Store Santa Clauses taught to size up recession-hit parents' wealth and manage children's gift expectations

It will soon be time for every child to draw up their list for Santa.

But now they could be in for something of a surprise - when Santa asks them to take a few things off of it.

The largest Santa school in the U.S. has been advising its students on how to lower children's expectations in the economic downturn.

Students at the The Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School in Michigan are being taught what to do when children ask for toys that parents can't afford or for Santa's help finding their parents a job

When confronted with a huge list of 'I wants', Santas are being told to tell them that they can't have everything.

They should also take a look at the children's parents and 'size them up' before promising them something that their mother and father can't afford.

The measures are part of the new syllabus at the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School in Midland, Michigan, the New York Times reported.

Dating back to 1937, It is the oldest and most celebrated Santa school in the U.S., but it is now having to move with the times.

Some Santas have been taken aback by young children who have presented them with spread sheet, printouts and cuttings from catalogues instead of a simple wish list.

Would-be St Nicks pay $415 for the three-day course, which has evolved with the times and now reflects the stagnating economy

Others have become so tired of being asked for iPods they have prepared stock answers to get around it.

Fred Honerkamp, a Santa graduate who also lectures at the school, said that he had come up with his own story of an errant elf to in the North Pole explain why children can't have everything.

He said: 'It's hard to watch sometimes because the children are like little barometers, mirrors on what the country has been through.

'In the end, Santas have to be sure to never promise anything.'

The school has also been advising its pupils on how to deal with such questions as: 'Can you bring my daddy a job?'

Santa student Tom Ruperd told the New York Times that he tends to guide children towards more realistic gifts and tells them that 'Santa's been cutting back too'.

Faced with an impossible question, such as finding a job for a parent, his reply is: 'Santa specialises in toys, but we can always pray on the other'.

The school, which dates back to 1937, is the oldest and most celebrated Santa school in the United States. They even teach how to store Santa wigs properly

The Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School runs a three day course for would-be Santas every fall.



For new students tuition is $415, and it's $365 for returning Clauses.



Last month's was the largest in its history, proving that in the downturn it is not just the children who have to lower their expectations.

Among this year's pupils was an aerospace engineer and an accountant lured by the prospect of earning up to $50 an hour working in shopping malls.

The lectures this year included a stark lesson from teacher Kevin Scott Fleming who told the history of Saint Nicholas and how making money from the character - something every Santa wanted to do - is 'poison, absolutely poison'.

A marketing executive also urged them to build up their social media profile and use their Twitter account to drive traffic to their website.