Supermarket Santa time

PTH2009

almost time for the annual visits of Santa too supermarkets/shopping centres etc all over the country/world for a couple of weeks. Nice memories of my childhood visiting him and looking forward too seeing my neice and nephews visiting him for the next few years.

I wonder do some places import elves and santas from Scandinavian places cause they would be the real deal ???. I heard visiting the north pole/Greenland around xmas is brillent and even adults love going there

Any funny stories of your experiences ???

Outlaw Pete

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKd7z5CY4BU

Lollipops23

I was the elf in a department store in Dublin for 4 consecutive Christmases. A lot of people assume I hated it, but I didn't. Turns out when kids see a grown adult dressed as an elf, standing in Santa's grotto, they'll believe anything you tell them.


Also, some of the dads were sleazes.

SEPT 23 1989

You sit down and "wonder" do supermarkets import elves and santas from Scandinavia?

Loughc

Lollipops23 wrote: »

Also, some of the dads were sleazes.

I feel like there's some good stories here...

me_irl

Sometimes I wonder why this forum exists at all.

Lollipops23

Loughc wrote: »

I feel like there's some good stories here...

A small child (maybe 6) asked if I lived in the North Pole. I said of course and that Ireland may as well be the Bahamas for me. The daddy replied that if I wore my bikini there'd be a lot more daddys bringing their kids in...

Mrcaramelchoc

Lollipops23 wrote: »

A small child (maybe 6) asked if I lived in the North Pole. I said of course and that Ireland may as well be the Bahamas for me. The daddy replied that if I wore my bikini there'd be a lot more daddys bringing their kids in...

Did you?

mariaalice

PTH2009 wrote: »

almost time for the annual visits of Santa too supermarkets/shopping centres etc all over the country/world for a couple of weeks. Nice memories of my childhood visiting him and looking forward too seeing my neice and nephews visiting him for the next few years.

I wonder do some places import elves and santas from Scandinavian places cause they would be the real deal ???. I heard visiting the north pole/Greenland around xmas is brillent and even adults love going there

Any funny stories of your experiences ???

Your way behind the times, its a Santa experience nowadays.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Never liked going to see him, my mother would insist though.

I was a shy child and was afraid of Claus. I got a bad vibe off the guy.

Lollipops23

Mrcaramelchoc wrote: »

Did you?

SPOILER: I'm not actually from the North Pole, I'm from North County Dublin. I'd freeze in a bikini in December

Mrcaramelchoc

Lollipops23 wrote: »

SPOILER: I'm not actually from the North Pole, I'm from North County Dublin. I'd freeze in a bikini in December

I'm delighted you saw the joke in it.i had visions of mods everywhere.ðŸ˜

SeaFields

Like many my student days involved a part time retail job. Our store room had a glass wall which faced what would be the back of Santa's grotto every Christmas. We would see "Santa" smoking at the back of his grotto every hour or so, then liberally spray himself with Lynx before heading back in to the kids.

It was just a manky sight every year and turned me off ever bringing my own kids to one. Granted this fella was probably the bottom of the barrel on terms of Santas

Ipso

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

You sit down and "wonder" do supermarkets import elves and santas from Scandinavia?

Everyone knows they're made in China.

Tigger

Lollipops23 wrote: »

A small child (maybe 6) asked if I lived in the North Pole. I said of course and that Ireland may as well be the Bahamas for me. The daddy replied that if I wore my bikini there'd be a lot more daddys bringing their kids in...

post is pointless without pics

Don Kiddick

3 Christmases ago as I was on my lunch, the owner of the business let Santa change in my office before the big parade in town...I came back from lunch...walked into my office to see Santa all resplendent in his redcoat & beard, with his jocks around his ankles and his Jingle bells hanging out for all to see... ruined all my childhood Xmas' in one fell swoop I can tell you !

Ipso

He was just emptying his sack!

gozunda

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Never liked going to see him, my mother would insist though.

I was a shy child and was afraid of Claus. I got a bad vibe off the guy.

As a two year old I was brought to a well known Department Store and plonked on Santa's Knee*. Asked what I wanted for Christmas - I told Santa that I did not want anything and guess what - I got nothing! My mother was livid as she had paid for the Santa experience + present. The brother a year older bizarrely got a a large jigsaw more suitable for adults.

I reckon even at that young age deep down I knew I was a nihilist :pac:

*Not only do I remember this incident but I can date when it happened as we moved house shortly afterwards

PTH2009

PTH2009 wrote: »

almost time for the annual visits of Santa too supermarkets/shopping centres etc all over the country/world for a couple of weeks. Nice memories of my childhood visiting him and looking forward too seeing my neice and nephews visiting him for the next few years.

I wonder do some places import elves and santas from Scandinavian places cause they would be the real deal ???. I heard visiting the north pole/Greenland around xmas is brillent and even adults love going there

Any funny stories of your experiences ???

My parents took me to the North Pole (Norway) to meet Santa when I was 7. They didn't tell me until the morning we left, waking me up at 4 am to go to the airport. I had figured out there was no Santa after an unfortunate incident with some unwrapped presents and a loose-lipped sibling, but I immediately suspended disbelief and went along for the ride. It was spectacular. We stayed at a log cabin that had windows that fascinated me; triple glazed with patterns of ice on the outermost window that looked like some magical ice painting, and it had a blazing fire that needed no tending because it ran on magic (gas).

Santa himself was totally convincing, and having read the bio my folks secretly submitted earlier, amazed me by how clued in on my life he was and asked all the right questions. He gave me chocolates and asked me to save one for him on Christmas Eve, which I failed to do. He might be Santa, but chocolate is chocolate. Over the course of a few days Santa 'bumped' into myself and all the other kids and every time gave us a small gift. The activities were things like making tree decorations, sledding, reindeer sleigh rides, and a carol concert outside in the snow, under blankets and with flasks of hot chocolate and roasted chestnuts. On the last day we gave him our secret wish list, but I couldn't think of anything to ask for so I asked him to surprise me, which 'he' did.

We were there for four days, and every second of it was absolutely magical. The memories will last me a lifetime. I'm sure I was an insufferable little miss when I got back to school and told everyone about visiting the 'real' Santa.

Yes, I was totally spoilt. Je regret rien.

Estrellita

Lollipops wrote:

The daddy replied that if I wore my bikini there'd be a lot more daddys bringing their kids in...

That is equal parts disgusting and cringe worthy.

Lorelli!

My newborn pictures are all lost. The earliest picture i have of myself is when I was a couple of months old and visiting Santa.

I really like the photo. There's two of my cousins, my brother and two of my brother's friends. They're all facing the camera with their little winter coats and big smiles. They are standing on each side beside Santa and he is holding me

suicide_circus

RayM

I remember Dunnes in Cornelscourt used to make a big effort at Christmas every year, with Santa arriving in a helicopter (direct from the North Pole). I don't even know if they have a Santa at all nowadays, since they've tried to go all "upmarket". It used to be so exciting, hundreds of kids waiting in the car park and then almost being blown away when the helicopter eventually landed.

Donald Trump

Lorelli! wrote: »

My newborn pictures are all lost.

Word on the street is that you were such an ugly baby that the person developing the photos immediately set fire to them and the negatives.

Donald Trump

Lollipops23 wrote: »

A small child (maybe 6) asked if I lived in the North Pole. I said of course and that Ireland may as well be the Bahamas for me. The daddy replied that if I wore my bikini there'd be a lot more daddys bringing their kids in...

Do you think he was incorrect?


Will need photographic evidence to make up our minds. One of you wearing your bikini and one of you not wearing your bikini in order to compare

(And maybe one in the elf costume as well)