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You might think that playing Santa Claus for a few weeks at Christmas is a pretty easy gig. “How hard can it be?” you might ask. You rent yourself a red suit, and a white beard, and you sit on your bum all day at the shopping mall and kids climb into your lap and tell you what they want for Christmas. No problem. You might smile for a few photos, mutter an occasional “Ho, Ho, Ho,” maybe shake your belly like a bowl full of jelly …

But you’re wrong. Playing Santa can be a real challenge, so much so that many serious Santas take a few days off each year to attend one of a handful of professional Santa Claus schools dotted throughout North America. Santa School students spend three or four days, usually in September or October, unleashing their inner Santa—brushing up on their Santa skills and swapping Santa tricks-of-the-trade with fellow jolly-old-elves from all over North America, South Africa, Italy, England, Norway and Korea.

“We teach the Santas how to become Santa Claus, to be able to think like Santa and behave like Santa,” says Susen Mesco, master Santa Claus trainer for the Mesco Enterprises Annual Professional Santa Claus School in Denver, Colorado.

Some children cry, for instance. Even the bravest of toddlers can be startled by a large man in a bright-red, fuzzy suit. How does a professional Santa diffuse that situation? Children also ask questions, difficult questions such as “Do you recycle at the North Pole?” “Where do you go on vacation Santa?” and “Can you get my daddy out of jail for Christmas?” Santa has to be prepared to address all questions, Mesco says. Finally, those Santa suits can get really hot, especially while perched next to a roaring fire reciting “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” for the third time in one night. Mesco advises her students to drink plenty of liquids and to douse themselves with baby powder to keep from sweating through their suits.

“At first I thought, ‘How can you spend three days learning to say ‘Ho, Ho, Ho?’” says Mike Dea, a retired elementary school teacher and aspiring professional Santa from Grand Junction, Colorado. But after attending Mesco’s Santa School this past October, Dea says he was surprised by how much Santa information there is to learn.

Mesco’s 43-hour Santa School includes a 150-page Santa manual and covers subjects including vitamins and nutrition (“Most people don’t think about the fact that Santa has children with runny noses on his lap all day and needs to stay healthy,” Mesco adds); Spanish phrases; sign language; child psychology; working with the press; taking pictures with children; stories, songs, games and dances; Santa accessories; caring for beards and wigs; stretching and deep breathing exercises; singing lessons and an acting workshop.

Mesco’s students even take a field trip to a local toy store for a primer on all the latest toys and gizmos that children might be asking for this season. “When a little girl asks for a doll, you have to be able to talk to her about that,” says veteran Santa “Johnny Claus,” from Denver, Colorado, “Does she want a Barbie doll, or a Bratz doll, or an American Girl doll, or a baby doll? If you don’t do your homework, the child will know.”

A good Santa takes commitment, Mesco says. “People have expectations of Santa. I can dress anybody up to look like Santa Claus, but if you don’t have a real desire to make Christmas special, then I can’t work with you.”

“It’s all about delivering great memories for the children,” says Ed Howard, a court reporter and aspiring Santa Claus from Auburn, Washington. “I don’t just have to act like Santa, I have to be Santa. To see a child’s eyes light up is priceless, there’s just nothing like it. It makes everything we do worth the effort.”

 

Santas-to-be can book flights to Denver through AAA Travel.