Santa Baby is a 2006 made-for-TV movie, named after a famous Christmas Song. It was made by the ABC Family channel and is best known as a vehicle for actress Jenny McCarthy.
In it, we meet Santa Claus' daughter, Mary (McCarthy) who had moved away from their North Pole home to become a powerful business executive in New York. But when her father suffers a heart attack, she is forced to return to help get everything ready for Christmas Eve. However there is friction with her father when she decides to modernize the system. Additionally, she reencounters an old flame, Luke, the North Pole Mailman. The problem with this is that she already has a boyfriend back in NY.
The film had a sequel in 2009: Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe. It takes place a year after the first. Santa decides to permanently retire and leave Mary in charge without even asking her, which again brings conflict with her life as a businesswoman. In addition, the new Mailman, a woman named Teri, is jealous of Mary and begins secretly sabotaging her efforts.
Not to be confused with Santa, Baby!, the 2001 Rankin/Bass animated Christmas Special featuring the song.
Tropes in Santa Baby:
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: It takes true Christmas Spirit for someone to make Santa's reindeer fly.
- Daddy's Girl: Both applied and subverted.
- The Ditz: The Elves are portrayed as extremely childlike, to the point that they inadvertently ruin Mary's plans.
- Hidden Elf Village: A literal one, in the North Pole.
- Love Triangle: Between Luke, Mary and Grant. This gets resolved rather abruptly when Grant decides to exploit Santa's valley as a vacation spot.
- Older Is Better: This is the main point of contention between Santa and Mary.
- Saving Christmas: Mary must save the North Pole village from her own ex-boyfriend.
- Sexy Santa Dress: Subverted, Mary's is pretty but conservative.
- Subbing for Santa: Reluctantly at first.
Tropes in Santa Baby 2:
- The Ditz: All of the Elves except Teri.
- Teri even gets them to strike against Mary, when they didn't even understand why they were doing it.
- Easily Forgiven: Teri, after her motives come out.
- Hollywood Mid-Life Crisis: Santa seems to be going through one of these; he even joins a touring band!
- Love Triangle: This time its Luke who is pursued by both Mary and Teri.
- The Reveal: Teri was an Elf all along!
- Sexy Santa Dress: Again, Mary's. Teri gets a less flattering one.
- Subbing for Santa: Mary again, though Teri was secretly obsessed with it as well.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Teri was just convinced that neither Santa nor his daughter cared about Christmas anymore. And she wanted to be Santa.
