Santa Molle Bag!
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SANTA MOLLE BAG! This is the ultimate Santa gig bag but I don’t call it a gig bag. It’s a MOLLE bag! MOLLE (pronounced Molly) is an acronym that stands for “Modular Lightweight Load-Carrying Equipment”. I am so excited about sharing this with you because I think it is one of my better ideas. Not that a gig bag is such a new idea but I think my way of doing it is. First some background. There are many different types of Santa Claus jobs. Some Santas show up and spend the next five to ten hours sitting in the big chair visiting with children. Others spend no longer than two to three hours at any event but go to as many as three and four events daily especially during prime time (Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays). You have Santa doing hospital work or nursing homes and the Santas doing Storytimes for groups of children. There are Santas that leave home for the entire month of December and live out of a hotel room. They may start their season in mid to early November, living out of a hotel room in a city miles away from home. When you are away from home or on a job, most Santas don’t go prepared if something goes wrong. You may have a child pull your beard and mess up your beard or break your eye glasses. You may reach over to hold a child’s hand only to find out that while waiting in line they were eating candy and there goes that glove. You might not be able to take a break and your lips dry out to the point you look like a mummy. Perhaps your eyes may dry out from the fan being directed at the wrong angle. Last thing you need are red eyes. Maybe you took your gloved hand and touched your face so you have make-up on your glove. The point I’m trying to make is that it is a good idea to be prepared as they say in Boy Scouts. Just think of what has gone wrong in the past and what could go wrong in the future and head it off. After fourteen years, that’s why I now carry my Santa “MOLLE” bag. Recently at one of the largest Santa events I do, there were eight Santas hired to see the children. This event is so huge that one or two of us can’t do the job. The organization that puts on this event hires eight Santas to fill the demand. I was lucky enough to be one of these Santas. On the day of the event, all of us had to arrive early so we could get in place without being seen by the public. Everyone parked in a lot that was within walking distance away from the building where we would all be seated but hidden from view of each other. As far as the public knew there was only one 1 Santa at the event. It was a wonderful experience being one of the eight, but out of those Santas I was the only one that was carrying a traditional “Gig Bag”. The bag I was carrying was my red gate-mouth bag from 5.11, that I’ve been using for the past fourteen years. This is a great bag and I use it all the time. One problem with this bag is carrying it, it can be heavy. Another problem is the inside of this bag is so large that sometimes I hunt for things. The exterior pockets are good for organizing things but even with those pockets I end up hunting and looking for things. At the event with the eight Santas I also had bottled water in my bag and the bag was heavy. Not super heavy but while carrying it over to the performance building I couldn’t help but think how nice wheels would be on this type of bag. While driving home from the event I also couldn’t help but think that out of eight Santas, I was the only one with a gig bag if I needed something for my time in the chair. I think it’s a good idea for all of us to be as prepared as we can for whatever pops up while portraying Santa Claus. During the one hour drive it took to drive home, I thought about my gig bag and the things I didn’t like about it. I thought about how nice it would be to have wheels on my bag and I thought there had to be a better way to organize a bag so you could find what you needed quickly without wasting time looking through a typical bag. It took me a while but I found what I was looking for, the ultimate gig bag or as I say now Santa MOLLE Bag. MOLLE is an acronym that means, MOdular Lightweigh Load-carrying Equipment 2 THE BAG I spent hours looking on the internet and searching for the perfect bag until I finally found it. The PRO ARTIST RUBY RED with BLACK FRAME made by a company called ZüCA. They claim that this bag is “The Ultimate Carry-All!” and I agree. Cost on this bag with the cover, five interior modules is $305.00. This bag was the perfect size and weight. It has a great cover that can be embroidered with custom Santa theme embroidery and best of all, it’s a modular set-up. The bag itself is a marvel of engineering. It’s got pockets galore and the interior is set up for a perfect modular MOLLE bag. One of the features I like the most is the ability to stop and sit on the bag. I’m sure many of you have been stopped by a child on your way to or from your chair or event. The child walks up to you and says “Hello Santa!” and looks up at you with their eyes wide. You are standing up and between their size and your size, you feel a million miles away. This bag is designed to provide you with a place to sit to chair level which means you can talk to the child. In fact, you can even put the child on your knee and let the parents take a photo right there on the spot. The company says that they rate the load capacity to 300 pounds but I’ve had Santa much heavier than that sit on it and there isn’t any give. In speaking with the company, they said that the bag’s fame will hold more weight. In fact, if the frame is overloaded using it as a seat it won’t collapse but the axels for the wheels might bend. This is a solid seat. Imagine that… a quick chair for the impromptu visit, with you all the time. By the way, the company told me that if you should overload the bag and wheel axels are what take the abuse. The frame is super sturdy. DIMENSIONS: 19.5’H X 10’W X 13.5’D WEIGHT: 9.3 LBS. CAPACITY: 1,952 CUBIC INCHES 3 THE INTERIOR The interior of the bag is very well designed. If you get the PRO ARTIST BAG AND FRAME it comes with five, clear top modules that can be filled with a variety of important things. Plus, you can label each one so you know where to go quickly and efficiently for just what you need. The exterior of the bag has pockets as well and make a wonderful place to store items that you need extremely fast. One of the real design features of the ZüCA bag is the external frame. The frame is the part that allows the bag to be used as a seat. It also protects the contents and hides the handle as well as the wheels. 41” Telescoping handle The removable ZUCA insert Bag is made from premium water resistant 1680D ballistic nylon and is hand washable 4” Lightweight polyurethane wheels absorb shock and make for a seriously silent ride. Gear platform to carry additional loads. Feet, made of nylon 6, go easy on scratch-able surfaces AND this case meets FAA specifications for carry-on baggage. 4 HOW TO PUT IT ALL TO GETHER! As I said before, the idea of a gig bag is nothing new. I have used my gate mouth red bag for years and was happy with it. It wasn’t until I got really busy with Santa work that I figured out that the large non-rolling bag just wasn’t working as well as it could. Time is of the essence in the world of Santa. When you need something, you need it fast. You are lucky if you get to eat lunch great, but afterwards you have to put yourself back together. That means no food in the beard, no salad stuck on your teeth and no bad breath. As Santa, you have got to be perfect every time a child looks at you. Have you ever noticed how they study everything about you, face, suit, hair, beard, etc. Many times, I watch their little eyes move all over my face as they look at every curl, every hair and hopefully NOT any remains of my lunch. With my normal Gig bag, I had to hunt for everything and I never had everything I needed. If I tried to do what I’ve done with the MOLLE bag but using my Gig bag instead, it would be very difficult finding anything.