Britain is facing a Father Christmas shortage as the number of working Santas plummets by up to a third, and longtime professionals are choc-a-bloc with appointments.
The centuries-old Santa stand-in profession is a shadow of its former self, recruiters have said, thanks to a number of factors that have whittled down the number of people willing to take on the role. A combination of post-Covid struggles, a high number of retirements and diminishing interest in hiring bearded men in batches for large-scale events have meant there are fewer Father Christmases available to greet children.
But demand is both too high and too low as, at the same time, there are too few people available to pick up existing requests. One career Santa has told how he was inundated with 3,000 requests to fulfil a single Christmas cancellation and bookings full until 2025.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Simply Business, a firm that offers job insurance for professional Santas, said it observed a 33 percent drop in the number of policies given out in 2023.
The drop in insurance follows a drop in the number of working Father Christmases, with talent scout Jayne Darling having lost two-thirds of her Christmas workers. She said women are having to fill the position as their predecessors received acting roles or retired following the Covid pandemic, during which the profession could not operate.
Those who work the role now either have “terrible and cheap” costumes purchased on eBay or are authentic enough to receive the bulk of Santa requests, leaving them overcome with bookings.
Mark Roberts, a garden products business owner from South Wales who doubles as a Santa during Christmas, said he is inundated with bookings as soon as he opens them in August.
He told the Mail he had a single cancellation in late November and that 3,000 bookings had competed for the single slot on his calendar.
Mr Roberts said Santas are being hit by the cost of living crisis alongside other Britons, with people less willing to fork over the sometimes exorbitant sums demanded from places that have managed to hire them.
He said: “In this present climate, people are struggling. One woman said to me why would I go to my local garden centre and spend £20 or £30 to see Santa. It is just far too much.”
Others believe Santa isn’t quite as popular as he once was, with the Grinch now taking pole position as Christmas mascot.
But the character is also more difficult to cast, with suits depicting the famous goblin-like character being more expensive and his mannerisms more complicated to portray.
