About

About Santa Max

Santa Max (aka: My Santa) started in 1990 as a volunteer Santa with Florida Power and Light (FPL). FPL back then was a family oriented company that had many activities throughout the year for families. The employee’s club sponsored most of the activities. In the 90’s, Santa Max wore the fake beard and wig.

A Christmas Party was put on each year for the employees and their families. When I was involved, the company rented a theater in Miami (for all the FPL Miami families) and hired a ballet company to put on Swan Lake. There was an extra-long intermission and photos with Santa and individual presents were for each child/family. There was anywhere from 600 to 1,000 kids that had photos and presents. All the volunteers worked together efficiently and the party was over after 4 to 6 hours. Large families and good volunteers kept the lines moving smoothly.
The second activity that Santa and the volunteers supported was hosting a underprivileged family for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, the group would assemble at the designated house. We setup a Christmas tree, put presents under the tree and delivered a precooked Christmas dinner, ready to be reheated the next day.

This was uplifting to those involved and warmed the hearts of us all.

Now, in 2016, Santa Max is semi-retired. There is lots of free time around Christmas. I still do some appearances at no charge and have grown great professional opportunities. This year, Santa Max had an appearance a Vero Beach Dillard’s for their VIP night. It was a huge sale, well attended by invited guest. There were live manikins, a choral group and of course Santa (candy canes were given out). There were good munchies and drinks. The Santa action became many of ladies (and some men) taking selfies with Santa to send to the grandkids. “Grandma (and/or Grandpa) is friends with Santa Claus and you better be good to Grandma…”– A good time was had by all.

Santa donated blood to promote One Blood, the blood bank. I do platelets. – Yes, Santa give more than just presents. Another activity that Santa supported was Vero Beach cleans the beach. The appearance was to make the public more aware of this volunteer activity. And disappointedly, our local hospital (Indian River Medical Center) did not allow Santa to visit at Christmas. Patient privacy and infectious disease was cited as the reasons. There were several prerecorded videos done to support specific groups that requested a Santa message.

Vero Beach Hotel and Spa was the BEST client. Santa Max appeared at the Employee Christmas Party. There was a party photo booth about half of all the photos that night where with Santa. Photos were goofy, raucous and seasonally serous. Santa stayed much later than bargained for. We all had a good time.

Santa was invited back to the hotel to do “Greet the Guest”. This was a surprise to the families as they entered. Just inside the door was a BIG, beautiful Christmas tree. With it as the background, photos were taken with Santa and the groups (candy canes were given out). The photos were emailed to the individuals by the hotel. A good and memorable time was had by all. – As you can see by the pictures, both the hotel and Santa are pet friendly.

After Christmas, Santa returned to the hotel for a photo shoot of “Santa vacations at Vero Beach Hotel and Spa”. This was a promotion for the hotel and Santa Max wore a variety of outfits for the occasion.

There were multiple Skype / FaceTime calls with kids. One resulted in the 8 year old girl writing a follow-up letter to Santa; which spawned a pre-recorded Santa reply. The littlegirl and her 3 year old sister were thrilled. Tears of joy followed and the parents were very pleased. In addition to live Santa calls, prerecorded video messages were made by specific request and sent to individuals and families.

Professional studio shoots document Santa’s elf helper and the wardrobe variation. More contacts were made and next year is even more promising!!! – It was a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS.
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