The Santa Experience

Your child’s Magical Santa Portrait Experience begins with your child arriving at our studio in his or her pajamas, all set to sit and enjoy their special time with Santa. There is never forced interaction or your child being placed on Santa’s lap. Our natural setting and dialogue allows everything to play out naturally and for wonder to fill your child’s eyes.

Santa will be seated and invite your child to take a seat beside him and share some of Mrs. Claus’ special snow cookies and milk. From there, Santa will make your child feel welcomed and enjoy games and fun in a light-hearted time together.

While Santa visits with your child, our team is capturing candid and real reactions in some of the most enchanting portraits you will ever have created. We work unobtrusively without the use of flash so that your child is blissfully unaware that they are being photographed. Typically a child is with Santa for 15-20 minutes and can converse at will. We prepare for the session by asking you questions that “only Santa would know” so that your child’s belief is extended.

Our dates are different every year, depending on Santa’s availability to break away from his work at the North Pole. He is typically with us for only 2-3 days a year. This much-sought-after experience fills quickly, due to its classic and timeless nature. 

All of our sessions are held at our studio located in the heart of Winston-Salem off of Stratford Road. Our nostalgic set has been designed to bring the warmth and joy of days gone by back to you and for your children to experience for the first time. In our studio, your family will create special lasting memories together, while our portrait artist beautifully captures the holiday magic in your child’s eyes and their precious smile from seeing Santa in real life. You will all enjoy the wonderful memories made while at our studio in beautiful portraits, an album or collection box each holiday hereafter!

Your child’s time with Santa lasts approximately 15-20 minutes. They will enjoy conversation and get to share their thoughts and wishes with him one-on-one. We never ask for children to sit on Santa’s lap. Our experience makes Santa very approachable in a way that invites your child to participate at a level of their comfort. Because children get to approach him at their own pace, we find that most children are often very happy to sit on his lap at the end of the session if they desire!  

Immediately following the experience, we will host your family in our theater room to view the timeless portraits we’ve created. The viewing and selection process tends to take close to 1.5 hours. So overall, you will be at our studio for about two hours. We have childcare available to allow you to select your portraits with minimal interruption.

Absolutely, click here to fill out an information form and we will reach out as soon as we have our dates with Santa secured! [Ask for First name, Last name, Email, Phone in form. Send a thank you for submitting text and email. 

Our Magical Santa Experience is recommended for children 4 and older if they are the only child visiting with Santa. If an older sibling is present, children 3 and under may attend. We have found that if an only child is under 4, it can take a while to coax them into the set and the result is often not pleasant for the child or the portraits! Trust us and plan to bring your child in once they are four. It’s a magical age and one that will allow them to remember the experience as well!

We allow a maximum of three siblings in a Santa session. The size of our set is relatively small and if we have too many children, someone’s back is facing the camera and can’t be see. For this reason, we have found that three is the most we can accommodate. 

Only siblings can be in a session. Why? Because most of the time, only grandma can appreciate a portrait of cousins. If grandma wants a portrait of the cousins, we suggest booking two back-to-back Santa sessions with each family and between the sessions, our photographer will create one image of all of the cousins. Then grandma can purchase what she wants and each family can have a portrait of their own children. 

At your private session, your children will get to experience the magic of Santa and then you will have an adults only viewing session immediately following, where you will view the images we created and place your portrait order. 

• a personalized letter mailed to your child from Santa prior to your visit
• a private and personal session with Santa Claus and his elves
• up to 7 different interactions that are photographed with Santa (this is what makes your Storybook Album so awesome!)
• your child’s name on the nice list
• gift bag filled with toys and one of Mrs. Claus’ snow cookies. 
• a Certified Nice List certificate to take home
• childcare while adults enter the theater room to view and order pictures and products
• Wall Art, gift portraits, collection boxes and our all-time most popular product, the Storybook Album, are available for purchase at your ordering session which takes place immediately after your visit with Santa. Your children will be supervised by one of our elves while you make your selections.  

The deposit covers our team’s time and also Santa’s time, as well as the other costs built into the experience. Hand crafted artwork is purchased separately. Typically our families spend begins at $300. While the session fee is not refundable, it will be applied to your portrait order.

The Santa Experience Sessions are only offered seasonally. Please complete our waitlist below and receive an email alert when we open the calendar for these special bookings!

If there is a significant item (like a blanket or stuffed animal that you feel your child needs in order to feel comfortable having portraits made, please bring it. BUT, the portraits will look better without that item as our set is decorated in a classic way and anything more modern or of different colors will look out of place. Our goal would be to do the session without those “comfort items” but it’s good to have them on hand if that is the only way your child would participate and we can introduce those items if needed.