The annual Santa’s Sleigh Tour in Naperville is taking a different route this year, condensing the typical 12 nights down to six longer, three-hour evenings.
Tour details
The tour, featuring Mr. and Mrs. Claus, runs from Saturday, Nov. 28 through Thursday, Dec. 3, beginning at 5 p.m. each night.
“Construction in Naperville played with some of it, and volunteer strain. We are a 100% volunteer run,” said Colleen Doyle, Vice President of Santa’s Christmas Charities, the nonprofit who organizes the tour.
This year’s route will cover roughly more than 80 neighborhoods, on par with previous years, despite the fewer number of days.
“We are still covering Naperville, but we’re asking the community to come out and find us,” said Colleen.
Tracking Santa’s Sleigh
Families can do so via a real-time Santa GPS Tracker on the Santa’s Sleigh Tour website. Last year, 74,0000 devices logged on during the tour, according to the organizers, drawing 40,000 to 50,000 spectators to the streets.
“If we’re not going past your house, and we’re going to be a couple blocks away, jump in your car, be the hero for your kids, track Santa,” said Colleen’s brother and President of Santa’s Christmas Charities, Matt Doyle. “Your kids will never forget about it.”
The origins of Santa’s Sleigh Tour
The tradition began in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Naperville resident Colleen pitched a rather simple idea to Matt.
“People couldn’t go see Santa Claus. They couldn’t go to malls,” she said. “So I got this idea.”
“This was back when people were doing drive-by birthdays and whatnot,” said Matt. “And she’s like ‘Take your Saint Patrick’s Day float, go around town for a night’ and I said ‘Let me think about it.’”
That idea for one night snowballed into 12, with Saint Nick himself signing on to ride that float repurposed into a sleigh of sorts. Six years later, the event has become a beloved annual tradition and full-blown nonprofit called Santa’s Christmas Charities.
“This brings us together. It’s become so much more than what any of us could have envisioned, back in 2020, when it was just a dark time,” said Colleen.
Spreading holiday cheer and charity
In the last three years, Santa’s Christmas Charities has raised about $95,000, largely due to company sponsorships. Even with the shorter schedule, the organization is set to raise $45,000 this year alone, with every cent going back to support eight other nonprofits that all help children and families. This year’s benefiting organizations are to be announced at a later date.
The Doyle family said the real gift is the holiday cheer that this tour brings to people of all ages.
“I get to see people’s eyes light up with joy, people jumping up and down, smiles they can’t get off their faces.”
Matt and his family now live in Florida most of the year but he still returns home to Naperville every Christmas to make sure Santa’s ride through town goes off without a hitch and now he’s even helping the jolly old elf with a sleigh tour through Palm Harbor, Florida as well.
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