Santa Claus Obesity: Santa Is Getting Fatter, May Be Bad Influence On Children

Jolly ol' St. Nicholas, with his "bowl full of jelly" belly, has long been beloved by children everywhere for his snuggly tummy and rosy, rotund face. But it seems the venerated gift giver (or at least, his shopping mall-dwelling doppelgängers) is getting way too chubby -- and doctors warn that the added weight is not cause for holiday cheer. According to a Friday report by ABC News, titled "Many Santas Are Now Ho Ho Ho-bese," Santa Claus stand-ins seem to be getting fatter every year. Adele Saidy, owner of costume store Adele's of Hollywood who has been designing Santa costumes for more than four decades, told the network that she's observed an alarming trend in recent years as Santa suit sizes have continued to balloon. “They are getting larger and larger,” she told ABC News. “Last year and this year, 25 percent of my Santas -- oh, I don’t want to say it -- they are really overweight.”

Saidy is not the only Santa suit-seller that has observed this literal growth. An increasing number of retailers are now stocking their shelves with costumes that can fit Santas who wear a size XXXL or larger. This is not the first time that Santa's growing belly has made the news. In 1996, the Augusta Chronicle reported that Santa suits had been growing in size for many years. "The suits have always been big. But it's a question of how big. Extra large isn't always big enough and now we're getting calls for extra extra large," Jenny Zink, a veteran Santa suit maker, told the Chronicle at the time. A report in the Herald-Journal in 2004 reiterated this growing trend. Santasuits.com noted at the time that demand for larger Santa suits (up to 4XL) had been growing steadily. In 2010, John Tantillo, in a Fox News op-ed, lamented that Santa has become "just too darn fat" and that his growing waistline was not providing a healthy example for young children.