How to Become a Mall Santa
‘Tis the season to buy a red suit and fire up your sleigh if you want to be Kris Kringle.
Red suit—check. White beard—check. Bag of toys—check. If getting a job as a mall Santa is on your Christmas List, you’ll need a longer piece of paper. It takes more than the velvet costume to be a jolly old elf. But with a bit of intel, you can have a steady job dressing up as Santa Claus every year from November through December 25.
What Is a Mall Santa?
You’ve seen Santa Claus at the mall. How can you miss him? He’s usually in the center of the mall or near the food court, sitting on an enormous gold throne surrounded by elves. Camera flashes are going off, and you might hear the faint sound of a crying child (OK, maybe not so faint). Besides his display of all things jolly and bright, Santa is at your mall for some other interesting reasons.
1. Santa Is a Goodwill Ambassador
A fun Santa spreads his personality throughout the mall. A mall with a “good” Santa may be your favorite place to shop for the holiday. After all, as Santa, you’re paid to laugh and be friendly. If you make kids happy, too, you’ve done your job.
2. Photos With Santa Are an Annual Tradition
If you want a reasonably inexpensive holiday photo to put on your mantle or in a photo album that will haunt your children forever, a visit to Santa at the mall is a great resource. Kids are just cuter when they’re on Santa’s lap. Sometimes. Other times they scream like a banshee, with tears flooding Santa’s beard. They’re still cute.
3. A Few People Depend on Santa for Their Income
Santa brings kids to the mall. Unless they’re 16, and that’s creepy, they have to bring their parents along. Parents walk by all the shop windows and will likely buy gifts for the upcoming holiday. The store wins. The mall wins. And it’s all because of Santa.
4. A Santa Photo Gig Can Be Great Income for a Photographer
From the days when an elf handed you a Polaroid photo of your child’s experience to the modern-day digital download of “Vignettes with Santa,” photogs have a captive audience—a seemingly endless line of customers who are waiting their turn to talk with Santa. Smart photographers have all kinds of merchandising and elves to work the crowd and get their photo payment early on.
What Does a Mall Santa Do?
Being Santa is a bit of a factory production line. Elf escorts child to Santa. Next elf lifts child onto Santa’s lap. Elf #3 takes a photo. Child tells Santa what they want for Christmas. Sometimes the routine has some customizations, such as the child asking Santa provocative questions like, “Why don’t you look like last year’s Santa?” and, “Do reindeer really know how to fly?” Production may stop for a few minutes if the child throws a fit and demands to be rescued, pulls Santa’s beard off, or is so excited they can’t wait to use the bathroom.
A Typical Day for a Mall Santa
Your shift depends on the particular mall’s hours of operations and your arrangement with your employer. Santa’s shift is often long. So that kids don’t notice a different Santa is sitting in the chair an hour after they’ve been there, shifts can be six to 12 hours. In that time, you’re talking to a steady stream of children, all sharing their Christmas wishes, asking sometimes tricky questions, and swearing up and down that they’ve been good.
When you work as a Santa for a mall, you may need to adhere to their employee rules. Check out this job description for other mall retail employees for some direction about what a mall might require from all employees. Add one important bullet point—must like children.
If you've aced the mall Santa gig, keep in mind that professional Santas can also freelance for corporate gigs, private parties, and parades.
How to Become a Mall Santa
You can usually learn how to be Santa on the job with a little training from the company that employs you, but some employers do prefer Santas with previous acting or on-camera experience.
You can also become a professional Santa and even get a “Bachelor of Santa diploma” by studying at a Santa Claus School in person or online.
"How to be Santa" classes include:
- how to guess a child’s age
- wardrobe and hygiene
- the history of Father Christmas
- beards and make-up
- voice training
The best mall Santas are the ones who naturally look like and have the personality of the “real” Santa. So you don’t have to feel bad about that gray hair and booming laugh—you’re the perfect candidate to be a professional Santa Claus! Usually, employers will also look for candidates with reliable transportation to get to the mall on time, the ability to lift children in and out of your lap, a valid driver’s license (for a car, not a sleigh), and the ability to handle large crowds and inclement weather without breaking character.
How Much Do Mall Santas Make?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not track mall Santa salary statistics. The organization says their anecdotal research suggests earnings vary depending on the actual employer of the Santa. So how much do mall Santas make? BLS reports the highest salaries it has heard come from shopping malls and photography companies and can pay a Santa as much as $20,000 in a season.
Depending on how the Santa job is classified (customer service, actor, etc.) you can calculate what a mall Santa salary might be in your area by using the Monster Salary Guide.
How to Find Mall Santa Claus Jobs
Some malls hire Santas directly and classify the positions as retail jobs or customer service jobs. You can find other Santa Claus jobs offered by companies or people with photographer jobs. Santa distributors are clearing houses that place Santas in malls across the country, much like agents who offer acting jobs to entertainers. The biggest agencies for the jolly old elf as well as Mrs. Claus and elves are RealSantas.com, The National Santa Agency, and Santa-for-Hire
Santa jobs are filled around October in most areas. That means you need to get your resume ready and present it to the employer well in advance of that. A mall Santa Claus resume is not that much different from any other professional resume. It needs the five basic resume sections:
- Contact information
- Career summary
- Skills
- Professional experience
- Education
Employers may pay the closest attention to the resume’s skills section, since being a Santa does require some unique talents and skills. For example, how to not lie when a child asks you for a very expensive gift and you have no information about the parents’ intentions or income. If the employer looks for acting experience, you might want to take a look at Monster’s free template for an acting resume.
Your cover letter that accompanies the resume gives you an opportunity to talk about why you like being a Santa and why you’re the best candidate for the position. Read Monster’s cover letter primer about why you need one and what to include. Think about what a “real” Santa would bring to the job and point out things like your experience working with children, your love of Christmas, and acting experience that involved character work.
Put Yourself on Monster’s Nice List
Join Monster for free by completing your profile and uploading your resume. That will put you first in line for employers to see when they’re looking for candidates for mall Santa Claus jobs. It also gives Monster the key to your preferences so we can fill your stocking (or inbox) with Santa job postings and career advice.