FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
“Where are you located and what area do you serve?” Santa For Events is headquartered in San Jose, California; however Santa Charles does operate a portion of each season in Durango, Colorado. In the Northern California Bay Area, Santa with his Elves and/or Mrs. Claus are willing to travel up to 75 minutes drive from San Jose within normal overhead expenses. In effect, we are up for anywhere on the Peninsula, South Bay, East Bay, and even locations in Marin County that are reasonably close to one of the bridges. Additionally, we travel south to Salinas, ‘over the hill’ to Santa Cruz, and east to Livermore Valley communities. We can even handle Walnut Creek, Orinda, Oakland Hills, and so on. We are trying to set up visits sequentially in a geographic area by one of us to cut down mileage.
“What can we do on our end to help create the best possible Santa visit?” Santa, who is technically a senior citizen, needs a safe path of travel from the door to his spot, a straight-backed chair with reasonably high seat (much better than low sofa-style), a nearby parking place, a contact name and phone number for the event location, and driving directions if finding the site is at all challenging. Generally, Santa is accompanied by an Elf or by Mrs. Claus, so space for them near Santa to support the experience for your guests is important.
“What can we expect from a Santa visit?” In a typical visit, Santa arrives with his companion Elf or with Mrs. Claus to greet everyone. In some instances Santa meets up with the host to load up gifts to distribute, goody bags, letters to Santa, or to ‘sneak in the back’. Having an Elf along helps out while Santa is tightly focused on each person on his knee one or more at a time. Depending on the ages of your guests, Santa and his companion Elf can offer:
- Story telling and/or reading a story. For youngsters, a Christmas picture book with lights to count works well.
- Antlers for honorary reindeer, and even a red nose for ‘Rudolph’ make great photos.
- Singing favorite Christmas songs such as “Jingle Bells” and other favorites.
- Photos with Santa and Elf or Mrs. Claus (please see photos throughout the website )
- ‘Tattoos‘ for hand or cheek
- Gifts and/or Letters-to-Santa to be shared
- Candy Canes or Goody Bags distributed
- Small group circulation visiting by Santa and Elf or Mrs. Claus
“How much will it cost?” Please see our published rates; however, we have a long-standing 100% Satisfaction Guarantee in place. Please see our PAYMENT page for more details.
“What does your ’100 % Satisfaction Guarantee’ mean?” In practice, that means that the payment in the envelope is entirely up to the client, and up to 30 days for requesting and receiving a prompt refund, if needed. The bottom line: “If we make a mistake, then we must do everything we can to make it right, even up to 100% refund,” says Santa Walter.
“Why do your published prices seem so high?” Well, we are in high demand because we do a good job with lots of compliments. Many of our clients book us immediately for the following year to reserve their time slot. Word-of-mouth referrals is common. In practice, our overhead expenses to run Santa For Events year-round with income only during 6 weeks of the year is challenging. We sure buy a lot of candy canes! Those overhead expenses include $1,000,000 Liability Insurance for Santa and up to 3 assistants at every visit. Also included are storage fees for Santa props, Santa Benches, Sleigh, and so on. Further, Santa For Events covers the expenses for costumes for the Elves and Mrs. Clauses, as well as mileage reimbursement at the IRS allowance. Additionally, our web server, domain names, 10% referral fees for some sources of leads, printing costs, phones, online ad-clicks, repair and replacement of set prop items, and a myriad of miscellaneous expenses add to the total. We hope each season that at lease $50 per event will go towards the S4E overhead.
