A few weeks ago before thanksgiving I brought Ryder to the mall to take photos with Santa. I was a little concerned that he would not do well with Santa, but really what I was concerned about was entertaining him in a very long line! I choose to go the week before thanksgiving on a Wednesday in the middle of the day. Now I realize most people don’t have that luxury but that’s ok. I have other suggestions on beating the crowds. I’m excited to say that the photo above was our very last photo of our photo shoot. Our mall offers individual photos and then a mini-photo shoot with Santa. It was only a $20 difference so I figured I would give it a try and if he screamed the whole time they told me I wouldn’t be obligated to buy the cd. The cd also gave me all the rights to print as much as I wanted too.
Here are my tips on surviving baby’s first photos with Santa!
1. Do a trial run. A week prior to taking photos we happened to be at the mall. We walked around–I scoped out the scene in preparation for the day that we would take photos with Santa. You can also find out prices prior to going so you’ll have a better idea of what you are going to spend and what you want to do. Our local mall allows you to visit with Santa and take 3 of your own photos for a $10 donation to St. Jude’s! I knew I wanted to enjoy the moment so I opted to pay them to take all the pictures for me!
2. Visit Santa at off times. This helps avoid the long lines. If you can go during the week great. But if you can’t just try to arrive first thing in the morning to beat the rush!
3. Visit Santa right after your baby has woken up from a nap. As soon as my son woke up from his early morning nap, I got him dressed, loaded up the car and made our way to see Santa.
4. Make sure your baby is fed prior to seeing Santa. The last thing you want is a hangry baby on Santa’s lap!
5. Do a diaper check prior to getting in line. This is something I failed to do prior to our visit with Santa. I checked when we arrived to the mall after parking. But when I went to pull Ryder out of the stroller I smelled a stinky diaper. Since we didn’t have a line and he wasn’t fussing I went with the flow and prayed that he wasn’t going to freak out. I also prayed that Santa wouldn’t put me on the naughty list for handing him a baby with a poopy diaper!
6. Distract your baby before meeting Santa. Hold your baby facing you, distract with something sparkly and then slowly walk to santa and hand over the baby. That’s what I did and it worked perfectly. Ryder was so fixed on the sparkly wand that he didn’t realize he was sitting on Santa’s lap. And then when he finally did the photo shoot was almost over.
7. Bring snacks and toys in case there is a long line. And be prepared to entertain your baby if there is a long wait!
8. Dress to impress. If your baby love to spit up I suggest changing your baby once you arrive at the mall. That way you’ll preserve that precious outfit from any random spit up attacks. I took my chanced with Ryder and just put a bib on him. I took the bib off right before we went to take photos.
Remember, photos with babies will always be unpredictable. Don’t stress. Baby’s can sense when we are stressed. Most importantly enjoy the moment. If their is a line, take photos and videos to document the trip before, during, and after. I hope after reading a few of my tips that you have a successful Santa photo trip like we did!
Do you have any tips that I might have missed? Leave them in the comments below!
*Tomorrow I’ll share photos from our visit with Santa!
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