Demand for Santa Claus high, supply low

COVID-19 concerns lead to shortage for 2nd year

He may be checking his list and checking it twice, finding out who is naughty or nice, but Santa Claus might not be coming to town this year amid a nationwide shortage of the Christmas icon.

Last year, Santas throughout the country were losing gigs as it was the first holiday season of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Santa visits were mostly held online.

But with vaccines now available and national COVID-19 rates much lower than last holiday season, many people are wanting to go back to the traditional visits with Santa. Except this year, Santas are much harder to come by.

“Everyone is wanting to go back to traditions,” Mitch Allen, founder of HireSanta.com, which has a nationwide database of thousands of Santa Clauses that can be booked for events, told USA TODAY. “Our demand is up over 120% from pre-pandemic levels.”

Allen described people feeling “pent up” about wanting to go all-out for Christmas this year to make up for last year, so shopping malls, companies and even families are trying to get Santa to show up. But there is concern about going back to those old traditions.

Allen said over the past year, around 700 Santas died, but around 300-500 of them were due to COVID-19. Santas are typically older, which can place them at higher risk of dealing with severe complications of the virus. That may also be why some don’t want to don the iconic red suit out in public and interact with hundreds of people at once.

Stuart Deacon Jr., a 26-year-old

Santa in the Houston area, said the one thing that worries him is making sure people, especially children, are clean when they visit him, as a number of his “brothers and sisters” have died due to COVID-19. When he’s not Santa, Deacon works at a COVID-19 testing center at a local school district, so he has seen how damaging the pandemic has been to his community and he wants to ensure the virus doesn’t spread through his gigs.

If Santas are choosing to be in-person, expect precautions such as social distancing, so children more than likely still won’t be able to sit on Santa’s lap.