Making A Santa Sleigh (Three Ideas)

Submitted by Caryn Mears, Pat Price, & Anonymous, Kennewick, WA; Gwinnett County, GA

Idea posted January 31, 2005

I took a piece of PVC piping and draped red paper over it. Then, I added black marker drawings to cut out the shape of the sleigh. I even added some Christmas fabric to make it look like a blanket. Santa and Mrs. Claus stood behind the sleigh, the reindeer stood in front of the sleigh, and together they trotted with this contraption across the stage. It looked pretty realistic to the audience!

I learned this from a professional theatre set designer years ago. We use 3/4" - 1" foam insulation board for all our sets. Use 1" foam board if you will be attaching anything to it with screws. You can buy the board in 4' x 8' sheets at Home Depot (or other home supply store), and it's not very expensive. It's usually pink in color. Peel off the plastic coating before you paint it, or the paint will peel off. Prime it with cheap wall paint, cut out your sleigh profile, paint it, and away you go! I would "attach" my reindeer to the sleigh by using lightweight clothesline, ribbon, or beaded Christmas tree garlands. If you need to stand the sleigh on the stage, you can use 2" x 2' boards and attach them to the back of the sleigh with hinges. You can also attach handles to the back of the sleigh using short screws and glue. Your actors can carry it off stage as they "ride" in it.

Foam insulation board is lightweight, is easy to cut with an Exacto knife, paints beautifully, and is MUCH sturdier than cardboard. Just be careful not to bend it, or it might break into two pieces! We've made everything, including houses, rocket ships, cars, the Emerald City, palaces, and much more out of this stuff.

Use rolling chairs and jump ropes with your sleigh. You can make a lightweight cardboard cut-out sleigh with a couple of handles (made from rope) stapled to it. Santa and Mrs. Claus sit on the rolling chairs, one behind the other. They hold the cut-out facing the audience with one hand and hold the reins in the other hand. When the reindeer pull, the sleigh will roll away.