Make money as Santa

Lauren Forbes


29th Aug 2024

Reading Time: 8 minutes

With the festive season come unique opportunities and that includes making money as Santa. Department stores and party organisers around the country are on the look-out for kindly gentlemen to dress up as every child’s hero right now. Make money and make a few children’s Christmas this year.

Santa Claus candidates are high in demand but there’s something for women too. Many need elves and ladies to play Mrs Claus. Recruitment has already begun, so find out how you can make money as Santa this festive season with our advice-packed guide.

contact them for this year’s dates.

If you’re interested in attending a Santa, Mrs Claus or elf training course but live in the north of England or southern Scotland, give Stuart Thompson’s Santa School a call. As a trainee, you’ll learn the history of Santa and get a thorough voice, costume and make-up training. On completion of the class, you’ll receive a certificate of competence and may well find work through Stuart’s company.

 

tips on writing a killer CV, check out our essential article here.

You’ll need to be available for work during the day and possibly in the evening for parties and nightclubs. Extra skills such as juggling, unicycling or singing can help you get more gigs and therefore more money.

Before you can take on any work, however, you’ll need to get a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check done. The DBS check lasts for three years and is essential if you’re working with children or vulnerable people.

For elves:

Similarly to Santa work, if you’d like to be a professional elf, join agencies and check the ads. That’ll give you the maximum exposure to work. Contact agencies, and take photos and a copy of your CV to interviews.

Agencies usually look for petite women with performing skills to be elves, although some are boys or young men. Some elves only need to look the part and interact well with the public – particularly children – but the majority will need to have entertaining skills. Can you do magic, balloon modelling or face painting? If you already work as a children’s entertainer then it should be easy to land work as an elf.

Since this kind of work also involves working with kids, you’ll need to get a DBS check. This needn’t be a worry and you can find out everything you need to know about the process in our article on how to find out if you need a DBS check.

 

here.

Also, bear in mind that many jobs won’t pay your travel expenses. If that’s the case, it probably won’t be worth applying for jobs that aren’t local to you. Unless they’re offering a big wage, of course!

 

Find other seasonal positions

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