My mother had that best idea a ways back. She decided to make my father a Santa suit. It was complete with the big belly insert, spectacles and the white hair. All of this was for the grandchildren, who at that time were small enough to fool. What a great idea though, and here’s why…
Last year my son was just to young for me to feel comfortable bringing him to the mall to sit on some weird guys lap. Usually that man has just finished his 100 cigarette break and stinks to high heaven. I’m not a big crowd person, so the thought of standing in line to go see this stinky man has never truly appealed to me.
When you choose to dress up, or in our case, have a family member dress up as Santa, you usually have a winning situation. We were able to take as many pictures as we wanted and could have Santa pose with him for as long as possible. There was no rush, no crowds, just happy family time.
You do have to be careful when they get older though, that is my caution. I’m pretty sure my daughter knows that there is no Santa, but I can’t be positive. If she saw my dad dressed up as Santa, she’d peg him right away. So you have to either do it for the younger kids or just do it for the fun of giving out presents to the older kids (even if they can tell whose belly is jiggling).
You can find tons of Santa suits online at BuyCostumes.com. Our family has used the Santa suit pretty much every year for like 10 years I think. It’s part of our tradition as a family!