Mailing (and answering) letters to Santa

How to tell him you’ve been a good boy or girl

Santa Claus has a lot in common with the United States Postal Service. Santa's customer satisfaction levels directly relate to consistent, on-time delivery. Neither rain nor snow nor heat nor gloom of night keeps Santa and his dedicated helpers from providing joy at millions of homes the world over.

While Santa's been doing it a bit longer than the Postal Service, for more than two centuries he's relied almost exclusively on USPS letter carriers to bring him letters from girls and boys all across America.

This holiday season will be no different. The Postal Service is gearing up for a huge mail delivery to the North Pole to help Santa and his elves get ready for the big day.

Getting Mail to Santa - Quickly and Safely

Santa has offered to share these easy tips with children and their families to help their letters get to him as quickly and safely as possible:

Children should ask their parents for help addressing and putting stamps on their letters. This can help reduce misspellings — which can slow down letters — or using too much or too little postage.
Like all mail, it's important that letters to Santa include a complete return address with ZIP Code.
Santa enjoys candy canes and cookies, and his reindeer enjoy fresh hay. But because these treats can be damaged or crushed when sent in a regular envelope, it's better to leave them out for Santa on Christmas Eve rather than to mail them.
No extra packaging material, such as tape or string, is needed on a letter to Santa. The glue on the envelope flap does the trick.

Helping Santa Help Those in Need

While Santa receives most letters addressed to him at the North Pole, some are made available to organizations and individuals who want help those in need. Many Santa letters will be answered by a variety of Santa's helpers — charitable organizations, employees of local Post Offices and individual volunteers who want to help make children's holiday wishes come true. Contact your local Postmaster to find out how and where you can participate.

Santa’s Reply Letters – North Pole Postmark

The Postal Service is helping create holiday memories for children. Parents, guardians and other Santa’s helpers can craft a response from Santa and mail it in a second envelope to the Fairbanks, AK, Post Office. Postal elves at the nearby North Pole Post Office will open the envelopes, postmark Santa's reply letters and mail them back to the children they are addressed to.

After writing Santa's response letter, place it in a stamped envelope addressed to the intended recipient. “Santa, North Pole, Alaska,” should be included as the return address in the upper left corner of the envelope. This envelope should then be placed into a larger, properly stamped First-Class Mail or Priority Mail envelope with your correct return address and mailed to:

North Pole Christmas Cancellation
Postmaster
5400 Mail Trail
Fairbanks AK 99709-9998

North Pole postmark requests must arrive in Fairbanks, AK, before Dec. 15, 2007. Please mail your request by Dec. 10.

Customers interested in obtaining the North Pole Postmark on greeting cards should mail them to the address above, following the same directions. Please make sure that the stamped envelopes are sealed and contain cards or other inserts (empty envelopes can be damaged by high-speed sorting equipment).

Other Holiday Postmark Remailing Programs

Following the procedures outlined above, the following holiday-themed postmarks are also available:

Antler Christmas Cancellation
Postmaster
115 Main Street
Antler ND 58711-9998

Nazareth Christmas Cancellation
Postmaster
3427 Gull Road
Nazareth MI 49074-9800

Snowflake Christmas cancellation
Postmaster
761 S. 1st Street W
Snowflake AZ 85937-5579

Garland Christmas Cancellation
Postmaster
11n. Main Street
Garland UT 84312-8001

Bethlehem Christmas Cancellation
Postmaster
535 Wood Street
Bethlehem PA 18016-9998

Santa Claus Christmas Cancellation
Postmaster
45 Kringle Place
Santa Claus IN 47579-9998

Noel Christmas Cancellation
Postmaster
318 Main Street
Noel MO 64854-9998

For more holiday mailing information, visit usps.com.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/news.

An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation, 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.