How to grow your payments app with Santa grottos and Christmas experiences
By SendPay Business · · 2 min read
Santa grottos run at farms, garden centres, shopping centres, attractions and village halls, and many Christmas experiences add elf workshops, reindeer, light trails and festive food. Almost everything is sold as timed tickets booked weeks ahead, with each slot often including a gift for the child, and extras such as photos or hot food paid on the day. Schools, nurseries and groups book whole sessions. A payments app that sells timed tickets, takes extras on the spot and handles group payments can win grottos, and every family who books sees your app.
Talk to grotto and Christmas event organisers
Ask local Santa grottos and Christmas experiences:
- How do families book and pay for timed slots?
- How do you sell extras like photos, food and crafts on the day?
- How do schools, nurseries and groups pay for whole sessions?
- What happens with refunds and changes when a family can't come?
Sell timed tickets with payment
A booking link that takes payment for a set time fills every slot, lets the grotto buy the right number of gifts and cuts no-shows on the busiest weekends.
Take extras and group payments
Photos, food and craft extras can be paid with a tap on the day, and schools or groups can pay one invoice or let each parent pay their share from a link.
Grow through seasonal attractions
Grottos run alongside Christmas tree sellers, farm parks and pick-your-own farms, often on the same site. When those businesses take payments through your app, each grotto can bring more of them onto it.
Build it
Create your own financial platform.
Pick a template, name it, brand it, preview every page before you pay. Your brand, your users, your fees.
Build my platform →Questions people ask
What about Christmas tree sellers?
The Christmas tree sellers guide covers sellers of real trees from farms, yards and pop-up lots for a few busy weeks each year, often with delivery and collection extras.
Christmas tree sellers →What about pick-your-own farms and pumpkin patches?
The pick-your-own farms guide covers farms selling entry, fruit and pumpkins by weight or by the piece, which get very busy for a few weekends a year.
Pick-your-own farms and pumpkin patches →Can I call it a bank?
In most countries "bank" is a protected word you can only use with a banking licence. Call it an account, a wallet, an app or a platform. The accounts and payments behind a SendPay Business platform are powered by licensed partners.
Is there a step-by-step plan I can follow?
Yes. The free launch checklist takes you from picking your people and naming your app to setting fees, going live and winning your first ten customers.
Digital bank app launch checklist →How do I start?
Pick a template, name it and preview every page before you pay. Your platform can be live on your own domain within 24 hours of confirmation.
Build my platform →Read next
This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. SendPay Business is a technology company, not a bank, and does not take deposits; regulated services on the platforms are provided by licensed partners. PayPal, Patreon and Substack are named as reference points only and are not affiliated with SendPay Business.