Fellow Santas,
I was asked by many of you to write a blog on how to dress the part of Santa Claus.
So here it is!
It starts with the suit. Not just any red suit will do. It needs to be a proper suit. The kind of suit that you can wear anywhere and feel comfortable in. Thats where I come in. I have been making custom suits for over 20 years and have made suits for many celebrities, professional athletes and other professionals. We know how important it is for a suit to fit properly, so we take great care in measuring you accurately and making sure that your new suit fits as well as possible.
Theres more to being Santa than just the clothes though. You need to change your attitude when you put on the suit of Saint Nick. You need to learn how to act like Santa, which is not easy if you dont already have a jolly personality (which Im lucky enough to have naturally). If acting like Santa doesnt come naturally to you, then you need to practice by watching other Santas and learning from them. Most importantly is just having fun with the role so that it doesnt feel forced or fake.When its real, kids will notice!
Welcome to my blog about how to get into character as the best Father Christmas there is!
I have always been a huge fan of Christmas, and when I was young, I started dressing up as Santa for my family and friends. They really loved my performances, and by the time I was 15, I had perfected the full look.
My parents were very supportive of my hobby, and helped me dress up in a traditional red suit with white trimmings. They also bought me a black belt, white beard and matching wig.
The next step was to start behaving like Santa Claus. My parents suggested I could start by developing a signature laugh. After trying out some different ones, we settled on “Ho Ho Ho!”.
Okay so you’ve decided that you’re going to be Santa this year. It’s not as easy of a job as it looks. The man has a lot of pressure on him, and he has to look good doing it! Here’s how to get into the role.
The Suit
You can’t just throw together any old red suit and think you can pull off jolly ol’ St Nick. You have to find the right suit that is going to fit your personality. Make sure the suit is bright red with white fur trimming. And don’t forget some black boots!
The Beard
You can’t be Santa without a beard! If you aren’t willing to grow one yourself, simply purchase an authentic looking beard and mustache combo at any costume or party shop.
The Belly
A real Santa is a jolly fat man. You’ll need a fat belly to make it believable. There are several options here:
1) Eat every cookie in sight for two weeks straight before Christmas Eve, then suck your stomach in hard all night long (but remember, no soda or you’ll be burping all night long!)
The suit is the obvious place to start, but there are many more details and subtleties to dressing like Santa Claus than just putting on a suit.
The first thing you need to do is determine whether or not you want to dress as “traditional” Santa or “contemporary” Santa.
If your goal is the authentic old-timey look, then you should go with traditional. If you’re looking for the image of Santa that’s been created in recent years by media, then go with contemporary.
Traditional Santa Costume:
Full length traditional Santa suit with long-sleeved jacket and pants, hat, boot tops, belt and gloves.
Contemporary Santa Costume:
Full length contemporary Santa suit with jacket and pants, hat, boot tops, belt and gloves.
A real beard is not necessary to be Santa. There are many fine quality fake beards available for purchase that can be used, but if you have a beard and it’s white, then you could use it.
Beard and wig sets are also available for purchase from costume suppliers. If you’re going to wear a wig and beard, you’ll also need to get some spirit gum or other adhesive to keep the beard from falling off, as well as spirit gum remover to take the beard off after your job is done.
If you don’t have a real beard, or even if you do, I would recommend putting on some cotton balls under the beard for some extra padding around your cheeks. You want people to feel like they’re hugging Santa when they hug you.
The big red suit is of course an essential part of the costume. There are many decent suits out there, although I would recommend buying one in person instead of online, since it’s important that everything fits properly. You don’t want your belly hanging out because the suit’s too small!
You should definitely buy a Santa hat with your suit, but be aware that some hats look much better than others. Don’t go with just any old hat; find one with a bell on top