Tips For Rad Santa Pictures

I’ve been taking B to the mall a lot lately to get ready for Santa.  We walk by him, wave, and talk about how he’ll soon get to sit on his lap and ask him to bring him cho chos for Christmas.  Last year we got the most amazing picture with Santa (and I’m so bummed because I can’t find it to post here!  It’s still packed away in a box somewhere.).  We waited for an hour and a half because I’m lame and waited until 2 days before Christmas to go.  Bad Mommy!  But, he totally went to Santa sat on his lap and gave a huge smile!  I was so excited.  Now, it was totally luck of the draw.  B had no idea what was going on last year.  This year is a whole different story!  He knows what’s going on.  And sitting on a strange man’s lap with a big white beard wearing a big red outfit is not Brayden’s cup of tea.  Here are some tips that may or may not work to help get better Santa pictures for your little one

1)  Go and visit Santa!  Our mall will let you go and talk to Santa for free.  Last night there was no line so we spent a good 5 minutes talking to him.  B went right up to him and said, “Cho chos!!!”.  Santa gave him a high five, but B would not give him a hug!  I figure the more times we go see Santa the more B will be comfortable with him.

2)  Santa gave us a good tip.  He said to have one parent ready behind the camera and have the other parent back the kid in (walk backwards towards Santa) so the kid doesn’t see Santa and freak out.  Hand him over to Santa (still facing forward) and quickly jump to the side before your kid knows what hit them and hopefully you’ll get  a smile before they start crying  That tip came from the big man himself!

3)  This tip goes with tip number 1, but Santa also told us to read lots of books with Santa in them.  That really gets the kids excited!

4)  Start off with a happy kid.  Make sure they have a good nap, a full belly, and a clean diaper.

5)  This is obvious, but go at a time when you won’t have to wait in a long line.  And don’t wait until 2 days before Christmas like I did!

Good luck!  If you have any tips that have worked to get an unruly toddler to sit with Santa post them in the comments section!

While I don’t have B’s awesome Santa picture I do have this fun picture I took last Christmas!  One of my favorites!  I’m excited too because I just came up with the idea for his Christmas pictures this year.  Now I just have to figure out a way to get him to cooperate…