Volunteer to Answer Letters to Santa
On this page you will learn how to Be an Elf for the wonderful USPS Operation Santa® program.
Three ways you can Be An Elf
1. Go to the USPS® website, USPSoperationsanta.com® and adopt a letter to Santa — but first, read this page and the tips we offer.
If you don’t see enough “needy” letters at the USPS® site, it means Christmas volunteers have already adopted the neediest letters. The moment a letter is adopted, it is taken down from the site, leaving the letters other volunteers did not yet adopt. If you don’t find a letter that moves you, come back the next day, because postal elves select new letters to post every day as they pour in, starting in mid-October and increasing through well into December.
Start by adopting one letter, not two! Shopping, wrapping gifts, boxing them for shipping and mailing them is more work than you think — unless you are mailing a Target gift card to the Moms. Be An Elf sends $100 Target gift cards as our donations permit, and we trust the Moms will buy what their kids need and want most. We get hundreds of emails from kids and moms too!
Team up with your friends Share the work, the cost and the fun. Divide the cost; adopting just one family can cost $100 or more. Teaming up with friends is smart, and it’s fun!
Before you adopt more than one letter, consider this. You’re excited, and you see several letters you’d like to adopt. Your heart tells you to adopt three of them, and when you do, you fully intend to send each of them gifts. But the reality of it is a different matter, and if you don’t fulfill every letter you adopt, those kids will go without.
So we urge you to adopt only one letter, and leave needy letters for others to adopt. Trust us, people will snap them up quickly when the site opens the next morning.
If you do over-adopt, you can log back into your account at USPSoperationSanta.com® and “un-adopt” any letter you’ve adopted. Then they go back online automatically, and can be adopted by other volunteers. But dont un-adopt letters too late in the season, because the kids won’t get the gifts in time for Christmas morning, and may not get any gifts from volunteers.
So start with one letter, unless you are sending gift cards. Then it’s easy to do several.
USPS® Operation Santa® opens for online letter adoption around November 20th. You must first register for an account and have your ID verified; it’s better to do this in advance.
When you adopt a letter to Santa at the USPS® site, you may download it and print it together with a barcoded mailing label. The child’s address and family name are redacted by USPS® Staff, and only their first name remains.
After reviewing letters for the website, postal elves put every letter back into the mail and send it on its way to the jolly man in red at the North Pole. Children may be happy to learn that, in addition to the gifts that all kids get from Santa, he also has kind volunteers who send a few extra gifts to children whose parents are struggling financially. Some letters do not get selected for the USPS® site, but those kids will at least get Santa’s gifts.
How to mail your packages When you’ve completed your shopping and gift wrapping, and boxed your gifts up for mailing, see the USPS page, our How to Ship Gifts. Over 19,000 postal branches offer “label scanning,” and can scan the bar-coded mailing label that printed out with the letter you adopted. Tape it to the box you are mailing, and the clerk will scan it and print the address label. There are 19,000 post offices across the US that offer label scanning. You will need to pay for the postage.
2. If you don’t have time to adopt a letter and send gifts, please donate online to Be An Elf or give by check. Your gift to our non-profit is fully tax-deductible, and we use part of the online donations we get to adopt Santa letters ourselves, and part to pay the costs of this running this website.
We’re all-volunteer here. Be An Elf is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 charity that supports USPS® Operation Santa ® every year. Our group is not affiliated with USPS® Operation Santa®, but we support the wonderful program by creating public awareness of it — both among needy families and volunteers who wish to help others at Christmas. We’ve recruited many thousands of volunteer Elves since our founding in 2004, and we use some of our donations to send Target gift cards to needy families whose letters we adopt.
By sending Target gift cards to the moms, we’ve been able to adopt many more letters in recent years. We have faith that the mothers know best what their children need, and their shopping will be limited to Target, which has stores everywhere.
Your contribution will also help us let more people know about the wonderful USPS® Operation Santa ® program. You’ll be empowering us to recruit new volunteers, who will, in turn, adopt letters online and buy gifts for needy kids.
Together, we will make more children in need smile on Christmas morning.
Those are the basics, but we will go into more detail below and answer a few FAQs at the end.
3. A third way to help is to tell your friends about this program, or let needy families know about it. Post or tweet our website to your followers on Facebook or Twitter, and if you like, use our sample Facebook posts or Tweets about Be An Elf, which tell your friends about the USPS® Operation Santa ® program.
Below are additional ways you can help. Scroll down and you’ll get tips for gifts to send, and you’ll even learn how you can help create awareness among low-income families that it’s possible to get extra Christmas gifts for their kids this year.
Whether you adopt a letter, donate, or spread the word, you’ll be helping us to recruit new volunteers for the USPS® Operation Santa ® program.
Thank you for volunteering and being an Elf! Your and your family will catch the true spirit of Christmas, and you’ll put smiles on more little faces come Christmas morning.
If you’re a child or parent who wants to write to Santa, please see our Seeking Gifts? page.
If you’re an adult interested in volunteering, please read on below. The most frequently asked questions we get are on our FAQs page.
Elf Patrick
SCAN THE HEADLINES BELOW TO CHECK THE TOPICS COVERED
DO ANY POSTAL BRANCHES STILL OFFER THE TRADITIONAL WALK-IN PROGRAM, WHERE PEOPLE CAN WALK IN AND READ LETTERS TO SANTA ALONGSIDE OTHER VOLUNTEERS?
HOW DO I FIND A BRANCH THAT OFFERS THE LABEL BROKER SERVICE, SO I CAN MAIL MY PACKAGE?
Please see our Locations page for instructions and a link to the page at USPS.com® where you can find a postal branch near you that offers the Label Broker service that can scan the barcoded shipping label on your package.
DETAILS ABOUT THE USPS® OPERATION SANTA PROGRAM AND FAQs
Before posting letters to Santa online, postal workers give the letters an initial screening. They select the ones which hint, and sometimes shout, that the families need help for the holidays.
Postal workers remove children’s family names and addresses from all letters before posting publicly, and the USPS® staff always forward every letter on to Santa, whether or not it gets selected for the site.
When volunteers adopt a letter online, it is removed from view at the site, and they print it out, along with a barcoded shipping label. Packages must be mailed from any of 19,000 branches that offer the “label broker” service. To locate one near you, visit our Locations page.
Gifts must be mailed by December 10, t0 arrive in time for Christmas.
Letters from those who are struggling financially and seeking help with Christmas should be mailed to Santa Claus, 123 Elf Road, North Pole 88888 and reviewed by USPS® staff for possible posting online at USPSoperationsanta.com.®
YOU CAN HELP! PRINT AND POST UP FLYERS TO LET NEEDY FAMILIES KNOW ABOUT THE USPS® PROGRAM. THEY NEED “NEEDY” LETTERS!
CALL LOCAL NEWS MEDIA AND SUBMIT OUR NEWS RELEASE TO EDITORS
IF YOU’RE AN EMPLOYEE AT A COMPANY, WE HAVE A PLAN FOR YOU TO ORGANIZE A GROUP OF EMPLOYEES TO VOLUNTEER
See our new Plan for Companies. We’d like you to share it with your HR Director, and get corporations involved, too.
SELECTING LETTERS TO ADOPT
As you read online through children’s and parents’ often sad letters to Santa, you’ll select one or more to adopt that speak to you. It might be a very young, single Mom letting you know she’s writing because her child is still too young to write. Take letters from parents and family members seriously, too. So many people are asking for help during the holidays. Read between the lines, and select your letter or letters.
Following that, you’ll purchase gifts for the child or needy family who wrote the letter you adopted. Some volunteers prefer to adopt more letters, and simply send Target or Amazon gift cards to the families. That way, the Moms do all the shopping and gift wrapping.
Many of the letters have been written by kids who ask for specific toys, and ask for new laptops and X-boxes. They are not always so quick to describe the conditions they live in. But postal workers know many of the streets on the return addresses, and that could be a factor in their selection of a letter.
By the way, we do not recommend giving video games! See our list of recommended gifts below.
Some kids are more open about their circumstances, and write that, “Dad lost his job, and we have no money to buy gifts this year,” or, “My Mom cries a lot. Our furniture is old and our refrigerator don’t work too good,” and so on. Others only list toys. Look for signs of need as you read.
CALL FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, AND ORGANIZE A GROUP TO DO THIS TOGETHER
Some volunteers organize a group of friends or neighbors, and select letters together and shop for them in teams. Later, the organizer can have a pot luck Christmas party, wrap gifts together, and share the cost, the tasks and the fun. We wholeheartedly recommend doing this. Contact a few friends and see! You could use our Plan for companies as a starting point; even the draft of a letter to employees at the bottom of that page could be used as a starting point to enlist your friends in this project. We’d suggest you keep the ratio of 3 people for every letter adopted, to control costs and the work.
GIVE A CHRISTMAS GATHERING
Share the work, share the cost, and share the fun! Ask each friend to bring one or more gifts, and wrap them all at your party.
Including a link to our site with your invitation will help get your friends excited about the project. Feel free to copy a few words from our Home page to explain the idea to your guests, and use Twitter and Facebook or eVite. But what works best is one on one phone calls.
You could send your guests a list of suggested toys to bring, based both on the letters adopted and our gift recommendations, below. Share copies of the letters to Santa you adopted at the gathering, or ask everyone to bring one letter they adopted.
Remember that the cost of answering just one letter can reach $70 to $100, so to keep the per person cost reasonable and affordable, you might want to stick to a ratio of three or four friends for every letter your group adopts.
Before the party, delegate the shopping, perhaps one to two gifts per guest. Get together again to wrap the gifts with your friends. Some friends may prefer to contribute cash. Finally, a small group of you will need to return to the original post office to mail your gifts.
Again, our Plan for Companies to adopt letters as a group can easily be applied to this, and it will also help you formuate a timeline and provide a list of tasks. Take a look!
In 2009, Elf Lauren of Brooklyn, NY, e-mailed us to say that she chose six letters. She wrote that she organized a party for neighbors in her apartment building, and sent them each a wish list of specific gifts requested by kids in the letters she got. Her group bought gifts for six Moms and 13 children; some of the letters she chose had mentioned siblings.
Guests were asked to bring a gift to her party, or to make a donation to help fund her shopping.
The following year, 2010, she got her whole apartment building involved. She approached everyone through Facebook, even her Condo Board.
We think having a party is a creative way to share the fun, the cost and the work involved.
Be An Elf!
HOW MUCH DO I NEED TO SPEND?
Elf Hans Dohm, who was the initial inspiration for this website, always bought gifts using his own money and shopped together with his friend Julie.
He told us he spent an average of about $60 per letter and got gifts for the whole family, not least the Moms. The ten households Hans chose in 2004 required a cash outlay of about $600 on his part. You may not wish to buy gifts for ten letters!
Hans told us that in his years of doing this, he was often greeted by a single Mom at the door. So he began including small gifts for the Mom in each family, and he thought that would make a small difference to her.
What you spend is up to you — but anything at all you can contribute will help make a child’s Christmas brighter.
IF YOU ARE SEEKING GIFTS FOR YOUR KIDS
Please don’t write to us asking us to send you money or send gifts directly to your kids. Our group adopts letters online or in person ONLY through the USPS® program. We also spread the word about this wonderful program, recruit new volunteers for it, and plenty more. See our Writing to Santa? page if you are seeking gifts. Our tips will really help! Be an Elf!
MAILING YOUR GIFTS
SHOULD I PAY ATTENTION TO THE MOMS WHO ARE WRITING ON BEHALF OF THEIR KIDS?
Some of the letters to Santa you’ll read are written by Moms writing on behalf of their kids, who are often to little to write. Most who write likely know about the USPS® Operation Letters to Santa ® program. They know when the program starts, because every year by early December, many of the participating post offices are already flooded with letters asking Santa for basic necessities.
It’s likely, too, that some of the Moms help their children as they write to Santa. Many of the letters in children’s handwriting cite the names and correct clothing sizes of all their younger siblings. To give kids the benefit of a doubt, more than a few children may have thought of their siblings in need entirely on their own, without any help from Mom. Of course younger siblings are often too little to write, and it makes sense that a low income Mom would write on their behalf.
Many Moms simply choose to write to Santa themselves; they almost always include the names, ages and clothing sizes of their kids. Some have babies and small children who can’t write to Santa on their own, of course.
The first instinct of many volunteers is to answer only Santa letters from children, and not from Moms. However, we have come to see how real the Mom’s letters are, and believe that the vast majority of these women are honest and writing Santa from their hearts, sometimes as a cry for help.
Indeed, only people in real need are likely to write to Santa asking for such basic household items. Many of the women who write are single Moms who are feeling sad and alone over the holidays. When we delivered gifts in person in the old days, before 2008, one Mom broke down in tears on her doorstep, saying she had no money to buy her kids gifts. She was totally surprised, as only her child wrote to Santa. You can view our photos page, for photos of her as she cried. It was moving for me and my friend Hans, as volunteers, to be sure.
This is about kids of course, but we’ve concluded that Operation Santa is also about helping the Moms with their kids, and making the kids smile.
In sum, I encourage our volunteers to read the Mom’s letters, too, and take them as seriously as they take the letters from children. We even recommend enclosing a small gift for Moms, too; see below.
INCLUDE GIFTS FOR THE MOMS, AND FOR SIBLINGS
If the child’s letter mentions any siblings, you may wish to include gifts for them, lest some in the family get less than others. So we encourage including a small gift for the Mom, such as a toiletry item, perhaps cologne or a scented candle. Often the children writing to Santa are living with a single parent who may be feeling sad and alone over Christmas. Many have small babies, and it’s a difficult time for them. Your small gift may be the only present the Mom will get on Christmas morning. Their letters tell their stories.
SUGGESTION: MARK YOUR GIFTS “FROM SANTA”
We recommend marking your gifts “from Santa”, if you wish to. Selfless giving is sometimes the most rewarding kind, and more importantly, it’s fun to keep kids believing in Santa! Think about it. To be sure, that will be your call entirely.
THE ONLINE OPERATION SANTA PROGRAM VS. THE TRADITIONAL WALK-IN PROGRAM
A NEW PLAN FOR COMPANIES FOR EMPLOYEES WHO WISH TO VOLUNTEER
Companies traditionally have been permitted to adopt 50 to 100 letters. We’ve written a new plan through which any employee may become an organizer, with the approval of management. Or management can become involved at the highest level. See our new Plan for companies at this site.
HOW MANY LETTERS SHOULD YOU RESPOND TO? CAN I JUST SEND TARGET OR K-MART GIFT CARDS?
Our friend Hans Dohm was an volunteer Elf for many years. He told us he would typically read 50 to 100 letters, and buy gifts for ten families. He bought each family an average of $10 gifts for $6 to $10 each. His cost per family was $75 on average.
That’s a lot! We recommend that you start small, with one to three families, since you may be tempted to take on more children than you can actually provide gifts for. There are so many!
You can see Hans’ photo on our Who we Are page with more of Hans on our Photos page.
Be realistic, and don’t overextend yourself, we want you back again next Christmas! So start small, and know that you are making a difference to a family in your community.
One way to manage the cost is to have a party where friends contribute gifts for kids, and wrap them together, is a great idea.
Whether you send wrapped gifts or a Target or K-Mart gift card is up to you. One year, as our Elf Patrick and team were selecting Be An Elf’s initial pile of letters to send gifts to, we noticed an elderly lady adopting ten (10!) letters. We asked how she planned to answer all those letters, and she looked up and replied with a wise smile, “Oh, I just send them all Target or K-Mart gift cards. I put them in a gift wrapped box, so it doesn’t look like cash!”
This choice is up to every volunteer, but we don’t need to remind you that small kids do love getting presents under the tree, and it’s unclear how Mom will spend your money. If you do choose to send a Target or K-Mart gift card, at least the parent would have to spend it at those stores — and they know best what to buy for their kids. We have faith that the great majority of the parents will buy presents for their kids, including things they need.
Either way, select only those letters you can truly fulfill. Commit firmly to yourself before you adopt online. When in doubt adopt less letters, even though many of the letters you read pull at your heart. Please don’t let a child’s letter to Santa go unanswered, because that needy letter might get adopted by another volunteer.
Again, a great and fun way to handle a large number of letters, perhaps five to ten letters, is to give a Christmas party.
Hans Dohm and his friend Julie would typically respond to each letter with a package of ten gifts, ranging from $6 to $10 each. They included gifts for siblings who were mentioned in letters, as well as a gift for the Moms. If you wish to do the same, consider that one letter may be enough for your Christmas party. It’s a good deal of work to volunteer for this alone, but that can offer rewarding as well.
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
Hans Dohm found surprisingly deep rewards in being an Elf. In December, 2005, he and his friend Julie chose eleven letters to fulfill. Our Elf Patrick was there helping. Some are posted on our Real Letters page. They did the shopping and gift wrapping at home together, and delivered their gifts in person to the needy families on Christmas eve. Smiles all around! As we said, since 2008 only postal workers may deliver gifts.
Hans is a modest, quiet man of depth. He told us he was always humble and very respectful when delivering his gifts, which could be done in person in those days. He never let the family know that he was answering a child’s letter to Santa Claus, and his gift tags simply read, “From Santa.” This kept the smaller kids believing in Santa, and most parents prefer that.
He never gave used clothes or toys, only new ones, as he was sensitive to the feelings of the families he bought gifts for.
We agree — your used things should go to goodwill! Giving selflessly is perhaps the core of Christmas spirit.
HOW DO I KNOW WHICH LETTERS ARE FROM TRULY UNDERPRIVILEGED KIDS?
Postal workers read and sort the letters, and are good at telling which letters are from truly needy kids. For example, if a child is asking for a “warm coat” or food, or clothes for other family members, that’s a sign of true need.
Some of the letters will be from Moms, most of them single and in poverty. Yes, some of them will already know about this program, and that is apparent in reading some of the Moms’ letters. While some readers may think the worst and be cynical, our feeling is that they would not be writing, asking strangers for clothes and other necessities, unless they were really in need.
Use your judgment, and pick letters which speak to your heart.
Postal workers who read and screen the letters to Santa have often done this in the past. They know what to look for.
The letters which moved us the most, to which Hans Dohm and Julie responded with gifts, are posted at our Real Letters page.
REMEMBER MOMS, DADS, AND SIBLINGS
At the risk of repeating our mentions of this above, if your budget permits, do your best to include gifts for parents and siblings. A large percentage of Americans live below the poverty line and are single parents. Like some of Elves who volunteer, many of the Moms, and some Dads, also feel lonely and sad during the holidays.
So, in addition to answering a child’s request of Santa, Hans almost always included gifts from Santa for the parent the child referred to in their letter. Hans would buy gifts for siblings, too, lest they might feel left out and get jealous — and if an only child, guess who got ALL the gifts!
Just read the child’s letter, look into your heart, and you will know what to do.
Some volunteers simply send Target or other gift cards — they’re easy to wrap and mail, and it’s a good bet that Mother knows best what will make her children smile.
RECOMMENDED GIFTS FOR CHILDREN
Great gift ideas for kids include backpacks or book bags for school, pens, paper, and other school supplies, and new clothes, like little T-shirts. It’s wonderful, too, if you can answer the child’s wish in their letter. They often specify clothing and even sizes, probably with a little help from Mom.
Note that used clothing or articles will not be so well received. As mentioned above, we do not recommend giving your used clothes. They may be poor, but many are proud and sensitive about being needy. They may feel insulted. Give your used things to Goodwill.
The parents are often single Moms, and we suggest adding a gift for Mom which she could not afford to buy for herself, like a simple cologne or special holiday treat.
Think of things you might like to receive if you had no money to spare for a small luxury. New items of quality are always welcome.
If your budget permits, try to remember siblings or other kids who may live in the same house, too. Often, kids write about their siblings in their letters to Santa.
Hans Dohm would always buy about 10 gifts per household, wrap them all individually, and tag them all “From Santa Claus.”
PLEASE POST IN SOCIAL MEDIA ABOUT OUR WEBSITE AND THE USPS® PROGRAM
Please post a link to this site on your Twitter, Instagram or Facebook pages, or post photos or videos of your time volunteering, Santa letter/s you adopted, and your Be An Elf party, too. Share our Facebook and Twitter pages, too; the icons are at top.
Please send us your photos and we’ll post them on our Facebook page. If you email us using the form on our Contact page, you will get an auto-reply with our direct email on it. Thank you!
HOW DO MY GIFT/S GET DELIVERED?
Also see our FAQs page.
If you can’t volunteer your time, please donate online to Be An Elf or give by check.
Your donation to Be An Elf will further our mission and help us recruit new volunteers. Put smiles on more kids’ faces by empowering us to recruit new volunteers!
Another great way to support our mission is to let your friends know about our group. If you like, use our suggested draft of a message to your friends to tell them about us. Feel free to rewrite the message any way you wish.
Post a link to this page on your Facebook page, or Tweet about us!
Thanks for being an Elf!
