Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Santa Success! (At the Palisades Mall in West Nyack, NY)

Andrew was not yet a year old last Christmas, so we didn't really do much regarding explaining Santa Clause to him or taking him for a visit. So we didn't know what to expect when we took him for a visit and photos at the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack this weekend.

I was really expecting a meltdown--after all, I was placing him in a stranger's lap and walking a few feet away--but he actually started clapping as soon as we neared Santa and smiled for such a sweet Christmas photo!

The Santa at the Palisades Center is really amazing, which definitely helped. He spoke with the children as if he'd known them ("My you've grown so big since I saw you last year, Andrew!") and had a real and impressively long white beard. He gave Andrew a little kiss for being so good and a peppermint bark chocolate, which every child receives as a present.
    
If you're headed to the Palisades Center to meet Santa, he'll be sitting right outside H&M on the first floor, next to a gigantic Christmas tree. The line for photos can be long, but it moved quickly even on a busy Sunday, and there is a large open swath of carpet for kids to run around on if one parent will man the line while the other watches the child.

Photos are a bit pricey--the lowest being $24.99 for one sheet of photos featuring one pose and a variety of sizes of photos (we picked a one 5x7 and four wallets configuration). But, you can pick up a CD of all your poses for $30, which makes sense if parents want to jump in for a photo too and/or if you plan on printing duplicates (the one photo sheet then becomes $12 with the purchase of a CD.) There are also a bunch of frames, bears, and other accoutrements to buy at the photo kiosk.

So, we had a great experience with Santa! I was left wondering where all the money made went to though! I hope the company that provides the Santa experience, Noerr, donates at least some of the proceeds to charity--its Christmas, after all!

1 comment:

  1. What an awesome pic! We sorta tried to get Ollie to visit with Santa at his daycare holiday open house, but he wasn't having it. Glad Andrew got to be excited and love it!

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