When did Santa photos become so expensive every year?

[Lord Manhammer]

They do. I was at a mall yesterday and the line to meet Santa was insane. You also had to make a reservation in advance so even with a reservation the line was super long.

Wow I had no idea. I know the Macy's Santa is still a thing because when I was in NYC last month and stopped by Macy's they were assembling SantaLand but I didn't know about the malls. I would've expected Santa was visiting kids via zoom these days...

 

[#1hoosierfan]

My boys are 14 and 16, and I don’t think I have ever paid for a Santa photo. They would visit him at things like “breakfast with Santa” that the elementary school I teach at puts on.

I have taken my dogs to get their picture with Santa. The cost went to the animal shelter.

 

[NorCalFanatic]

.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Wow I had no idea. I know the Macy's Santa is still a thing because when I was in NYC last month and stopped by Macy's they were assembling SantaLand but I didn't know about the malls. I would've expected Santa was visiting kids via zoom these days...

Santa still sees the kids at the malls.


2011


2018


And the big kids too

​

 

[TipsyTraveler]

I don’t know when it became expensive but I was shocked the first time I looked into doing it with my son. Our kids have never believed in Santa, but I thought it might be something they’d enjoy doing for the experience and, well, because I have these really cute frames that I wanted to put Santa pictures in. So, I just want one picture of each kid with Santa and then I don’t care if they never sit on his lap again.

My older son was just shy of three when he expressed some interest in going to the mall to meet Santa so I looked up the prices and, like I said, I couldn’t believe how expensive it was. We were going to do it, but on our way out the door he chickened out and changed his mind so it didn’t happen that year. Fast forward two years through a pandemic, and with a new kid added to the family, and we were ready to try again last Christmas.

This time we were lucky to have some free options. The kids’ dentist puts on a holiday party and offers free professional photos with Santa. We did that, our younger son was uncooperative, and the quality of the photos wasn’t that great despite being done by a photographer. The next day, our neighborhood was hosting a Santa meet for the residents so we tried again. That Santa was excellent in getting my younger son to open up. We took iphone pictures ourselves and they came out way better, so now I have two perfect pictures of my older kids for my frames. Santa is coming back to our neighborhood next weekend and I have a new baby so I signed us up. It’s a scheduled 5-minute private session for each kid, and I’m thinking my older two won’t go through with it again once we’re there, so we’ll have more than enough time to get a good pic of the little guy with the big guy.

 

[GreatLakes]

We have a bunch of pancake breakfasts with Santa here. However, I took my kids to the same mall/Santa every year. Unfortunately he passed a few years ago, he was so sweet and looked authentic (unlike those hired for charity organizations).

They are admittedly hit or miss but we have some really good breakfast santas here. Our local metroparks do a good one and a lot of the museums have really good setups. This year we are doing 2. One is at our botanical gardens and one is a local farmers market. We lost our dog this year but every other year local dog charities have done really good fundraising events with Santa.

 

[Genie+]

A few things are going on. Not all Santa photos are the same, today or yesterday. Can’t really compare the $2 photo the local hardware store used to charge in 1991 to the elaborate set-up and photo options a mall santa may have today, not to mention the motivations may be different.

Hardware Santa gave a polaroid that cost them $1 plus staffing Santa, but they might‘ve been looking to pull in families to buy decorations, ornaments and maybe even stuff like carpet that many people decide to upgrade before holiday guests arrive. The store wasn’t really looking for profit from Santa - they wanted sales.

Mall Santa may be 100% profit driven and the mall just renting out space, not chipping to drive traffic to the shops. A set-up like this probably relies on its quality, options and convenience to attract people willing pay the premium price.

 

[nancipants]

We go to see Santa at Disney. It's free! (With the cost of annual pass and photopass add on. Lol.) (Although you can see the Disney Springs Santa for actual free.)

 

[Genie+]

We go to see Santa at Disney. It's free! (With the cost of annual pass and photopass add on. Lol.) (Although you can see the Disney Springs Santa for actual free.)

This is our plan too!

 

[AprilsZoo]

I am surprised they didn’t charge for the Santa visit too.

I think they hoped that parents would buy whatever the kiddies asked for there at the mall or store.

At the very least people usually bought something while there. And many shoppers would hit the food court too.

Lol I have 5 and it never occurred to me to have 5 separate photos! And the last one ever taken just had smiling children, so I was done, I preferred at least 1 crier. But never $1, or even close, and the lines started an hour before Santa even got there, no need to lower prices (and I live in the shopping mall capital of the US).

My kids (mostly) willingly sat on Santa’s lap (or the bench next to him most often) until they were teenagers. It helps that the older two are autistic and skewed a little younger than their actual age.

By that point, we were going to various community events that they were usually involved with through scouts or school clubs.

I looked back at the photos, since it’s been a while, and it turns out the last few years’ photos had all 4 boys in the picture… Two are Polaroid’s and two are regular 4x6 camera roll type photos. I guess it’s a good thing it’s so simple to scan the pictures and be able to have each child have a copy in with their personal box of pictures.

I realized a long time ago that even if it was all I worked on everyday, I’ll never be able to scrapbook all the photos I have for all four boys— just never going to happen. [They each know there’s a nice box in the closet for each of them, filled with their very own pictures.]

I did make scrapbooks or pages about select events, and a few general pages based on their ages. I also made a very cute mini scrapbook of the ABC’s of various Disney trips for each of them — A is for Autopia, B is for Big Thunder Mountain. C is for Cinderella (I got an adorable photo of Cindy utterly fawning over 6 week old kiddo #2– she was smitten She squatted down next to his stroller and both she and he were smiling ear to ear… and he hadn’t been smiling like that too much yet, so it was doubly special that he was smiling and laughing for her. I wish I’d had video like we have today… our phones really are little miracles when you think about every purpose the serve—ya know?) it’s different for each child, but iirc, I got something for every letter.


Anyway, bringing this back to Santa photos… I really need to make a mini scrapbooks for each of the boys with just their Santa pics in there.

 

[EACarlson]

NJ with the most malls per square mile Including the second largest mall in the US.

Minneapolis is the home of the first enclosed shopping mall and the largest.

 

[mjkacmom]

Minneapolis is the home of the first enclosed shopping mall and the largest.

The first one was built in NJ the following year, NJ has the most malls in close proximity to each other, I can get to a bunch in 20 minutes.

 

[Genie+]

Lol I have 5 and it never occurred to me to have 5 separate photos! And the last one ever taken just had smiling children, so I was done, I preferred at least 1 crier. But never $1, or even close, and the lines started an hour before Santa even got there, no need to lower prices (and I live in the shopping mall capital of the US).

I love it. Need at least one crier

 

[DodgerGirl]

Why I think Santa photos started to get expensive is because I think the malls charge the guys who play the Santas a big bonus and they expect this to bring the malls big business during the holidays. But I got my picture taken one year at Walmart when Hershey's had a Santa meet and greet and it was great but Walmart never repeated it again. I also heard and "this might be a factor in why Santa photos became expensive" that children cannot sit on Santa's lap anymore and when kids meet Santa now they have to stand next to him and I cannot figure that out. But I think as time goes on Santa photos will continue to get expensive in the near future

 

[CdnCarrie]

My work has a kids’ Christmas party. My kids saw Santa there for free . Well not totally free - paid by my union dues I guess.
Never did the mall picture thing.

 

[Lewisc]

Didn't people used to buy photo packages? Pictures for grandparents, wallets etc?

Aren't people now getting digital media, or using other means to share pictures?

 

[pineapplepalms]

We go to see Santa at Disney. It's free! (With the cost of annual pass and photopass add on. Lol.) (Although you can see the Disney Springs Santa for actual free.)

This is our preferred way of seeing Santa too. “Free” photos! Our local mall charges around $50 for a Santa photo package. We’ve done it before when we didn’t have a Disney holiday trip that year. Our favorite place to meet Santa is at Redwood Creek Challenge Trail in DCA.

 

[sasywtch]

After seeing this thread, I was at the mall and stopped to watch the Santa photos. I asked someone who had just finished. She had at least 1 5x7 and some wallets (may have had more) and paid $50 but that came with the code to download and print whatever she wanted when she got home. I actually had a good time watching for awhile. One family, 3 boys in suits and bow ties, dad in a suit, mom in a nice dress had a great picture taken (I was standing behind the photographer and could see the screen). A 5 year old boy they told him to cup his hand to whisper in Santa's ear. Well, he kept going with his list and everyone started cracking up. That kid was not about to leave until Santa heard everything he wanted.

 

[mom2rtk]

Lots of answers in last year's thread:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...malls-to-put-out-pricey-santa-photos.3895089/

 

[cabanafrau]

My daughters are long grown, but we always opted for the Santa at a local garden center that built a fun little village outside, set up some elaborate displays inside and had Santa and Mrs. Claus in a beautiful sleigh set up in a very elaborate vignette. They would take a Polaroid for free and allow parents to take their own shots as well. Outdoors there was a pen with a couple reindeer the kids could feed also. Each year they'd pick a different charity and put out a bucket for donations. There were also elaborate trees displayed indoors that made nice photo backdrops, too. In high school my daughters ended up heading into the store with friends just to get some holiday shots with friends, significant others in front of the beautifully decorated trees that were just part of the sales floor displays. I think a couple times they managed to luck into being able to pile into Santa's empty sleigh that was either pre-set or hadn't been taken down yet from the scheduled day for Santa's visit.

Pretty much all the garden centers in our metro area got in on the act eventually. I've seen emails from a couple of the stores again this year, so I'm sure it's still going on in quite a few. The stores did quite a brisk business in lights, decorations, pointsettias and amaryllis during the events.