Okay guys, I get to do my first Santa Claus dressup for my wife's pre-school class this coming Thursday, the 16th......

which, by the way, happens to be my 35th birthday! (YEAH!)

and I get to talk to you guys too, what more could I ask for!?

Seriously though, since I've not done Santa Claus before, do you guys have any suggestions? I got the whole kit last year when they marked them down 75%. It's got the whole thing, suit, beard, boots, even some white makeup to silver line my eyebrows, although I may go with my normal white Mehron for that.

I'm not presenting any gifts, just making a surprise visit, have the kids sit in my lap to find out what they would like, and that's about it...

I'm all ears...

I've done the Santa thing a few times. Some were good experiences, one was a
terrifying incident.

Good: We have the fire engines cart Santa around through all the streets of our
city every year. I've ridden on the engines as a firefighter, and I've been Santa.
NOTHING compares to the way the kids' eyes light up! PERIOD. Forget everyone
else waving and saying "Merry Christmas" - the kids don't know anyone else exists except
for Santa.

The bad: It just so happens that we also deliver gifts to some needy families. You guessed
it, once while I was dressed as Santa our task was to deliver the gifts to a family. Now, as
"Ashes" the clown, I get to have my OWN personality, and I get to pick how I will act or
react in a given situation. But as Santa - you have to have his personality and answer
as he would.

Sure enough, there was a young boy and an older sister. The older sister was at the
age where she wasn't sure she believed in Santa or not - leaned towards didn't believe
in Santa any more. She was very questioning - "OK, if you're Santa, what are the names
of your reindeer?" and all sorts of other questions.

Of course, I wasn't prepared - I didn't even know I was going to be Santa until the Captain
that night said I was.

So, the moral of this long tale is, memorize and learn every factoid you can about Santa,
Mrs. Claus, the elves, the reindeer - the whole atmosphere!! With preparation, you can
cover yourself.

Me, I played Santa again this year and it was fun. But, all I did was ride the engine,
wave and toss some candy. Oh, but I did get to take some photos with a family that
followed us back to the station. Two little girls - one LOVED Santa, the other was so
afraid. When I offered some candy, the poor girl shook so hard when she reached
timidly over and took a piece from my hand.

HO HO Ho is how Santa Laughs, not something he says.
Remember, You know everything about the kids, observe them outside of class, and see if thet have siblings. The ones that do ask them Are you doing a good job being nice to your little brother? Are you being a good helper to mommy, Are you keeping you room clean ,or putting your toys away?
Make sure your straight on the reindeers names, If called on the carpet about other Santa's tell them you have helpers so that everybody gets to see Santa. And Resist the temptation to use some of Biilybob Thortons lines from Bad Santa. Laugh lots,

Now I've never played Santa, but as a mother I've heard some of the questions and I agree make sure you know your reindeer, but also becareful about mom and dad questions unless you know, now days some kids only have one parent and may not know the other and Santa supposed to knows all. And be prepared for the beard puller, I've seen a few of those.

Mom is usually a safe bet. Grandma too.

I know the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer song, and one of the first lines has the names of the reindeer in it, so I should be okay with that, but I read over it before to make sure.

Scruff, Bad Santa movie....I saw that just the other day, and I have to say that it was funny as a movie, but horrible in it's portrayal of Santa Claus! A lesson of things NOT to do as Santa...

I've got an upper hand being married to their pre-school teacher. She'll know all the facts on the kids, and I'll make sure to memorize them the morning before going in. I want to make a good lasting impression on these kids as a good Santa, one that knows his stuff. "Mrs. Claus" knows the whole family, so it should be easy. The class has 20 kids ages 3-5 in it, so we'll see how it goes...

Funny Santa Story, My dad has a very distintive voice and one year was ask to play Santa for our church, He hadn't got half way down the aisle before kids could be heard say that's Mr. B, or Pa Paw B [most kids refer to my parents as that], he couldn't fool one of them, but they took it in stride and was told he was just helping out as this was Santa's busiest time of year.

speaking of funny santa stories. when my uncle jimmy was alive he was a dead ringer for santa and one time he was on a plane and it was around christmas time. well after the stewardess got done with her safty talk and was just about to put the mic up she got back on and said " and in row so and so we have santa clause riding with us today" refering to my uncle.