Etiquette Tips for Santa Claus

Knowledge of Santa Claus etiquette comes in handy when dealing with children of all ages and from all backgrounds. Children have unlimited imaginations and will ask seasonal, stand-in Santas all sorts of questions. The answers need to be plausible.

Temporary positions now available: hearty chuckle required. Must believe. At Western Temporary Services, the call has gone out, as it does every holiday season, for Santa Claus impersonators. Many applied and 28 were chosen to staff various shopping malls beginning today.

“We hand-picked these guys from about 280 applicants,” said Jan Squires, area manager for the employment agency. “We get a lot of down-and-outs and ask them why they want to be Santa. If they say they need the bucks, they're not our guy. They've got to believe in Christmas.”

Western has been in the rent-a-Santa business for 17 years, providing 3,000 artificial St. Nicks to stores and private parties. This season's newly anointed Santas, a rather young and lean crowd, gathered at Western Services on. Wilshire Boulevard recently for a quick course in Santa etiquette.

• They received instructions on how to answer the likely questions that would come their way, such as where does Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer loiter while Santa is slipping down the chimney?
• “Don't say the roof. They might try to climb up,” said one veteran Santa. “Just tell 'em Rudolph's visiting friends at the zoo and he couldn't make it to the store.”
• To preserve Santa's image, strict rules governing Santa conduct are issued. There's a ban on smoking or alcohol on the job, on eating cheeseburgers, on wearing the distinctive red suit in the car. “The point is never ruin the illusion,”Squires said. “These children need to believe in you.”

Wilmer Drake, a 20-year veteran of the role, admits there are pitfalls. Some kids wet Santa with their tears because they're scared, he said. Others get so excited they wet Santa from the other end. For their efforts, Drake and his colleagues get $30 per six-hour day. – Los Angeles, AP, 1985

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia