Santa Claus House EXPOSED! North Pole, Alaska

Should you visit the the Santa Claus house/gift shop in North Pole (Fairbanks) Alaska in 2024?

The answer is NO.

Before you calling me a Grinch or whatever, you need to know that I’m a sucker for anything Christmas. I love it. I start decorating the house on November 1st and by the time I’m done, it looks like Christmas threw up. I have FIVE goddamn Christmas trees. That’s right. FIVE. I also collect Christmas ornaments when I travel, so a shop like the Santa Claus House is right up my alley.

So I obviously expected a lot more. This is a CHRISTMAS store in a town called NORTH POLE. Just with that, they have a lot going for them. However, it’s a total letdown. The outside of the Santa Claus house looks so fun! It’s cute and Christmas-y, with the murals and giant fiberglass Santa and a real reindeer pen, and all but when you enter this place, it’s a warehouse full of Made in China shit.

RELATED: All of my Alaska content is here, if you’re planning a trip!

Santa Claus House Location

The Santa Claus house is located in the town of North Pole, Alaska, which is a small town about 20 minutes outside of Fairbanks. It’s open year-round – and yes, that means you can visit Santa year round too. For those of you who are visiting via a cruise ship tour, most cruise lines provide excursions here via tour bus.

Quick sidebar about the town of North Pole, AK itself –

The town of North Pole could be…I don’t know…cuter? Sure, they have light poles painted in candy cane stripes and have Christmas-themed named streets, but other than that, it could be Anytown, USA. In my opinion, if your town’s name is North Pole and you’re in Alaska, you go big or go home. And I guess in this case, they painted a few light posts with red and white stripes, said, ‘fuck it’, and went home. Such a shame.

Inside the Santa Clause House

Santa Clause House sells every imaginable “made in China” Christmas ornament you see in Alaska gift shops (and any gift shop across the USA, really). It’s a bunch of Santa Claus ornaments with the man himself in all kinds of unrelated-to-Alaska hi-jinks, with “North Pole, Alaska” written somewhere on the ornament. For example:

• Santa doing a wheelie on a motorcycle – “North Pole, Alaska”
• Santa wearing RayBans, holding a sand pail at the beach – “North Pole, Alaska”
• Santa wearing a firefighter’s uniform with a cat on his back – “North Pole, Alaska”

Maybe I’m off my rocker, but if I want an ornament from North Pole Alaska, I want something that reminds me of the area. A moose…the northern lights…maybe some eagles. It’s not that hard.

But no, they have to have the Santa on the ornament wearing a goddamn milkman’s hat or frolicking around on a flamingo pool floatie.

We visited the Santa Claus house at the very end of our Alaska road trip. So that this point, I can safely say that we visited every gift shop, including inside of grocery stores, in Alaska that’s accessible via road. (I am seriously not kidding). So I can speak with authority that the prices here are outrageous – you can get the same ornament at a Safeway for half the price, and no, I’m not exaggerating.

Now it’s not just the ornaments here. They also sell Christmas decor you can find in any Target, Wal Mart or Family Dollar. There was nothing special about any of this and it’s triple the price of what you’d pay at a big box store. They are clearly out to make a buck on unsuspecting tourists.

I suppose the one redeeming aspect of this place is that Santa is available to visit year round, and if you are traveling with kids, they’ll get a kick out of seeing Santa in July. The Santa visit is free and you’re able to take your own photos for free as well.

Santa Claus House – Pros and Cons

Pros:
The large fiberglass Santa outside is pretty cool. I guess.
It’s free – even to take photos with Santa
It’s a way to waste some time in Fairbarks because there’s not much to do there.

Cons:
Expensive
There is nothing special about any of the merchandise here

Like this post? Pin it to save for later!