Last year we ended up going to 2 different places to get a photo of Evie with Santa. We didn’t know what to expect, or what place we would like the most.
We went back to the mall where we really liked the photo from last year, and the Santa was the same and is spot on for being Santa. With the added bonus of him being wonderful with little kids.
We arrived early before Santa’s first photo time of the day, and joined the 2 other families in line. It soon got packed, and then we realized the mall has a fast pass prepay option this year. Those people were given priority, but they did a good job of going back and forth between the two lines. After about 15 or so minutes in line it was soon Evie’s turn. She walked right up and “chatted” away, but when it was time for the photo she wanted nothing to do with it. We have this amazing frowns face, and even Santa doesn’t look to overjoyed in the photo. We paid for the photo because we wanted to get one, and we were happy to find out all the packages were 50% off with it being Black Friday weekend. I don’t know if they do this every year, but if you want to save a little bit on these sorts of photos that may be a good thing to ask about. That made it a much better deal, as I always find these photos too over priced. We were a bit disappointed in the photo, but decided to shrug it off. 
We didn’t think that we would attempt another photo, but we ended up out Metrotown direction and decided to give it another try. Different mall, Santa, and price. Why not give it a try?
Metrotown has their Santa photos done by donation, a minimum of $2. Those donations go to the local food bank in the area. If you do have your kids photo with Santa taken here, please consider how much you would normally spend at other malls. This year you enter your personal info, such as name and email, you also enter your phone number. You can than either join the line or ask to get a text for when to come back. We went with the text option as the line was apparently 30 minutes long. Evie and I headed off to go shopping and no more than 15 minutes later we got the text to come back for her photo. We took our items to the check out and headed back.
We entered on the other side, and I saw families still waiting who had been in the line when we left. I was asked how many poses I would like and I asked for just 1 or 2. Evie again went right up to Santa, but noticed the little candy canes. Thankfully Santa took note and quickly gave her one. Sure it’s in the photo but I didn’t mind. We didn’t get a smile this time either, I think it’s just the age she is at, but we were much more happy with these photos. Yes I said photos. Instead of printing the images, you get a digital copy sent to your email. We were surprised to find 3 photos in the email! With it being a digital copy we can go and print however many we would like of each photo. I was also thrilled to see that the color on the photo was much better and it was focused. 
We’ve decided that if we do Santa photos again next year, we will be heading to Metrotown.
Do you get Santa photos done? Is it a 2 year old thing to not smile?
Please follow along over at Facebook (give our page a like so you stay up to date there), and on Instagram were you can see more of what we are up to over at Discovering Parenthood. We’d love to have you over there too.