Local Startup Looks to Add Joy to Holidays

Company Brings Kid’s Dreams Home with Video Experiences with Iconic Figures

Start-up company, Homagination, has launched a variety of virtual experiences to bring the magic of the holiday season home for kids across the nation. Through the organization’s newly established video entertainment website platform, families can interact with Santa Claus in a personalized way transforming the traditional mall visit.

With COVID-19 disrupting many aspects of everyday life, the holidays will be no exception. Making the traditional visit to the busy mall to capture a quick moment with Santa and a family photo may not be possible this year; however, the demand to create a special holiday experience for families is higher than ever after a year filled with disruptions caused by the global health pandemic. With the importance of safety in mind, a better, lower-cost and more convenient option for children wanting to meet and greet Saint Nick is available through Homagination’s interactive virtual experiences that connect children with Santa Claus during the holidays.

Every year in the United States, several million families have marked the holiday season with a visit to Santa at local malls and department stores. However, holiday traditions may look a little different this year due to COVID-19 concerns. Many major retail outlets have already announced adjustments for seasonal events such as Black Friday and Thanksgiving.

To prevent the potential spread of COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continue to encourage adherence to social distancing guidelines, requiring individuals remain 6-feet apart, which interferes with activities including meet and greets and other in-person gatherings. However, as depicted in the 1974 Christmas classic, The Year Without a Santa Claus, the magic children experience from a visit with Santa is too important to be missed. Especially following a year of cancellations and adjustments to exciting events for children like birthday parties, camps, vacations and more, everyone could use a little holiday cheer now more than ever before.

Fortunately, families can keep the magic of the holiday season alive with Homagination’s interactive platform which allows parents to select from multiple engaging and interactive experiences, called journeys, for their children to meet Santa virtually, in the safety and comfort of their home.

“As a father who has struggled with the Santa experience in the past, especially, when realizing how quickly the experience was over for each child, I knew there had to be a better way to give children an improved interaction with one of the most iconic figures during the holidays,” said Roy Carpenter, CEO of Homagination. “With the focus to invigorate excitement and belief within children that puts smiles on their faces, each journey at Homagination is personalized based on feedback from the parents. We prioritize quality and a great customer experience.”

Prior to the pandemic, there were already many benefits to an interactive experience: home convenience with no need to drive, no parking hassles, no crowds and more value through a personalized experience with time for quality discussions, all captured with invaluable keepsake videos. Now, it’s also the safer solution. With Homagination’s web-based experience, parents won’t have to worry about the inconvenience and potential health risk from standing in long lines.

A visit to Santa can also be expensive. On average, the starting price of a Santa visit is over $40 but can range up to around $150. All this, for a one-minute interaction with Santa and a photo offering. Santa visits are a multi-million dollar industry every holiday season, and with online sales and virtual events skyrocketing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s predicted that the trend will continue upwards in preparation for the upcoming holidays.

Unfortunately, for the child and their anticipation of the opportunity to talk with Santa, a one-minute interaction leaves many wanting more. It’s the quality of the interaction that will have the most impact on a child, and there’s no better way to capture these memories than a virtual meet and greet alongside a keepsake video. At Homagination, the focus is to create a highly enjoyable interaction that lives in the hearts of children for a lifetime, leaving both parents and children with a high-quality and satisfied experience.

Homagination is offering four exclusive journeys for children who’d love to meet Santa:

  •        Imagine Journey: a one-on-one personal video chat engagement between a child and Santa Claus for up to 5 minutes. Parents may choose their desired time slot, personalize the discussion tailored to their child’s interest and a link to a side-by-side video interaction saved for precious memories.
  •        Dream Journey: a group video interaction—with up to 5 participants / devices—with Santa Claus for up to 10 minutes. Parents may choose their desired time slot, tailor the personalized discussion and have access to side-by-side video interaction saved for precious memories.
  •        Believe Journey: a pre-recorded video from Santa to a child with personalization tailored to their interests. Parents may choose their desired deliver date and time and receive a video message from Santa for their child for up to 5 minutes.
  •        Envision Journey: a one-on-one personal phone call engagement between a child and Santa Claus. Parents my choose their desired time slot and personalize the discussion based on their child’s interest. The audio will be held through a Zoom call.
  •        Expansive Journey: a one-on-one personal personal engagement for up to 30 minutes, personalized and tailored to the child. Perfect for birthday parties and bedtime stories. This journey comes with a keepsake downloadable video.

The holiday season is a launching off point for future interactive virtual events created by Homagination. With holidays and birthday events just around every corner, and with children’s never-ending joy and imagination, providing exceptional experiences with iconic figures such as Santa Claus is the perfect opportunity to put kids in-touch with those that they admire most or could before only dream of interacting with.

Homagination is excited to help put smiles on the faces of many and bring some good news in an otherwise challenging year. The company, founded in 2020, will offer interaction opportunities year-round. Homagination and its journeys are registered trademarks of Homagination. For more details about the journeys offered, visit www.homagination.com.

 

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Submitted by Newtown, CT

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