Santa Claus left the North Pole early this year to join 200 homeless children at the best holiday party in town.

Children of all ages danced with delight when the iconic gentleman in the red suit dropped by the festive holiday party thrown by the UFT and the Coalition for the Homeless at union headquarters on Dec. 14.

Santa got even more attention than Elmo and Jake the Pirate who were also there, especially when he joined the line dancers on the dance floor.

It was a gala afternoon of fun, food, games, gifts and good cheer. The guests of honor, who arrived by bus from various shelters, dashed from one activity to another, from face painters to graffiti artists to carnival games and hula-hoops.

The children smiled for the camera and then designed the frames they would carry their portraits home in. They got tattoos and marveled as 11-year-old Vanessa, daughter of Special Representative Donna Coppola, twisted balloons into all the creatures in the animal kingdom for them.

The coalition students boarded the buses for the return trip laden with big gift boxes and memories of the best holiday party in town.

“The kids had a ball,” UFT Vice President Karen Alford observed. “They make us realize that all the work we do and all we fight so hard for is worth it for the children of this city. So we adults got as much out of this afternoon as the kids did.”