In the summer of 1975 Marilynn Wick was a single mother running a window cleaning business—and trying to keep her two preteen daughters entertained during their summer break. Recalling that she used to enjoy sewing, Wick persuaded her girls to stitch a Santa suit. "That little fun project," Wick says, "turned into a business."

Today Wick's company Costume World, based in Deerfield Beach, Fla., is the world's largest distributor of custom-made Santa suits, selling 10,000 a year at prices ranging from $150 to $900. Last Christmas Chuck Norris ordered one made of red velvet to surprise his nine grandchildren, and in 1996, when Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey Circus wanted to dress their 19 elephants as Santas, "All I heard was 'Talk to Marilynn, she'll make it happen,' " says circus vice president Tim Hoist. "She got the job done."

Wick, 58, always has. A native of Sugar Grove, Pa., she married Bruce Wick, a college student, in 1962 at age 19. Divorced three years later, she supported her daughters—Kimberly, now 38 and Costume World's vice president, and Kelly, now 36 and the company's buyer—with jobs ranging from real estate agent to tire saleswoman. But in 1976, inspired by her family's Santa project, Wick used $10,000 in savings to launch her company out of her garage.

With an off-season business that includes Halloween costumes and theatrical getups, Wick, who lives alone in a Hillsboro Beach, Fla., condo, doesn't have to think twice about one holiday question: "Finally my dreams came true," she says. "There really is a Santa Claus."

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