Chicago, IL

Santa Claus is a very busy man this time of year, but if you want to make sure that he has you on his good list and will be bringing you what you want this Christmas, you may want to steal about of his time.

There are lots of opportunities throughout the city to visit with Santa and his helpers. While visiting Santa in a shopping mall, at Daley Plaza, or at a department store makes for a pretty run-of-the-mill Santa visit, there are some more elaborate ways you can meet with Santa, which makes the season a bit more fun.

One of the oddest ones that I found was a local suburb, Elk Grove Village, actually had a swim with Santa event. It makes me wonder, what exactly Santa wears while swimming? Does he take off his hat? Wear red swim trunks? Or will he just be hanging out while the kids swim?

Swim with Santa
December 16th, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Pavilion Aquatic Center
Elk Grove Village
$7 resident / $10 non-resident (pre-registration required)

Odyssey Cruise brunch with Santa
Three hour event featuring a two hour cruise
December 16th, 11:00 a.m. board time
Shoves off from Navy Pier
$52.90 per adult; $15 per child age 3-11*

Ride the CTA with Santa
Santa and his elves ride specific el trains throughout the holiday season and hand out candy canes.
They ride the trains, a different route depending on the day, from 1:00 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends and 3:00 p.m.- 6:00 p.m. on certain weekdays. Here are the dates for the remainder of the season:
* December 16 — Brown and Orange Lines
* December 17 — Brown and Orange Lines
* December 18 — Orange Line
* December 20 — Yellow Line
* December 21 — Purple Line Express
* December 22 — Red Line
For more information, visit the CTA website.

There you have it! Three unusual ways to spend some time with Santa this holiday season. Hopefully you can talk him into bringing you a Nintendo Wii.

This post is part of the 12 days of Chicago series, which brings you 12 fun and interesting things that you can do for the holidays in Chicago. In conjunction with the series, this blog is sponsoring a holiday contest, which you can read about here.

Chicago, Christmas, Santa Claus, Swim with Santa, Odyssey Cruise, Navy Pier