Economic Crunch Hitting Santa Clause, as Children No Longer Play with Toys
Professional Santa Claus jobs in the United States have dropped sharply this Christmas season, with listings down 35 percent from 2024, according to CBS data citing Revelio Labs. Malls and retailers are cutting holiday budgets as foot traffic declines, leaving many professional Santas without work during what is normally their busiest period. The remaining positions are more selective, increasingly requiring real beards, with pay rising to a median of about $25 an hour.
A similar trend is unfolding in the United Kingdom, where seasonal Father Christmas performers are facing a pay freeze, with average mid-range wages holding steady at about $20 an hour. Elves, who typically earn less, have seen modest increases, with mid-range hourly pay rising from £11.60 last year to £12.48 in 2025.
The decline in Santa hiring reflects broader economic strain. U.S. unemployment reached 4.6 percent in November, the highest level in four years, following job losses in October driven largely by federal workforce cuts and widespread layoffs. Job creation has slowed significantly in 2025 compared with 2024, and seasonal retail hiring is at its lowest level in roughly 15 years.
Inflation has further dampened consumer spending. With prices for food, fuel, housing, medical care, and transportation continuing to rise, households are prioritizing essentials and seeking discounts. While overall holiday sales are nominally higher, inflation-adjusted growth remains modest, signaling weaker real demand. Brick-and-mortar retailers are scaling back Christmas operations as more families shop online, reducing demand for in-store holiday experiences such as Santa visits.
The pullback in Santa hiring mirrors a broader contraction in seasonal retail employment. An Associated Press report notes that holiday hiring is expected to fall to the lowest level since 2009, with fewer than 500,000 seasonal jobs forecast, the smallest gain in 16 years. Retailers cite higher costs, tariff pressures, trade uncertainty, and the risk of overstaffing if sales disappoint.
Christmas tree sales are similarly slowing. Sales rose only 3 percent year over year in the three weeks after Thanksgiving, compared with a 7 percent increase over the same period last year, according to a long-running industry survey. Sales of large, premium trees were flat, while mid-sized trees declined slightly. Artificial tree makers report comparable trends, as tariffs have pushed prices higher, forcing companies to cut orders, lay off staff, and still raise prices. Add-on purchases such as wreaths and garland have been especially weak.
Beyond economic pressure, the Christmas retail season has been hit by a shift in children’s behavior. Many are increasingly uninterested in physical toys. Bedrooms and playrooms fill up with toys that go unopened or are used once, while tablets and video games immediately capture attention. Higher screen time is linked with lower engagement in physical, unstructured play, with children now focused on digital worlds built around avatars, upgrades, quests, and virtual currencies.
Parents still walk store aisles looking for something exciting for Christmas morning, but many already expect toys will not compete with digital platforms like Minecraft and Roblox. Forty percent of children have tablets by age two, 60 percent by age four, and gaming time has risen 65 percent in four years. More than half of children surveyed plan to ask for video game content rather than physical toys for Christmas, with top gift lists featuring $700 Nintendo Switch bundles and Robux.
The decline in traditional toy demand is reflected in sales data. U.S. toy sales fell 8 percent in 2023, a $2.4 billion decline to $28 billion. In 2024, sales were flat to down 0.3 percent, described as stabilized but not growing, with holiday toy purchases lower than the previous year. Action figures, dolls, and games declined significantly, while outdoor and sports toys fell by $282 million, a 6 percent drop.
Medical and educational research links higher screen time with significantly lower engagement in traditional physical play. Children spend less time using their hands, limiting fine motor skill development, and teachers in the United Kingdom report that some preschoolers struggle with basic building blocks after excessive screen exposure.
These trends have accelerated the collapse of the big box toy model. Toys “R” Us liquidated its U.S. operations in 2017–2018, while Toys “R” Us Canada has shrunk from 103 locations to 40, closing 38 stores this year alone. Mastermind Toys narrowly avoided bankruptcy in 2023 but still closed 18 stores.
Declining birth rates have further reduced the customer base, while Amazon and online marketplaces have eroded the need for large physical toy stores. Gaming consoles and digital entertainment now command a growing share of children’s attention, steadily weakening in-store toy demand.
Toy sales have not disappeared entirely. Canadian toy sales rose 18 percent in the first half of 2025, driven largely by games, puzzles, building sets, and collectibles purchased by adults, often referred to as “kidults.” Adults now account for roughly a quarter of all toy sales, with annual spending estimated between $7.6 billion and $9 billion. In early 2024, adults purchased more toys than preschool-aged children for the first time.
This growth is concentrated in franchise-driven, limited-edition, and status-oriented collectibles. Many adult buyers cite nostalgia, stress relief, and escapism as motivations, with social media turning fandoms into identity-based communities. While children abandon physical toys for screens, adults are buying toys to recapture a childhood experience the next generation is unlikely to have.
Specialty hobby stores have expanded even as big box chains continue to shrink, but this model carries a built-in expiration date. Nostalgia-driven demand depends on childhood attachment to toys, and a generation raised without them will lack that emotional anchor. As that cohort ages, the force sustaining adult toy sales will weaken.
At the same time, society is becoming more secular, stripping Christmas of its religious meaning and reducing it to generic seasonal language and winter-themed pageantry. With fewer toys anchoring childhood memories and fading cultural attachment to Christmas itself, the figures that once defined the season may disappear. In the next generation, not only manger scenes and angels, but shopping mall Santas, and possibly the malls themselves, may vanish.
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