail associate, not a kiosk, with the QR Code from your adoption confirmation email. The clerk scans it and applies the label, so you never see the child’s address. You pay the postage, and for privacy you get no label or tracking number; the letter’s status changes to Delivered in your account.

Other rules from the FAQ and shipping guidelines:

• New items only, and no return address or notes on the box. Sign any card from Santa; USPS suggests including its printable Note from Santa.
• Up to six USPS Ground Advantage and six Priority Mail packages per adoption, each under 70 pounds and, in most cases, no more than 108 inches in combined length and girth.
• Package Pickup and Click-N-Ship can’t be used for Operation Santa packages.
• Don’t send cash or checks. USPS suggests gift cards with any activation codes; a gift card sent alone goes in a Priority Mail envelope 4 × 6 inches or larger.
• Some gifts can’t be mailed: the program prohibits electronic skateboards, scooters, e-bikes, fireworks and sparklers, and perfume.
• Spending on gifts and postage isn’t tax-deductible, because USPS isn’t a 501(c)(3) organization, and USPS can’t accept money donations.

• USPS Operation Santa: How to ship gifts ↗
• USPS holiday mailing deadlines for 2026 ↗

Does Santa write back?

Not necessarily. USPS Operation Santa answers letters through adopters’ gifts, and only some letters are adopted. USPS says there’s no guarantee a letter will get a response, and it can’t confirm that a letter arrived, so a child who writes to 123 Elf Road may hear nothing back.

If you want your child to get a letter from Santa, USPS describes a separate, do-it-yourself option: you write Santa’s reply and the Postal Service mails it back with a North Pole postmark. Because the child’s own letter goes into that reply envelope, it comes back home with the answer rather than going to Operation Santa. A child who also wants to be considered for adoption needs to send a separate letter to 123 Elf Road by December 5.

How do you get a letter from Santa with a North Pole postmark?

USPS’s Greetings from the North Pole Post Office page lists the supplies (the child’s letter, your reply, a standard envelope, and a larger envelope, each with postage) and six steps: Check that page for USPS’s current recommended mailing window before you send.

1. Have the child write a letter to Santa.
2. Write a personal reply to that letter and sign it “From Santa.”
3. Put both letters in the standard envelope and address it to the child.
4. Use SANTA, NORTH POLE as the return address on that envelope.
5. Put a First-Class Mail stamp on it.
6. Place that envelope inside the larger envelope, with postage on both, and address the outer envelope to NORTH POLE POSTMARK, POSTMASTER, 4141 POSTMARK DR, ANCHORAGE AK 99530-9998.

• USPS: Greetings from the North Pole Post Office ↗

Where IRIS fits in your holiday mail

IRIS is an independent print-and-mail service, not USPS and not part of Operation Santa. A letter to Santa needs only a stamp and a mailbox, and the December 5 postmark is what counts, so mail it yourself. IRIS doesn’t ship packages, so it can’t send adoption gifts either.

For the rest of your list, IRIS prints full-color holiday postcards and mails them by USPS First-Class Mail to US addresses, with postage included: $3.49 for a 4 × 6 or small 5.5 × 4.25 card and $4.49 for a 6 × 9 or Pro 8.5 × 5.5 card. IRIS doesn’t guarantee a delivery date, so order well ahead of Thursday, December 17, 2026, USPS’s recommended First-Class Mail date for expected delivery before December 25.

• Create a holiday postcard ↗
• Postcard sizes ↗