SantaCon is the largest flash-mob-slash-bar crawl of Santas ever to exist. Come mid-December, around 311 cities in 42 countries, will host SantaCon which features merry revellers dressed in Santa suits, getting more intoxicated by the hour. Sounds like a jolly good time, yes?
The festival began during the Christmas of 1994 in San Francisco, and it drew inspiration from an article which mentioned a Danish group of people dressed in crimson suits and robbing a local store. Now, though no one really robbed a store, they did start to dress up in Santa suits and parade all over the city, stopping at bars when they were ‘thirsty’.
“Santacon is a charitable, non-commercial, non-political, nonsensical Santa Claus convention that happens once a year for absolutely no reason.”
The festival has grown into an urban Christmas tradition of sorts, having travelled to various cities and countries by now. Every year from December 14 to 22 or just before Christmas, San Francisco, Montreal, New York City, Paris, Hamburg, Sydney, Beijing and Tokyo gather their best Santas for this merry Christmas celebration.
(Image Courtesy : SantaCon/NYC)
If you’re planning on taking part in SantaCon, here are a few important things you should remember.
1. It’s about the giving, too
SantaCon is more about spreading the spirit of Christmas than just a flash-mob of Santas. Make sure you carry candy, snacks or little gifts to give out, while on your crawl.
(Image Courtesy : SantaCon/NYC)
2. Be creative with your Santa suit
It is imperative that you come dressed as Father Christmas, whether you’re the traditional kind or if you want to add a hipster-edge to your costume. All variations of Santa-ness are more than welcome, encouraged even.
(Image Courtesy : SantaCon/NYC)
3. Singing is mandatory
What are bar-crawls without catchy-tunes to sing? At SantaCon, there will be a lot of chanting, naughty revisions of carols and what not. Come armed, with your best falsetto.
(Image Courtesy : SantaCon/London)
4. Don’t drink yourself into misery
SantaCon is no place for the proverbial Scrooges. Attend and participate only if you’re a happy drunk.
(Image Courtesy : SantaCon/NYC)