Santa Claus has supply chain issues. While demand is surging for in-person visits, fewer Santa Claus entertainers are available.
Mitch Allen, the founder of HireSanta.com, a booking website, estimated that there are 15 percent fewer Santa Claus entertainers this year. The factors include deaths due to Covid-related illnesses, Santas who are taking a break because of pandemic concerns and those who are aging out or retiring.
Last year, going to see Santa felt risky for many families. This year, it seems, parents and kids can’t wait for him to return.
The number of clients opting for virtual Santa visits by scheduled video calls spiked last year. That has changed this year, and it could be weighing on the number of Santas available.
The average Santa entertainer makes about $50,000 a year, according to data from the hiring company ZipRecruiter. Mall Santas can make $12 to $75 per hour. Video call visits run about $40 an hour. Home visits can be $150 to $225 an hour.
“Most people want an in-person visit this year, as opposed to the virtual visits last year,” Allen said. “Instead of physical barriers this year, most retail clients are using social distancing.”
Jim Beidle, 62, a Santa portrayal artist in the Seattle area, said he knows of about a half-dozen Santa and Mrs. Claus performers who died from Covid-related complications. “This is the saddest thing. Every year we lose a few, since being older and obese isn’t exactly a healthy lifestyle,” Beidle said.
Other Santas said they were also hearing a clamor for a return to the old-fashioned Santa experience, with no acrylic barriers and no ban on touching Santa’s outstretched hand while he’s inside an inflatable plastic snow globe.
“The demand for an unmasked Santa is up significantly, and I’m still following the rule of ‘whichever of us has the more restrictive policy, we go with that policy.’ My own no-touch policy is there to protect future clients, but I sorely miss getting to hold babies,” said David Lewis, 70, a Santa portrayal artist from Dallas.
“As a baby boomer, I never expected anything that I could do would wind up in short supply, so this is nice,” he said. “But children are still children, they still come in packages of one, and Santa’s still glad to see them.”
Enrollment is also up this year at the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School in Midland, Michigan, founded in 1937. For generations, Santas have enrolled annually to brush up on their “Ho ho hos.”
“There is more of a demand,” said Tom Valent, the school’s dean. “People want Santa. They want to go back to normal. They want what Santa stands for. They want that back in their family.”