In person

Someone actually
knocks on the door.

Across much of Europe the gift-bringer does not send a video — he arrives, in costume, with a companion or two, and reads out what the children have been up to. It is the oldest version of this and the hardest to find from outside the country.

Why this is hard to find

A performer who visits houses works a radius of perhaps forty kilometres. The market is thousands of one- and two-person operations plus a few regional agencies, listed in the local language on local classifieds, and none of them has any reason to be findable from another country.

So a parent who has moved abroad, or who married into a tradition, has no way in. They do not know the search term, the date, the going rate, or that the good slots were taken in October. That is the gap this page exists to close.

6 markets researched so far

Prices and dates below trace to the sources listed under each one. The other 50 countries are not here yet, because guessing what a visit costs in a market nobody checked would make every other number on this site worth less.

Netherlands

Sinterklaas · Pieten

When: 5 December
Price seen: €38.5 – €495
Typical length: 20 minutes

Sinterklaas arrives at the door, usually with two or more Pieten, reads from the book about each child by name, hands out presents and pepernoten, and leaves. Twenty minutes is the standard unit; the expensive tier is longer and involves more of a performance.

Bookable through both individual performers and regional agencies. The cheaper end sells out first, and the good slots on the evening of 5 December go earliest.

Checked 2026-09-20 · Pietenhuisbezoek · Sint Piet Heemskerk — tarieven · Hulpsinterklaas — prijzen

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Czechia

Mikuláš · čert · anděl

When: 5 December
Price seen: 100 CZK – 800 CZK

Three characters arrive together: Mikuláš, an angel and a devil. The angel vouches for the child, the devil does not, and the child usually recites a poem or sings before receiving sweets. It happens on the evening of 5 December, not at Christmas.

Books out weeks ahead — Czech press reporting on the 2025 season found most groups already had full diaries. A Prague agency asks for thirty days' notice.

Checked 2026-09-20 · ČeskéNoviny — what a Mikuláš visit costs · Nadílky.cz · Smíšek pro děti — rodinné návštěvy

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Poland

Święty Mikołaj · Śnieżynka

When: 6 December
Price seen: 150 PLN – 1200 PLN
Typical length: 20 minutes

Święty Mikołaj arrives with a sack and often a Śnieżynka. He asks each child whether they have been good, hears a poem or a song, and hands over presents the parents have passed to him beforehand. Polish households run him on 6 December, on Christmas Eve, or both.

Sold by the ten minutes: around 215 zł for ten, 295 zł for twenty, 359 zł for half an hour and about 725 zł for a full one. The two dates everyone wants — 6 and 24 December — carry a premium, and travel outside the city is charged at roughly 1 zł per kilometre each way. A Śnieżynka or an elf alongside him adds 100–150 zł.

Agencies advise booking several weeks ahead, and the Christmas Eve slots go first. Polish press covering the trade has reported rates reaching 1000 zł an hour at the top of the market.

Checked 2026-09-20 · Money.pl — what a Mikołaj visit costs · Głos Szczeciński — 6 and 24 December are dearest · Interia Biznes — rates up to 1000 zł an hour

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Austria

Nikolaus · Krampus

When: 6 December
Price seen: €65 – €80

Nikolaus arrives in bishop's vestments with the golden book, reads out what has been written about each child, and hands over a small bundle. Where a Krampus comes too, he arrives first and loudly — the fright is the structure, and Nikolaus is the relief.

About €65 for Nikolaus alone and around €80 with a Krampus. Several Austrian operators also sell the online versions outright — roughly €55 for a live video call and €40 for a recorded message.

Tied to a single evening and to Krampus groups that are booked for public runs the same night, so the private slots are limited by how many performers are not already on a street somewhere.

Checked 2026-09-20 · Nikolaus bestellen (AT) · Tennengauer Krampusse — Nikolaus Hausbesuche · ganz-wien.at — Krampus und Nikolaus

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Germany

Nikolaus · Knecht Ruprecht

When: 6 December
Price seen: €25 – €80

Nikolaus comes with the golden book and, in many regions, with Knecht Ruprecht carrying the rod. In some German communities it is run entirely by volunteers with no fixed price at all — a donation of around €10 per child is what is expected rather than charged.

The cheapest end of any market researched here, because much of it is not a business. A parish service in Bayreuth charges about €25 per visit plus €5 per child inside the town; commercial agencies add travel outside Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne, Frankfurt and Berlin.

Parish and volunteer schemes open their lists in November and fill quickly, because they are cheaper than the agencies and there are only so many evenings.

Checked 2026-09-20 · Nikolaus bestellen (DE) — Preise · Familien-Bildungsstätte Bayreuth — Nikolausservice · Markt Mering — Hausbesuche des Heiligen Nikolaus

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Spain

los Reyes Magos · pajes reales

When: 5 January
Price seen: Not published — quoted on request

The Kings arrive on the evening of 5 January, after the Cabalgata has gone through the town. Pages can come instead of or alongside them: in many families the page is the one who collects the letter earlier in the season, and the Kings themselves appear only on the night.

No Spanish operator found publishes a price. Every one of them asks you to make contact for a quote, which is itself the useful finding: budget for a conversation rather than a checkout, and get the figure in writing before the 5th.

Sold as packages rather than by time — one King with a page, all three Kings with a page, or a page on his own. Coverage clusters around Madrid and Barcelona and their surrounding provinces.

Checked 2026-09-20 · Reyes Magos Madrid — visita a domicilio · Super Animaciones — Reyes Magos a domicilio · Animaciones AEIOU — visita y videollamada

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Before you book anyone

A home visit means a stranger in costume inside your house, with your children. Most of this trade is entirely ordinary — the same people do children’s parties all year — but the sensible checks are the same ones you would make for any of it.

Book somewhere with a business identity you can verify — a company name, an invoice, a phone number that answers in March.
Agree the price, the length and the arrival window in writing. Rates in this trade are quoted per family and rise per additional child.
Ask what the performer needs from you in advance. A list of the children's names and one thing each has done is normal; a home address is obviously needed; anything beyond that is not.
An adult stays in the room. That is not a comment on the performer.
Book early. In Czechia the 2025 reporting found most groups already full, and 5 December is a single evening that everyone wants.