“It’s almost like opening night on Broadway,” Michael Goldban, senior vice president of retail leasing at Brookfield Properties, told The Washington Post. “We’re performing. We want to put our best foot forward.” The landlord includes an ice rink featuring a show with Olympians, and live performances of “The Nutcracker” at one of its New York City properties.

Taubman Centers is continuing its popular high-tech Santa's Flight Academy program at 12 properties, and has added Santas that specialize in sign language and working with autistic children. Macerich, meanwhile, has a partnership with HGTV called Santa HQ at its Tysons Corner Center, in McLean, Va., that features a “magic mirror” that shows each visitor a virtual image of himself dressed as an elf.

And it’s not all about the young children. Malls are adding pop-ups that appeal to teens, too. At Tysons Corner, people waited in line for hours on a recent weekend to play video games at the Nintendo Switch Holiday Experience. 

Julie Luu, a manager for the mall’s Nintendo experience, said some visitors traveled long distances just to play the games at Tysons. “If you’re going to drive three hours to come play," she said, "you’re going to hang out at the mall."