Billy: Ooh! It's Santa! Santa Claus!
Mandy: That's not Santa, you stooge. That's the Grim Reaper.
A character is minding their own business, when suddenly, someone else (usually a kid, or sometimes, even an adult) points at him and says, "Look, it's Santa Claus!" Actually, he's just an ordinary Joe; he just happened to be an old, fat man with a white (or a fake) beard, wearing a red suit, or having some other resemblance to Father Christmas.
If the person making the mistake is a child, this usually shows that Children Are Innocent, especially if Santa doesn't actually exist in this universe. It could also be portrayed as Innocent Inaccurate if the guy is actually an intruder. If it's an adult, then it's overlapping with Still Believes in Santa, and thus often portrays them as childish, dumb, goofy, or naive.
The person who is mistaken for Santa is often embarrassed (most often Embarrassed by a Child) due to the implication that he looks like Santa and is thus old, fat, and/or silly, though the kid often didn't mean it that way. They could just try to ignore the person, angrily correct them, laugh, find it cute, or humour the other person. Or if they want to be a jerkass, they could take the opportunity to retort that Santa is fake.
It's also very likely to happen to a character who decides to make a Chimney Entry for whatever reason, since St. Nick is quite famous for entering houses this way.
Contrast Mall Santa, who's usually not an example, since he's trying to actually pass himself off as Santa, although an adult mistaking a mall Santa for the real Santa could qualify as mall Santas generally aren't trying to convince adults. Similarly, people who are Usurping Santa or Subbing for Santa don't count.
Compare Mistaken for Clown, Mistaken for Subculture, Comically Missing the Point, and Your Costume Needs Work. If it's an Ambiguous Situation as to whether it was a mistake or if he's really Santa, that's Santa Ambiguity. Subtrope of Mistaken Identity. Justified if it was a Pseudo-Santa. Truth in Television for many men with white beards.
Examples:
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Advertising
- Played for laughs in a Jenny Craig ad, where a woman in a red robe is bent over by the Christmas tree, and her young daughter on the second-floor landing sees her and gleefully calls out, "Santa!"
- Subverted in the iconic Marine Corps Toys for Tots commercial where a young boy approaches a Marine who is standing guard at a national monument. Fit and dressed in the formal dress uniform, the Marine looks nothing like a traditional Santa. But the young boy says that he's heard that Santa might be a Marine and if you give him your list, you'll get a gift for Christmas. The little boy is ecstatic when the Marine silently and discreetly opens his hand to accept the boy's wishlist.
Little Boy: "He is Santa Claus!"
- In the 2017 Christmas Advert
for British Department Store Marks and Spencer the version of Paddington Bear from the live action movies encounters a bearded burglar dressed in a red jacket and a red Stocking Mask, who was stealing presents on Christmas eve. The innocent bear assumes the burglar is Santa out on delivery and "helps" the burglar deliver the presents back. Seeing the joy the presents bring after his thieving is undone, and spending time with the kind and earnest Paddington, winds up reforming the burglar in one night.
- One Mint Mobile ad has Ryan Reynolds interacting with a new Mint customer named Greg, who has a white beard and red flannel shirt. Despite Greg exasperatedly clarifying that he's not Santa, Reynolds still acts suspicious of him, putting his name in quotes and asking where he parked the reindeer.
- A couple of Wendy's commercials feature an old man who looks like Santa enjoying a Frosty. One employee is convinced that he's really Santa.
Anime & Manga
- Di Gi Charat Nyo!: Inverted. Dejiko needs to help Santa, who she is convinced is just her inventor friend Yasushi in a Paper-Thin Disguise, deliver presents around the Lucky Cat Shopping District. The end of the episode reveals that Yasushi had been asleep in his own workshop for the past few days as he had been busy designing and building toys, causing Dejiko to realize that she had been helping the real deal.
- Haruhi-chan during the SOS Brigade's Christmas Party the group catches Tanagachi sneaking into the Computer Club's Room in disguise to return the Kapa, and Haruhi joyfully mistakes him for Santa. Given her powers as a Reality Warper, Tanagachi is immediately transformed into Haruhi's image of Santa-a giant hulking monstorsitiey.
- Pokemon: In the first episode of the Indigo League arc, this is Ash's reaction to meeting Mr. Goodshow
Comic Book
- Archie Comics: In one comic, Reggie and Veronica fall into a house's chimney by mistake. A little girl sees them in the fireplace and happily exclaims that Santa and his wife must have arrived.
- Father Christmas: Inverted. When Father Christmas collects his Santa suit from the dry cleaners on Christmas Eve, the lady comments, "Off to a fancy dress party then, sir?". Father Christmas growls, "I should be so bloomin' lucky!", as he contemplates the night's work. This is played with in the sequel Father Christmas Goes on Holiday, when he tries not to be recognised on his travels, but three times somebody wonders if he is Santa Claus, forcing him to make a quick exit.
- The Mighty Thor: After Ruby is murdered by Zaniac, Thor takes her two orphaned sons to Asgard, where they are adopted by Volstagg. When the boys first meet their adoptive father, they take notice of his large belly, reddish outfit, and thick beard, and ask him if he is Santa Claus.
- Hellboy: In "A Christmas Underground", Hellboy visits a dying old woman on Christmas Eve and promises to find her long-missing daughter and deliver her present. As he turns to leave, we see him from Mrs. Hatch's point of view: "You thought I didn't recognise you. You're Father Christmas."
Fan Works
- In the The Loud House fic Ace Savvy and the Full House Gang, Leni mistakes Reginald Barnum for Santa just because of his white beard.
- In the Gullfriend31 fanfic How the Bad End Trio Stole Christmas (a Smile Pre Cure story), Akaoni walks in on Kabaton brushing his teeth in the bathroom. Because of the white foam around Kabaton's mouth, Akaoni thinks Santa Claus has intruded on the villains' lair and goes to report this to Joker. By the time Joker and Akaoni get back, however, Kabaton's on the toilet.
- In the White Squirrel fanfic The Accidental Animagus, while Dumbledore is investigating the Grangers' household (frantically looking for a runaway Harry), Hermione literally squees and runs up to hug him. While he denies this claim, his eventual test of the Grangers' new Floo connection does *not* help his case.
Films — Animation
- Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas: In "A Very Goofy Christmas", Max sees a silhouette of a man with a sack on the roof and thinks it's Santa. When the lights come on, it's revealed it's actually a burglar.
- The Nightmare Before Christmas: Lock, Shock, and Barrel mistake the Easter Bunny for Santa Claus. Far from the normal example, these kids were trying to kidnap the guy.
- The Polar Express: At the start of the movie, the Hero Boy hears jingling. He goes downstairs and sees a shadow of what appears to be Santa Claus, but then it's revealed to be his father and younger sister Sarah (the jingling is coming from the Santa hat that the dad is wearing), much to his disappointment.
Films — Live-Action
- Elf: Two examples, justified since Buddy was raised by Christmas Elves and thus knows Santa is real:
- When he sees a man on the street who happens to be wearing red and have a white beard, he says, "Santa!", only to realise he's not actually Santa.
- When Buddy learns that "Santa" will come to the mall, he thinks it's gonna be the real Santa, so when he sees him, he gets angry at the "impostor", eventually leading to a fistfight between them.
- Subverted in Hellboy (2004) — a patient with Down's Syndrome at Liz Sherman's sanitarium reports seeing a "big red guy" outside the window. One of the staff thinks she's talking about Santa, seeing as it's the Christmas season, but the patient confirms that what she saw wasn't Santa, and she's right — it's Hellboy himself, having stopped by the sanitarium to share drinks with Liz.
- Subverted in the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street, which opens with a grandfather and grandson waiting to cross the street at the same time as an elderly gentleman with a white beard. The little boy looks up with awe, tugging on his grandfather's arm and pestering him to "ask him!" The grandfather tries to shush him but to no avail. Eventually, he apologetically admits the little boy thinks the gentleman is Santa Claus. The adults have a good laugh over this, as though this is ridiculous. Then the gentleman (Kris), leans over to speak to the little boy, and whispers "I am!" in his ear, much to the child's shock.
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation: Downplayed. Clark is standing in the living room, wearing a red coat, and gazing out the window. Ruby Sue can't sleep and wanders the house, finding him in the middle of his swimming pool fantasy, and assumes he's Santa before he turns around. After he tells her he's not Santa, and the two have a talk about how she should continue to believe in Santa, she turns to leave, only to ask if he's really sure he's not Santa. He tells her no, and then mutters to himself that he "can't even afford to be an elf".
- Zig-Zagged in The Santa Clause 2. Scott Calvin is Santa Claus, but his girlfriend Carol thinks he is just an ordinary man, so she thinks this trope is in play when random kids come up to him and tell him what they want for Christmas.
Literature
- Bailey School Kids: The book Santa Claus Doesn't Mop Floors is about the kids speculating whether the kindly, bearded school janitor Mr. Jolly is really Santa Claus in disguise.
- Im Not: In "I'm Not Santa", Baby Owl's winter hat is red and he is pushing a sledge, causing another baby bird to think he is Santa, and cry when Baby Owl tries to correct him. He tries pretending to be Santa to go along with it, but by then, the other bird has figured out the truth and gets mad at Baby Owl for "lying", making them both cry. Luckily, however, Santa comes and cheers them both up.
- In the Mog book "Mog's Christmas", Mog the cat is on the roof and sleeps on the chimney pot; and then falls down the chimney, into the room where the family is eating. An aunt exclaims, "It's Father Christmas!", and another aunt says, "No dear, Father Christmas does not have a tail."
Live-Action TV
- The Brittas Empire: The episode "Surviving Christmas" sees a Mall Santa in pursuit of the staff with the intent of killing them, riding by bicycle. In the end, Colin sees said Mall Santa in the distance leaving behind his bicycle, and is led to believe that this is the real Santa, having finally given him the bike he wanted since he was a little boy.
- Doctor Who: "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" opens with young Grant mistaking The Doctor for Santa, offering him a plate of cookies and a glass of milk. The Doctor obliges with a "Ho ho ho" as he bites into a cookie.
- A variation in Leverage: During "The Miracle Job," the team fake making a statue of Saint Nicholas, the man, cry in their effort to save a struggling church from a greedy developer. When Parker, who's remarkably childlike for a seasoned cat burglar, hears the name, she immediately assumes the statue is of Santa Claus and refuses to let go of the idea throughout the episode. The others keep repeating with more and more frustration, "It's NOT Santa!"
Magazines
- Inverted in a poem in Pet Magazine, in which a dog sees Santa, but thinks he's an intruder and bites his butt, making him run away.
Music
- Some versions of "I'm Getting Nuttin' for Christmas" end with the singer (a little boy) mistaking a burglar for Santa. Even when the burglar starts stealing the silverware, the little boy doesn't realise he's not Santa, and even joins in.
- The Christmas song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" is about a child who assumes that they saw their mother kissing Santa Claus after coming downstairs on Christmas Eve, and wonders how their dad will react when he finds out about it. However, what the child narrator is unaware of is that "Santa" is really their father wearing a costume.
Video Games
- Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga: While hunting for pieces of the Beanstar, the brothers meet a hermit crab named Hermie III, whose shell has been decorated to look like a Christmas tree. Hermie notices the brothers and makes note of Mario's red clothes and mustache. He immediately assumes Mario to be "Thanta Clauth".
- Sam & Max: Freelance Police: In "Situation: Comedy", Sam and Max perform in a sitcom called the Midtown Cowboys where they have to disguise a cow from their landlord Mr. Featherly. If the shaving cream is used, Sam can claim the cow to be Santa Claus. Max ends up being fooled, forcing Sam to remind him that it is just a disguise, ruining the scene.
Web Animation
- Homestar Runner: In "Bug in Mouth Disease," Homestar addresses the King of Town as "Santa." This is probably the logical conclusion of the King being a fat, white-bearded guy in a red robe and Homestar getting stupider and stupider as the series progresses.
- Refreshing Stories: In "My daughter showed me a drawing of family, which had one extra person in it..." Hiroshi dons a Santa costume to catch his cheating wife, Shino, in bed with her lover Furuta while they were asleep. When they wake up, Furuta mistakes him for Santa at first sight and asks him for a video game console, but Hiroshi laughs it off and reveals himself to the lovebirds.
Webcomics
- Housepets!: Peanut cheerfully greets his Uncle Reuben (A bearded man in red) upon meeting him with 'Hi, Santa!' which he makes no attempt to correct.
Web Videos
- David Near: In Laughing Jack Story Time (A Christmas Tale), Laughing Jack tells of the time he invaded a home one Christmas night when two kids came downstairs, hearing the ruckus and hoping to see Santa, only to be horrified by the Monster Clown. They decide to ask him if he's Santa anyway, and Jack responds with his usual disdain towards children.
Laughing Jack: They announced their presence to me by asking "Are you the real Santa?" To which I replied, "Do I fucking look like your goddamn Santa Claus you INSUFFERABLE MEDDLING LITTLE SHITS?!"
- The Most Popular Girls in School: In "Mall Santa", Trisha (who is a high schooler) tells Bridget that even though her job as a fake elf for a Mall Santa sucks, at least she gets to meet the "real" Santa.
Bridget: Wait. You still believe in Santa?Trisha: Well, I haven't been nice all year for nothing.Bridget: So your parents never told you that he wasn't real?Trisha: Oh, they try to tell me every year. But every year, I come back, and look who's here! So who's got egg on their face now?!
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series: Tristan has twice mistaken people for Santa Claus: first Kaiba, then a homeless man. None of his friends are surprised.
Western Animation
- The Amazing World of Gumball: In the Christmas Episode "Christmas," Richard accidentally runs over a homeless man whom he and the kids believe is Santa. The man gets amnesia, so he can't tell them the truth. Richard then spends the episode trying desperately to get on the nice list while Nicole tries to tell everyone the truth. Subverted, since it turns out that the man really is Santa after all.
- Arthur's Perfect Christmas: D.W. sees her Uncle Fred shaving and thinks his shaving cream is a beard and that he must be Santa. When she tries to show her parents, Fred is gone and now Arthur is using the bathroom.
- Back at the Barnyard: In one episode, Freddy and Peck hear footsteps on the roof, assume it's Santa, and pretend to be asleep.
- Bob's Burgers: In "Christmas in the Car", Teddy ends up getting his hand stuck in the Belchers' fridge (it's a booby trap set up by Louise). When the Belchers return home, Louise thinks her trap worked and that Santa is actually trapped under there, even after she hears Teddy's voice.
- Dexter's Laboratory: Inverted in "Dexter vs. Santa's Claws", where the man Dexter sees is Santa, but Dexter thinks he must be his dad in disguise.
- Family Guy: In the episode "All About Alana", the Griffins allow one of Lois's piano students named Alana to stay with them. However, Alana secretly wants to replace Lois and goes about winning over the other members of the family. To seduce Peter, she puts on lingerie and surprises him when he goes to the kitchen in the middle of the night. Peter initially assumes she's Santa Claus, with the narration explaining that he assumes that everyone up in the middle of the night must be Santa Claus.
- Played for Laughs in "Christmas Guy", when Peter mistakes an obvious Hell's Angel for Santa. He sits on his lap and asks for meth. The biker says, "Okay."
- Gravity Falls: In "Carpet Diem", after swapping bodies with elderly hillbilly Old Man McGuckett, Grenda thinks she's become Santa Claus.
- The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: In the pilot episode, The Grim Reaper arrives to take Billy's hamster. When Billy sees him, he assumes Grim to be Santa Claus. Mandy has to tell Billy who Grim actually is to which Billy asks if he still gets any presents.
- Inspector Gadget: In "Gone Went the Wind", Gadget travels to the North Pole and, after becoming snow blind, thinks a polar bear is Santa and jumps onto his lap, reciting his Christmas list.
Gadget: I'd like a choo-choo train, a candy cane, an Inspector Gadget doll...
[Brain frantically tries to pull Gadget off the growling bear.]
Gadget: Hey, I was first! That kid should learn some manners. - King of the Hill: In "The Miseducation Of Bobby Hill", Bill is flung over Arlen in a balloon chair. At one point, the chair is caught outside a house where a little girl sees him and assumes he's Santa. He goes along with it, asking her to get her parents to help him down in exchange for presents. But before she gets her parents, the chair comes loose again and he flies off again, and she simply says "Bye, Santa, I love you.".
- The Loud House: In "11 Louds a' Leapin'", Mr. Grouse gives back the Louds' possessions he stole while dressed as Santa, but doesn't try to actually fool anyone into thinking he's Santa. Despite this, Lisa sees him and decides he must be Santa.
- Ninjago: In "Can of Worms", Kai gets sprayed by Venomari venom, which causes him to hallucinate about Christmas. When Samurai X arrives to rescue the ninjas, Kai says, "Santa?" after seeing her.
- The Ren & Stimpy Show: In "An Abe Divided", Ren and Stimpy are guards at the Lincoln Memorial. Stimpy mistakes the statue for Santa Claus and gets on its lap to tell it what he wants for Christmas.
- Rugrats (1991): Inverted in "The Santa Experience", when a man in Santa garb shows up, and the adults think he's a pretend Santa they hired, but then he turns out to be the real Santa when the fake one calls to say he couldn't make it, and the visitor turns out to have flying reindeer.
- The Simpsons:
- A variation — at the beginning of "Holidays of Future Passed", Marge gets the family ready for their Christmas card photo after Thanksgiving dinner, which includes putting a Santa hat on Grampa while he sleeps face-down in his food. He then wakes up and is convinced he's Santa after seeing his reflection with the hat and a "beard" of mashed potatoes.
Grampa: I'm Santa? Oh, now I'll never die!- In "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in 'The Curse of the Flying Hellfish", Mr. Burns bursts into Bart's room via a cherry picker and just before leaving he pushes a wrong button and crashes through a wall and into the next room, where we hear off-screen Mr. Burns apologize to Lisa and tells her to go back to sleep and Lisa responds with a half awake, "Santa?"
- Spider-Man: The Animated Series: This happens to Silvermane after Spider-Man saves him from the Insidious Six by lowering him down a chimney on a web rope.
- VeggieTales: In one "Silly Song", Larry is up late on Christmas Eve, and so thinks that anyone who enters his house must be Santa. He ends up letting in two criminals instead of Santa, although the real Santa does show up afterwards.
- What If…? (2021): In the episode "What If Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?", Darcy sees the rocket holding the Hulkbuster suit and assumes it's Santa sleigh, happily shouting, "Santa? He's real!"
Real Life
- This man was mistaken for Santa by a girl of about 4 due to having a white beard, being large, and (due to being homeless) carrying bags. The girl's mother was annoyed at this and even told him to leave.
- According to this article, a girl named Sophie Jo met a bearded man in a red shirt and pants at a Walmart and mistook him for Santa. He was flattered and went along with it.
- One internet meme has as the four stages of life:
- You believe in Santa Claus.
- You don't believe in Santa Claus.
- You are Santa Claus.
- You look like Santa Claus.
