Politics
Even Santa Claus Is in Debt This Christmas
A New York man who plays St. Nick is charging hundreds of dollars for a special family experience, but it’s not enough to get him into the black, he says.
Good morning. It’s Monday. We’ll meet a Santa Claus who says his balance sheet is as red as his Santa suit. We’ll also get details on high-level departures and transfers that shook the New York Police Department over the weekend.
Carl Hendrick Louis, dressed as Santa Claus, with Braxton Marte, 8.Credit…James Barron/The New York Times
The price — as much as $450 for 25 minutes with Santa — was so high that it seemed to push the limit on affordability in a city where the holidays are already expensive.
But affordability and profitability are different things. At Santa’s Secret Workshop, a holiday start-up in Long Island City, the balance sheet is as red as Carl Hendrick Louis’s Santa suit.
Louis is an actor who put $100,000 into creating a North Pole stage set in Queens. He hired another veteran department-store Santa to divide the workload — the ho-ho-hoing and the chatting with children and parents. He put two other actors on the payroll as elves.
Whoever is playing Santa knows who’s been naughty and who’s been nice because Louis devised a questionnaire — the “all-knowing Santa form” — that must be submitted at least 48 hours before the children arrive. The questionnaire asks for specifics, like the age of each child and whether there are “any special pronunciation hints” for their names. It also asks for “one magical moment” about each child, such as a new skill, an achievement or a “wonderful deed” that would earn someone a spot on Santa’s nice list.
