Excitement is building as the Kiwanis Club of Paris-Brant gears up for its eighth annual Breakfast with Santa event at St. James Anglican Church on Saturday, November 29, 2025.
The event, which started back in 2017, has since grown into a popular event for young families.
Wendy Eveleigh, president of the local Kiwanis Club, said there are two different sittings for people to choose from, but that they’re already nearly sold out.
“We have 35 kids and their parents coming for the breakfast sitting at 9 a.m., and 47 kids for the brunch at 11 a.m., so at this very moment we only have nine spots left,” she said.
As far as what the event entails, people can expect a pancake and sausage breakfast along with plenty of holiday cheer.
“Food wise, we have Sobeys providing the sausages, No Frills is helping out with the pancakes and syrup, and Tim Hortons on Rest Acres Road is sponsoring the coffee. Of course, we’ll also have juice and water available for everyone too,” said Eveleigh. “Of course, we’ll also have juice and water available for everyone too.”
“Besides the food though, I think the parents, grandparents and the kids are going to get a ton of enjoyment out of this,” she continued. “They’ll be able to see Santa and his elf, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is going to be there, and there’ll be Christmas music playing in the background too so there’s going to be a lot of excitement.”
Eveleigh, who will be dressed up as Santa’s trusted elf, said that getting to interact with all the families and children is one of her favourite parts of the event.
“It’s so fun because I love seeing the kids get their photos with Santa and when they’re finished, they get to come to me and pick out a little toy and they get their candy cane, and it’s so sweet,” she said. “I just love being in that role because I get to interact with everyone and they’re often dressed up in little Christmas themed outfits and they’re just so excited to be there.”
The president went on to say that just like all their other events, everyone in the club is looking forward to having the community come together.
“This is a service project for us, so we don’t make any sort of profit off of this. It’s not overly expensive because we want families to come out with the grandparents and the aunts and uncles, and just have a good time; we just do this for the community and that’s extremely important to us,” said Eveleigh. “We have several families that come year after year and look forward to it, and then there are some families who have never been before so we’re just excited for them to come and be able to share in this experience.”
“It’s a really special time because Kiwanis is all about the kids and so just seeing them smile or seeing them bouncing up and down with excitement, even if they’re a little nervous to meet Santa, is what it’s all about,” she continued. “It’s just such a wonderful event for us, like all of our events are, but everybody from the club and all the volunteers are really looking forward to putting this on.”
For those who are interested in snagging some of the last spots, they should email kiwanisparisbrant@gmail.com with their name, how many tickets they would like and what seating they’re interested in. Rather than receiving a ticket, they’ll be put on a registration list.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
