FAQ

The Magic of Santa works a little differently from a traditional mini session, so there isn't one "package price."

Some of our families have been coming to see us for nearly a decade and spend just a few hundred dollars each year. Others choose to invest considerably more in custom wall portraits, albums, memory boxes, and other artwork created for their family.

Our pricing is published, so you can look through it before you ever book. Those prices are à la carte, and families who build their own collection can save 25%.

For our First 30 families, the $300 paid when booking goes entirely toward your artwork order.

Every dollar of the $300 goes toward your final artwork order. It isn't an additional session fee.

We fully finish at least two images from your session, and your $300 can be applied toward anything in our published pricing.

And because you're one of our First 30 families, your session is photographed by Chris Fritchie, creator of The Magic of Santa.

Outside the First 30 offer, the regular session fee is $175, with a $300 minimum artwork order.

The session fee reserves your experience and covers creating the session itself. Your artwork is chosen separately during your image reveal and ordering appointment.

Nope, and that's on purpose.

Rather than deciding what every family should buy before they've even seen their photographs, we let you build your own collection.

Choose at least one item from three of our four artwork categories (Wall Portraits, Tabletops, Albums, and Memory Boxes) and you'll receive 25% off your entire artwork order when your order is completed during your in-person reveal.

You get the collection that actually fits your family, not a package full of things you didn't want.

Yes, but this is where Elfis gives you the North Pole truth.

The Magic of Santa isn't designed as a quick digital-file mini session. If your main goal is to spend as little as possible and leave with a folder of digital files, there are wonderful photographers who specialize in exactly that. We're probably not the best fit.

Our pricing is based on the artwork we create, not the medium we deliver it on. Every finished portrait gets the same artistic attention whether it becomes a 40-inch wall portrait or a digital file.

That's why choosing digital files instead of finished artwork doesn't create the big price difference people sometimes expect.

Yes. As you build your artwork collection, we finish additional images for you based on the size of your order.

As a general guide, we finish about one image for every $150 invested. A family investing around $1,000 in artwork may have roughly 6–7 finished images, even if their main purchase is one large wall portrait.

You'll receive sharing-size versions of your finished images, perfect for social media, phones, and digital frames.

Because Elfis has seen what the drugstore photo lab can do to Chris Fritchie's color grading. It isn't pretty.

Our portraits are individually color graded and finished for the professional labs and craftsmen we use. Many consumer labs apply their own automatic corrections, which can dramatically change the color, density, and look of the finished portrait.

We've spent years choosing the materials and labs we trust, so the piece in your home looks the way the artist intended, not the way an automatic printer decided it should.

Because you're not really paying for paper, canvas, or a digital file.

You're commissioning the creation of the portrait. The product is simply how you choose to enjoy it.

The sets, Santa, lighting, photography, retouching, color grading, artwork preparation, and years spent developing the process all happen before an image ever becomes a print or a file.

That work has been recognized at the highest levels of professional photography, including Chris Fritchie being named 2024 MPI International Portrait Artist of the Year.

Life happens, especially in December. You can reschedule once with at least 7 days' notice.

If illness or an emergency comes up, reach out right away and we'll do our best to find another time, even on short notice. If we ever have to reschedule because of weather or illness on our side, we'll work with you to find the next date that fits your family.

Because every session is reserved just for your family, reservation payments are non-refundable.

Nope.

A mini session is usually designed around making several photographs quickly. The Magic of Santa is designed around creating an experience first, and photographing what happens inside it.

Your children aren't placed beside Santa and told to smile. They spend about 45 minutes with him through activities, conversations, surprises, and storytelling.

That's why families who first came when their children were little keep coming back year after year.

About 45 minutes.

That's one of the biggest differences from a traditional Santa mini session. We aren't racing through a five-minute checklist of poses. Santa and your children have time to talk, play, explore, laugh, and create a story together while we quietly create the photographs.

You choose. The Magic of Santa features three professional Santas: longtime favorites Santa Mike and Santa Al, and our newest Santa, Santa Bill.

Each Santa keeps his own calendar, so check all three when booking.

And yes, families absolutely develop favorite Santas and come back to see them year after year.

A lot. But delivering hundreds of nearly identical photographs doesn't serve anyone.

We create throughout the experience, then carefully narrow everything down to the strongest moments. How many we completely finish is based partly on the artwork you select.

The goal isn't more files. It's photographs worth keeping.

The Magic of Santa is created at Magic Makers Studio in Downtown Weston, just minutes from North Texas, McKinney, Frisco, Celina, Prosper, Melissa, Anna.

307 W. Main St. Weston, TX 75009

Pajamas! We encourage them for the whole family, and yes, that means Mom and Dad too.

• Traditional, vintage-style pajamas photograph best. Think classic and a little old-fashioned.
• Solid, medium-tone colors when possible.
• Avoid colors that compete with Santa's suit.
• Skip character pajamas. Your favorite movie heroes will date the portrait fast. Classic never goes out of style.

Our favorite places to shop: Only Little Once on Etsy, and Target does a nice job too.

First, don't worry about forcing the moment. Some of our favorite photographs happen while children are figuring Santa out.

If you know your little one may need extra time, choose one of the last sessions of the day, or the session right before our lunch break, whenever possible. That gives us breathing room. If Santa needs a little extra time earning a smile, we don't have to watch the clock as closely.

Absolutely, but we strongly recommend that cousins from different households reserve back-to-back sessions.

With two families, we're really creating three experiences: one with the first family, one with the second, and then all the cousins together. Squeezing all three into one session means somebody loses part of their experience. Back-to-back sessions give us time to do it right.

Absolutely. Pets are welcome.

We just ask that pets not sit directly on Santa's coat. Santa has a long season ahead of him, and keeping that suit clean is harder than keeping reindeer off the roof.

Please do.

These photographs aren't only about what your children looked like this Christmas. They're about your family. You may come planning to photograph just the kids, but don't be surprised when we invite Mom and Dad into a few frames.

Someday, those may be the photographs your children treasure most.

Absolutely, and it makes the experience incredibly personal.

Get the gift to us before your session, or quietly hand it to our team when you arrive. We'll make sure it finds its way into Santa's hands. As far as your child knows, Santa had it waiting at the North Pole.

Elfis promises not to tell.

After your session, we narrow everything we created down to the strongest images and prepare them for your private image reveal and ordering appointment.

Plan on about 90 minutes. We'll walk through the photographs together, help you narrow your favorites, and help you decide what to do with them: wall artwork, an album, tabletop pieces, a memory box, or a combination.

We can when necessary, but we strongly recommend coming to the studio in person.

There are a lot of photographs to work through, and choosing sizes, albums, and wall artwork is much easier when you can see and touch the products. The whole process takes about 90 minutes, and in person is simply easier for families.

Tell us before your session.

Whenever possible, we'll arrange your image reveal for later the same day so you don't have to make another trip to see us. Same-day reveals take some juggling behind the scenes, so the earlier we know, the better the chance we can make it happen.