Dec 12- QotD- Do you go visit Santa at the mall?

Do you visit Santa?

  • We visit Santa at the mall

    Votes: 13 35.1%

  • We visit Santa elsewhere (not the mall)

    Votes: 10 27.0%

  • We don't visit Santa

    Votes: 14 37.8%
  • Total voters
    37
Julie Billingsley

Julie Billingsley

The Ghost of Awesome Past
Practically every mall in America has Santa ready to hear those holiday wish lists. So do you have the kids go visit Santa at the mall?

As for us, we use to go to the mall and stand in line between 30-60 minutes to see Santa. But last year Logan's school started having Dessert with Santa so now we just go to the school, which is really nice. This year I'm not sure if Logan will want to sit on Santa's lap or not since he is 8 1/2 and not sure what he believes anymore.
 
We don't do Santa at all anymore (dd is 13, lol) but when we did, we went to one of the local parks that had a HUGE light display (like 40 acres of lights) and had a Santa house. They had free hot cider and cookies and stuff...and the pictures were cheap, $5. Loved it.
 
We did the mall for a few years, but my kids have not wanted to go for years (they are 11 and 9). They are still kind of afraid of the mall Santas.
 
They usually have a fundraiser at the school. I'd rather give the school money for Santa photos!!!
 
We actually never have before today! But our mall Santa is VERY authentic so we went and had the boys picture done today - we'll probably not do the mall Santa every year though because that was expensive!! I was told they'd let me take my own pic, but they wouldn't. Oh well, it turned out CUTE and as I said...I'm pretty sure this is the real Santa!


santa by misfitinmn, on Flickr
 
I do! We go mid November (no lines!) and that is kinda our kick off to Christmas. The mall here burns disks with the photos (so I can scrap them!!) and they give a $20 Shutterfly code with each package you buy. It makes me happy :)
 
Three years ago when I was looking for taking J to see santa for the first time I was so shocked at the prices of the photo packages!!! Seriously $30 for one photo??? :blink: Which actually it has been all over the news this year about the "scam" at our largest mall of these prices since you can not take any photos what so ever.. the smaller mall now lets you take photos in additional to buying the package.

So for the last three years, we have gone to Breakfast and Bowling with Santa... for $25 - four adults and one child gets breakfast, visit santa, a professional photo with santa, a goodie bag, and a free game of bowling... and the guy really looks like Santa!! I almost want to believe... however, on Saturday, he looked like he wasn't feeling well...

this is from last year...

2010_12_11-Jake-and-santa.jpg
 
I refuse to pay for the photo packages, and we're not big into Santa anyway, so no, we don't go. I took DS#1 when he was a year and our neighborhood association was having a Christmas party with Santa, and he hated it, so I just haven't pushed it since.
 
No, we don't and never have visited Santa anywhere. Cheyanne never ever liked to visit Santa no matter where we tried; school, mall, other events, etc. etc. She told me when she was about 4 that he was "creepy" :blink: and refused to talk to him much less sit on his lap. She always knew that those Santas weren't the real Santa and would have nothing to do with them.

Therefore, I have never ever had a visiting Santa photo to do a layout :thumbdown:
 
We only did it for the first Christmases when the boys were babies. My boys were all pretty shy about stuff like that - and no Mickey at Disneyland either. ;)
 
We usually see Santa when he comes to town on the local fire engine. We missed this year, but pretty sure that he'll be coming back near Christmas, driving by on an engine with Christmas music blaring.
 
yes we do santa at the mall every year...i have all my little guy's pictures with santa posted on the mantel...well except that one year he refused :)
 
My boys are a bit old for it now, but we did take them in the past. JP always cried. He has a serious fear of anyone in costumes. Devin just didn't care, at all.
 
When the boys were 2 & 3 we drove an hour to the mall & stood in line for 45 minutes only to have the boys totally FREAK OUT about Santa.

Never again.

We don't run into Santa anywhere else, except sometimes ringing Salvation Army bells & they always ask for money to give him (but not the non-Santa ringers). I don't actually have any pics at all of the kids with Santa & I'm ok with that.
 
we visit but not at the mall.
emma has a santa at her christmas program every year so we usually visit there and also the bank that i used to work at has him come visit so we go there as well. my girls sorta love santa lol
 
We usually go to the mall...there is one VERY upscale mall in town that most people can't afford to shop at, so it's not very crowded. Oddly enough, they have the cheapest mall Santa in town...for a $5 donation to charity, you get a 4x6 or you can take photos yourself (no limit on how many).

This year, Rachel saw Santa at school, and we'll probably see him at Bass Pro this weekend (they have a GREAT setup).
 
We do visit Santa at the mall but after what we experienced this year I think I'll be looking for a new "Santa"....it was just sad!!! I mean the dude didn't even have real boots on....he had on crappy black suede Dr. Scholls with flimsy black sleeves covering his legs!!! :thumbdown:
 
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i think my parents only brought my brother and i once. too much money, too many people.

my aunt and uncle took their almost 3-year-old twins to see santa this past weekend? disaster. both kids were terrified. zach screamed every time they even went near the line. and allie wouldn't let go of my aunt and was crying so hard she threw up.

plus, mall santas are so overrated around here. they never look genuine.
 
I would go to the mall if my kid wanted to. But there is no way he is going to talk to some stranger dressed up in a freaky suit!
 
We go every year to the mall for our Santa picture. We haven't been this year yet. I am sure it will happen in the next week. :)
 
pewtertm said:
We usually go to the mall...there is one VERY upscale mall in town that most people can't afford to shop at, so it's not very crowded. Oddly enough, they have the cheapest mall Santa in town...for a $5 donation to charity, you get a 4x6 or you can take photos yourself (no limit on how many).

This year, Rachel saw Santa at school, and we'll probably see him at Bass Pro this weekend (they have a GREAT setup).
Click to expand...

Stacy, where?????? I need to visit that Santa!
 
Hm. Good question. As of this year, we haven't taken the kids for Santa pics. We did at the mall last year for about $40, but this year I'm reconsidering just how much Santa we need to infuse them with. I'm trying not to overdo the Santa thing because we are not trying to encourage our kids to believe in him, so it's just confusing for them sometimes.
 
that is crazy that you all don't get to take pictures with your own camera at the mall. I would bring mine and they totally let me take pics. The mall I go to has a wonderful Santa.
These pics don't do him justice. He is all real and just gorgeous!
themagicofchristmas.jpg
 
I wouldn't take DD at all b/c that's not really our emphasis and all the ones I've seen are creepy-ish, but my mom is way OCD into it (no idea why) and insists that DD not only get one, but that my mom is present when it happens (so she can buy the $50 package, I guess). *shrug* We're having Christmas with my family this weekend, and my mom's asked/told me at least half a dozen times that she wants to take DD Saturday afternoon to get a picture with Santa, so I guess that's what we're doing.
 
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