7 things that can make a mall Santa extraordinary

Being a mall Santa isn't an easy job. The costume is hot, the lines are long and Santa must stay in character for hours at a time. Plus there are all the North Pole responsibilities — such as toy production — to worry about.

Donnie MacIsaac worked as a mall Santa when he was in his 20s for two Christmas seasons beginning in 2007 at the Halifax Shopping Centre. He looks back at the gig with fondness.

"Who doesn't want to make a child smile?" he said.

A great mall Santa can do that with ease, but what does it take to be an excellent mall Santa and how can you spot one?

1. 'It starts in the heart'

At Santa School — it's a real thing — in Calgary, for more than 30 years a team has been teaching "Santa's cousins" how to be his best regional representatives, so they can act on his behalf as he can only be in one place at a time.

The school offers three-day workshops, which are coupled with mentoring. The school also has a 250-page manual on what it takes to be Santa.

"It starts in the heart, but there's a lot of fine tuning," said Jennifer Andrews, the school's dean.

She says while you can teach people how to walk and talk like Santa, and answer questions the way he would, the person playing Santa has to have the passion for the job.

2. Smiles with his eyes

MacIsaac says a good Santa has to be able to look like they're smiling without showing their mouth because so much of the face is covered up between Santa's beard, his hat and long locks.

"It's your eyes that really give that sense of happiness, enthusiasm, interest, all those things — because they can't see your face," he said.

3. To pad or not to pad

Andrews says she never encourages Santas "to pack extra girth," because of health reasons. However, if Santas need to pad, they need to do it right. She says she can spot whether someone is padding. 

"Usually, they pad too high in the tummy if they're padding and it's not done well," said Andrews.

4. Doesn't promise too much

Santa gets asked for a lot of things. "Santa gets asked for horses, dinosaurs, living creatures and things that probably wouldn't be able to happen," said Rebecca Logan, the marketing director at Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth.

For this reason, Santa knows not to promise anything to the kids, regardless of how good they've been this year, no matter how badly they want a Tyrannosaurus rex. 

"Jurassic World just came out, so that's always an option," said Logan.

5. Doesn't smell like a pipe

Santa has a certain smell — and he doesn't smell like a pipe. While he used to smoke a pipe hundreds of years ago, he's more health conscious today and doesn't want to smell like that for the children, says Andrews.

She says Santa smells like peppermint, evergreen or cinnamon. Andrews says a dentist visits Santa School to go over personal hygiene with aspiring Santas.

"Santa is in very close proximity to the people who are visiting him," she said.

6. Knows his backstory

What does Mrs. Claus do? What are the names of the reindeers? How does Santa get into apartments or condos that don't have a chimney? These are all questions Santa must be ready for and if a kid doesn't like the answer they get, they're going to ask more questions.

7. The right look

A great Santa costume will run around $4,000, says Andrews, but it's only part of Santa's appearance. He'll need to know how to properly bleach his beard and moustache, as well as how to care for it, if he's going to pull off the look.