Operation Santa open for letter adoption

Become one of Santa’s little helpers this year and help the U.S. Postal Service make the holidays brighter for children and families throughout the nation.

Operation Santa is now open for those who want to show Santa letter writers that there is still be magic in a world full of obstacles and seemingly everything standing in your way — you just have to believe.

Individuals, families, workplaces and community groups can visit the Operation Santa website to adopt letters.

You’ll get the amazing opportunity to grant wishes of keiki and families who wrote to the Jolly Old Elf himself, hoping they’ve been good enough this year to get what they asked him to bring.

“We invite the public to join us in spreading holiday cheer by adopting a [U.S. Postal Service] Operation Santa letter,” said U.S. Postal Service Vice President of Marketing Sheila Holman in an announcement about the letter campaign. “Every year, we receive far more letters than those adopting. So, if you have the means, we encourage you to adopt a letter.”

The Postal Service even made it easier this year for groups or teams to adopt family letters — making the holidays for festive, fun and special for everyone in a household.

Key takeaways

• New emphasis this year on adopting family letters — including a built-in team option — to help fulfill multiple wishes from the same household.
• Santa’s Gift Shoppe — powered by Toys “R” Us — is back with a much larger selection of items, making it easy to shop and ship gifts online from home.
• Adopters should ship gifts by Dec. 13 to help ensure on-time delivery for the holidays.
• Dec. 13 is the last day to ship gifts to make sure they reach their destination on time for the holiday. It’s also the last day to adopt a letter.

Adopters should also visit the Operation Santa website and follow the steps below to be part give back to the community:

• Create a login and verify your identity.
• Browse available letters from across the United States.
• Adopt the letters you love — including family letters.
• Shop for the perfect gift through Santa’s Work Shoppe or on your own.
• Ship your gift right away through the U.S. Postal Service online catalog or from a Post Office location.

To help ensure gifts arrive in time for the holidays, adopters should ship them no later than Dec. 13. Sending gifts as early as possible helps families know their holiday wishes have been met.

U.S. Postal Service also highlights its adopt a family option this year, which is a new feature this year that makes it easier to fulfill letters from the same household together:

• JOIN FORCES: One person creates the team and invites friends, family members or coworkers to help fulfill a family’s letters.
• EACH PERSON TAKES A PAGE: team members can claim the letter from the family that speaks to them and invite others to adopt the rest.
• YOU’RE IN CHARGE: all letters in the family must be adopted. The team admin can see unclaimed letters and adopt the remaining ones to make sure the family is fully covered.

The adopting family letters also provides a fun way to give back to the community that you can do along with your own family, friends and even coworkers.

This option is designed for offices, teams, community groups and organizations that want to make an even bigger impact together.

To help make letter adoption easier than ever, Santa’s Gift Shoppe — powered by Toys“R”Us — is also back this year with a much larger selection of items. Adopters can send gifts directly from the newly expanded online catalog, saving a trip to a Post Office location and keeping the experience seamless.

Santa’s Gift Shoppe is designed to:

• Give adopters a quick, easy way to find the perfect gift.
• Save time and money with free shipping on orders more than $49
• Streamline sending gifts directly to the recipient because all packaging and shipping is handled for you.
• Support adopters who want to fulfill multiple letters — including family letters — in one session

“We want to make it as easy as possible to participate,” Holman added. “You can adopt single or family letters as a team, shop for the perfect gift quickly and easily online, and get it delivered directly from Santa’s Gift Shoppe, all from the comfort and convenience of home. And the best part is, the earlier you adopt, the sooner you can help make somebody’s holiday wish come true.”

Visit the U.S. Postal Service Operation Santa website to get started, find additional information or with any questions you might have about the holiday project.