A very Gather-ed Christmas: Breakfast with Santa

Ho ho ho no! It’s already December and you haven’t sent out or even taken your Holiday photos yet! Have no fear, Gather has the perfect solution.

Like many businesses that throw the same event, Breakfast with Santa has been a successful community event since Gather’s first year in operation, 2016. Gather’s co-owner, Jyll Everman, sat down to explain the process of the event and how she’s kept people booking over and over again.

“We knew we wanted to do community events, that's part of our core values, gathering the community together for unique experiences,” Jyll explained, “but sometimes the familiar events are what’s popular. Breakfast with Santa is a well-known event that many restaurants and venues participate in, so every year, I take it very seriously as to how we're going to differentiate ourselves. Every year I approach the event asking, what's my vision? What's going to make this different? And what's going to be incredibly memorable?”

How does Jyll ensure it’s memorable? By planning out the event a year in advance of course!

“Like the other community events Gather puts on (Taste and Glitz and Gather), I already have written down all my ideas for the next Breakfast with Santa before we’ve even officially finished our current year,” Jyll laughed. “But we usually start planning I would say five to six months in advance with the ideas of what we want to do and the ordering, etc., We love, love, love our Santa and he loves our event, so he always sends me a message asking for the date so that he can get our event in before anyone else's.”

This event doesn’t have to just be fun for the kids, as long as taxis are hailed or there is one responsible adult per party, guests over the legal drinking age of 21 can also enjoy the bar which includes seasonal cocktails such as cranberry mimosas and Holiday sangrias, with an adjoining hot chocolate station for the little ones.

“Every year I try and do a different form of entertainment,” Jyll explained. “We've brought in live performers, last year we had a grand piano, this year we had a hot chocolate bar and hired Yo Dj Entertainment to come in and throw a surprise dance party for the kids at the very end, playing techno Christmas music and Santa came out and danced with all of them. I mean, it was precious, the sweetest thing. Santa got down on his knees and all the kids ran and gave him the biggest hugs. Every single parent in attendance had their phone out, excited to see their kids so excited.”

This year there were two Breakfast with Santa events on the morning and afternoon of December 3rd, and each event lasted for two hours with a capped attendance of 110 people, giving families plenty of time to decorate cookies, eat food, talk, and even dance with Santa!

“A lot of times when you go out with your kids to try and do something fun, it's not relaxing, it's stressful,” Jyll laughed understandingly. “There are large crowds, it's very noisy, you feel like you're competing with other people –  at Gather we want to make sure that every parent leaves going with a sigh, and the thought, That was so nice. That was so relaxing with my kids.”

Jyll noted the importance of balancing the fun that is supposed to shine out from within the Holidays, feeling the sheer magic this time of year brings, and capturing that fun to look back on later.

“Moms don't get the photos they're looking for during the holidays, they are typically doing so much work that they just don't get to it,” Jyll sighed. “Everyone's thinking ‘She's taking pictures of everybody!’ and nobody's taking pictures of her and her children. So, as a fellow mom, a goal of mine for this event is to get great, family photos – so we set up a whole photo area of professional lighting to make sure that the parents get the photo they need and deserve.”

To keep the importance on the fun the families should be having, Jyll kept the extravagance of the menu very low in comparison to her other events.

“The menu stays relatively the same as most years,” Jyll said. “We change two or three things every year and the event always has great food, but rather than having a showstopping menu we're looking to create memorable experiences, because life is busy and it's hard to squeeze those in. We release limited tickets because we want every family to feel like they're getting great personal attention from our staff.”

“We don't want there to be long lines at the buffet or long lines to see Santa, we want it to be an experience where the parents can relax and have a wonderful time with their families,” Jyll smiled. “We want them to see Santa and get beautiful photos from our social media manager, Steven; we want them to decorate cookies and be able to take those home. We just want attendees to have a good time. We schedule this as a lighter event so even if there's a longer line for food, you have plenty to do and talk about with your family.”

Everyone’s favorite classics are laid out amongst a breakfast buffet for families to help themselves to, but what really seems to be a hit with goers of all ages is the pancake toss. 

“The biggest hit is the pancake toss. We have a whole area where Maddie stands behind a griddle and we just throw pancakes,” Jyll giggled. “The pancake toss is meant for the kids, but parents get a kick out of doing it as well! They stand back as far as 20 feet and we just whip pancakes super high in the air. Kids and parents alike dive for them, the parents get cool points for being part of it. It's just such a fun memory, and people love a pancake toss. It's one of the most entertaining parts of the day.”

Tickets sold out before we were even able to publicly announce the event this year, so sign up for our mailing list to get a chance at purchasing some pre-release tickets!

“All of the ticket purchases this year came from our mailing list, who are regulars of ours to begin with, but we had to post the Public Release announcement with a sold-out sign already on it,” explained Jyll. “There's one family we've seen since they've been pregnant; they come every single year and have this beautiful now seven-year-old, always walking around in a beautiful little dress. It's become a family tradition for many people, including that family.”

Make it your new family tradition, and turn your notifications on with Gather’s latest mailing updates to ensure you get a spot next year!