6025 – 2025 First-Class Forever Stamp – SpongeBob SquarePants: The SpongeBob Gang

US #6025
2025 The SpongeBob Gang

• One of four SpongeBob SquarePants stamps
• Features characters from beloved animated TV series

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  SpongeBob SquarePants
Value:  78¢, First Class Mail Rate (Forever)
First Day of Issue:  August 1, 2025
First Day City:  New York, New York
Quantity Issued:  9,000,000
Printed by:  Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method:  Offset/Screen
Format:  Pane of 16
Perforations :  Die Cut

Why the stamp was issued:  This is one of four stamps issued to celebrate the beloved animated series, SpongeBob SquarePants.

About the stamp design:  USPS art director Greg Breeding designed the stamps using artwork from the show.

First Day City:  The First Day of Issue ceremony took place in Times Square in New York City.

About the SpongeBob SquarePants set:  SpongeBob SquarePants isn’t just one of the most beloved cartoons of all time – it’s a pop culture icon that started with a sponge and a big idea.
Creator Stephen Hillenburg was a marine biologist before becoming an animator.  His love of sea life led him to create The Intertidal Zone, a comic to teach kids about ocean creatures, which later inspired SpongeBob and his friends in Bikini Bottom.  The show’s setting under Bikini Atoll, a real location in the Pacific Ocean, and characters like jellyfish, starfish, and plankton all reflect Hillenburg’s scientific background.
But the show also draws from classic comedy and cartoons.  SpongeBob’s silly movements and dramatic expressions were influenced by silent film stars like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, as well as zany cartoon creators like Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, and John Kricfalusi.  With its mix of science, slapstick, and sharp animation, the show has connected with audiences of all ages since its debut in 1999.
SpongeBob SquarePants has become the longest-running American children’s animated series and one of the most recognizable cartoons in the world.  It has inspired movies, memes, and musicals.  And in 2025, it made waves again with a set of US stamps celebrating its unforgettable underwater world.  The colorful characters bring their irrepressible joy to our letters.

History the stamp represents: Before SpongeBob SquarePants became a TV icon, his creator Stephen Hillenburg was a marine biologist with a big imagination.
Hillenburg studied marine science in college and worked at the Ocean Institute in California, where he taught kids about sea life.  To make learning fun, he created a comic book called The Intertidal Zone. It featured sea creatures with silly personalities, like a talking sponge and a grumpy starfish.  The unpublished comic planted the seed for SpongeBob SquarePants.
Hillenburg took a risk and went back to school to study animation.  When he pitched SpongeBob to Nickelodeon in the late 1990s, he used drawings and characters inspired by The Intertidal Zone.  The result was a wacky underwater world filled with jellyfishing, boating school, and plenty of laughs.
Hillenburg carefully chose sea creatures whose real-life traits matched their personalities… SpongeBob is a sponge because they’re simple, absorbent, and oddly funny.  Sandy the squirrel is the kind of land animal researchers sometimes send underwater for study.  Even Plankton was based on the real-life organisms that float through the ocean and fuel the food chain.  Through humor, Hillenburg slipped in little bits of science, giving viewers a fun peek into ocean life without them even realizing it.