Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas International Conference

Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas International Conference

Third Sunday in January

The Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas (AORBS) is an international organization "dedicated to training Santas and enhancing their portrayal of Santa Claus for the benefit of your family and community." To be a member of AORBS, one must be a gentleman who has a real beard and has portrayed Santa Claus at least once, in any venue—from playing the role of Santa for his own kids on Christmas Day to playing Santa throughout the year.
The AORBS formed in August 1994 when 10 men were selected to play the role of Santa in a commercial for a German mail-order company named OTTO. Over the course of the approximately 14 hours of filming, the men quickly became friends. They decided to meet for lunch at a future date. They chose to meet in January because all of them would be very busy through December.
The Santas met for their first lunch on January 15, 1995. At the end of the meeting, they decided they would meet every year on the third Sunday of January. It was during this meeting that they also decided on the name for their group.
Over the years, membership in this group grew to the point that they decided to hold a convention. In July 2006, AORBS held the first Discover Santa Convention. Nearly 300 Santas and 200 Mrs. Clauses from countries around the world (Scandinavia, Germany, Russia, the United States, and Japan) attended the three-day convention in Branson, Mo. The convention received lots of media attention, which led to an increase in AORBS membership. By 2007, the organization had over 1,300 member Santas.
AORBS organizes events in various locations throughout the year, but they continue to meet every January. Because there are now so many AORBS members, many of the annual lunches have grown to more than just a simple lunch gathering.

CONTACTS:
Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas, Inc. (AORBS)
c/o Nicholas Trolli
1100 Newportville Rd.
Apt. 803
Croydon, PA 19021
www.aorbsinc.com

Celebration days: Jan 16, 2011; Jan 15, 2012; Jan 20, 2013; Jan 19, 2014; Jan 18, 2015