CINCINNATI — The holidays are here and Christmas is right around the corner, but for some the most wonderful time of the year comes with a catch — Santaphobia.

What You Need To Know

  • Santa and his helpers are in a higher demand this year. The company 'Hire Santa' is reporting they've hired more than 1,100 Santa entertainers 

  • Many of Santa's helpers have been trained on how to handle kids when they get 'Santaphobia' 

  • Santa and his elves suggest letting kids watch Santa and get warmed up to him if they're scared

You never really know what reaction you’ll get when you’re with Santa. For most, it’s all smiles, but when Santa was on his way to get some last-minute gifts in Cincinnati, there was at least one who was a little scared.

Santa says he’s taken his fair share of screaming baby pictures.

“I just try to be calm and move slow cause sometimes if you move real fast sometimes it startles the children,” said Santa. 

Turns out there’s an actual name for that. It’s called Santaphobia, or the fear of Santa.

In fact, there are haunted houses dedicated to Christmas fears, but Santa knows just what to do.

“A lot of times the people will come through and then we’ll have them come back and get warmed up to me,” said Santa.

He learned from experience and training along with many of his helpers on what to do through a company called ‘Hire Santa’ and the company’s founder says you’ll be seeing a lot more of them.

“We’ve added over 1,100 Santa Claus entertainers in 2023 alone. We’ve really been trying to increase the number of Santas because the demand for Santas is just so great,” said Hire Santa founder Mitch Allen.

While Allen says Santa and all of his helpers are trained, he suggests parents step in to help combat any Santa fears.

“Many times it’s the parents that thrust the child onto Santa’s knee and that causes the child to feel like they have this abandonment syndrome but if the parent will work with Santa and let the child get accustomed to Santa, then really it can warm up and get those great pictures,” said Allen.

“Many times it’s about letting the child sit or stand a little bit away from Santa and watch other children go up to him and really just get comfortable with Santa,” said Allen.

Whether it’s shopping or taking a picture, some kids eventually found Santa’s maybe not so scary after all.