The Business of Santa

Disclaimer

The Santa Blog is written by Dave, not Santa. It is designed to be fun, humorous, and informational. It is not written in character and not for “true believers.”

Imagine it's early December. You've decided to throw a little holiday get together. You think to yourself, wouldn't it be great if Santa came to your party! You hop online and type into the Google machine "Santa Claus near me." The little AI bot gives you some suggestions and tells you that a Santa will run you anywhere from $150 to $500 an hour or more! If you can even find one with availability that late in the season...

"Gosh golly! That seems like a lot," you say to yourself. "$150 an hour for some guy to dress up in a red suit and say 'Ho Ho Ho.'" And quite frankly, you're right. It definitely is a lot. When I first began my Santa journey I felt like prices were very high. But then I started to do some research, speak to other Santas, rack up some expenses. I quickly realized why these hourly rates get up there so quickly.

In this blog I'm going to try to give you a little peek behind the curtain of what goes into pricing, costs and why Santas might be a little more than you were expecting.

First up, and probably the most obvious one is the timing of it all. Christmas season is basically a month, the 25 days from Dec 1 to the big day itself. If you're Christmas crazy like me, it might let you throw November in there too. There's also a cycle to the holiday season based on when Thanksgiving falls. Generally there's three December weekends, plus Black Friday weekend. For example in 2025 Thanksgiving was the 27th and the first full December weekend was the 6th and 7th. We consider this a "short season." The opposite of that is when Christmas falls on a Monday and Thanksgiving is early. Either way, you slice it at most there's 32 days from when most folks start their holidays to the end of the season, with between 8 to 10 weekend days to really get the most out of Santa season.

That right there is the #1 reason for Santa's charging what they charge. The time to actually do the job is extremely limited. I'm not a "full time" Santa, so I'm not quite as reliant on the work as some are. But for a lot of Santas out there, this is their primary source of income. They are trying to book every hour they can to support themselves the rest of the year. So their pricing is representative of that.

And while we're talking about that, we can also mention that while the portraying of Santa only happens for a few months each year, the "business" of Santa is much closer to year round. It's July 4th weekend, and I'm updating my blog, but not just that, I'm starting prep for the upcoming season. Now when I'm updating my website, I'm putting together my offseason to do list. Things like make sure the suit is clean. All my accessories are intact. Updating or replacing them as needed. I'm also starting to contact returning customers. So right about now is when I really start ramping up. But I'm not doing an appearance.

As Santa Claus, I also have a pretty solid social media presence. And to continue to make that effective, that's something I have to be active on year round. So I'm always thinking of posts I can make or reuse or repurpose. Since my beard only gets white during the season that can be difficult, and sometimes takes a little extra effort in the offseason.

And much like the job is more than just the season, a lot of the expenses are too. We of course have the costs during visits that are fairly obvious. Gas to travel to events, candy canes or trinkets to giveaway and of course the suit itself. That's usually a one time big purchase, but still something that you know is part of what you're paying for.

There are other one time costs too, and some of them are a little less obvious. Training is one of them. Yes, Santa school is a real thing. I know, it sounds like something made up by a Christmas movie writer who had too much eggnog, but it is real. Some Santas go to formal Santa schools, some attend workshops, some learn from other Santas, and some do a little bit of everything. There is a lot more to learn than just how to say "Ho Ho Ho" and wave. Working with shy kids, excited kids, kids with special needs, photographers, crowds, tough questions, and all the little details that make it feel like Santa and not just some guy in a red coat. That kind of training is part of the investment too.

But there's a lot more hidden expenses that you might not consider. Like my website. I have to pay for the domain and the site itself. And I'm paying for it in March when I have 2 people visit it, vs November when I have hundreds. Can't just turn it off for six months. Then in season I have to get my beard dyed professionally, twice, I wear a little makeup and have beard whitener to touch up. Lots of little things that you would not really think of if you weren't doing this. I won't give away dollars and cents, but last year, even without my suit purchase, I was still very close to breaking even. Then there's those costs that you pay for every year that may never come into play. The background check and the insurance aren't cheap either and there are some Santas that will forgo them because of that. But I feel they are very important to both me and you. I hope that I can consider that money "wasted" my entire career.

Then there's a third component that is a little less direct. And that's our Santa community. For the most part we aren't competitors. We're a community. If I can't do your event, I'll try and get you another Santa. We share ideas, help each other out, and try to make sure that families are getting a good experience no matter which Santa they end up with. Because every great Santa helps all of us. And every not so great Santa makes people think we're all just a bunch of guys who found a red coat in the back of a closet and decided to charge admission. So we try to hold each other up, keep learning, and make the whole Santa thing better for everyone.

The final component is timing and travel. And it goes hand in hand. Within the short season, there's also premium days and times. They're pretty self explanatory. As I'm not the real Santa and I can't move at speeds that defy the laws of physics, I can usually only do one or two visits on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. And a lot of people would like those days. So this is where we do get a little selfish. I too would like to spend some of that time with my family. So I am going to charge a pretty penny. And with those limited times and dates, we also have to consider travel cost. And this isn't just the gas, or train, or potentially even the flights and hotels. What the travel charges really represent is the opportunity cost. If I'm traveling over two hours round trip to your event, that's two hours of bookable time that I'm losing, especially if that's on a premium day. So the travel fee does more to cover that than a few gallons of gas.

So now you have a clearer picture of everything that's going into the $150, $250 or $500+ an hour price you're seeing. You won't find a price on my website for most of those reasons. I'm not going to put a price on things that are fluid and flexible. I know that may be frustrating, especially if you're just doing some research. But I'd rather not post a price and work with you on your needs than say my price is X and then as we get discussing I have to add on travel or other costs and we end up somewhere significantly higher than what you expected. I believe it's fairer this way, and we'll work together to make it happen.