The Shopping Centre Santas Taking Their Grottos to Zoom

A deadly virus transmitted easily in small indoor spaces poses something of a problem to the international mall Santa community. How instrumental children have been in the spread of COVID-19 is still unclear, but it’s safe to assume that thousands of people passing through a little shopping centre grotto every day for an entire month isn’t exactly coronavirus-friendly.

While plenty of UK shopping centres have decided to power on with their Father Christmas experiences – albeit socially-distanced and COVID-compliant – others have not. For parents who either can’t or don’t want to take their kids to meet Saint Nick in person, the alternative – as is the case with absolutely everything this year – is to speak to him online.

We visited a few of these cyber-Santas in their home grottos, to ask: what is the most challenging thing about spreading cheer over Zoom?

“You have very little control over how the children behave and engage with you. Sometimes they're sat on the sofa and it's a long way from the screen they're watching you on. If you were having a conversation with them while you're in front of them, you can talk to them individually, but on the video call they don't know who you're talking to. They will often try to shout at the same time and talk over each other.

“What's good, though, is that the clients can get a recording to keep forever. But, for me, it's also good because I get a chance to read a story to them – you get to spend more time with each child on the online sessions, and I think this makes the sessions more magical. You get to see more of their characters.”

“I actually can't think of any difficulties. I thought it may be hard to engage the kids, but the parents give me so much information that we're able to have great conversations and I can surprise them with a lot of things. One girl was made president of her class, and it surprised her when I congratulated her.

“I get to interact with the kids in a much better way than normal, and get to know more about them. We've been able to turn a negative into a positive; Zoom has become such a part of these kids’ lives, so they're comfortable to talk from home. Even the shy ones are much more happy to talk, which makes it all the more magical.”

“What’s the most challenging thing? That's a hard one. If you're on your own at home doing it, then it's difficult, because you will be at it constantly. It's surprisingly tiring. But it's really important to try and keep the same energy up for each child. You can't be turning up to any of the sessions with less enthusiasm than the ones at the beginning of the day.”

“You don't have any of the chemistry you’d get in a face-to-face experience. Ninety percent of the time it works very well, but not being able to look at someone directly in the eye means it's hard to keep their attention. Two and three-year-olds tend to wander away from the screen.

“In some ways, it works as well – or even better – as people are more relaxed. I've not had a single kid scream the house down. When you're that age, if you open the door to a dark room with a big man in it, it will terrify you. This gets rid of that, as they're at home with their mum and dad.”

“The lack of direct personal contact is an odd thing. There are many advantages to the online apps, though: the time it takes to do them, and also the power dynamic is shifted. For a three-year-old to come into a grotto, it can be terrifying.

At three, you believe that Santa belongs on TV or on a card – also, you've learned that he is going to judge you on whether you're naughty or nice. With these being online, the kids are more in control. Santa is on a screen and they can understand that. All Santas are, in essence, live performers, so it's hard to get used to the new medium.

“But it's great – the kids don't just want to talk about Christmas, they want to show you everything in their house. Their cats, dogs, toys. You give up control to the kids and it's absolutely brilliant.”

Thanks to Santa’s Calling You, Santa’s Grotto `LIVE and Santa HQ.

@christopherbethell