Once a year, hundreds of people flock to New York City donned in Santa suits, elf ears, reindeer antlers and ugly sweaters to roam around Manhattan and get drunk with other holiday/alcohol enthusiasts - a.k.a. SantaCon. SantaCon typically gets a bad rap, and on its surface, drunks, crowds... drunken crowds, you get why. This year though, I decided to go see it for myself to truly understand the joy and/or horror of it. So on Saturday, Dec. 10, I put on my "Elf" "Son of a Nutcracker" shirt and red pompom hat and marched into the Santa-filled crowds.
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SantaCon started at the Flatiron Plaza for a meetup from 10-11 a.m., but unfortunately due to the previous night being a late one, I didn't make it out of my apartment in time for that. Instead, I met my friends in line at the venue 230 5th Ave where we were greeted with lines.
And more lines.
Despite waiting outside in the cold New York weather for roughly 20 minutes, no one's good cheer was dampened!
Once we entered the venue, we were directed to the official SantaCon booth. What many people don't know about NYC SantaCon is that it actually raises money for charity. According to the official SantaCon website, in the past four years SantaCon has raised over $200,000 for charity, including causes like Boy's Town and Urban Pathways. In order to enter the official venues (there are seven of these in addition to over 45 partner bars), attendees have to donate $10 and in return, receive a sticker and Santa necklace to use as a ticket to enter the other locations.
After the line to get in, I was expecting the venue to be packed. I was envisioning scantily clad Santas spilling beer on me on a dance floor where I wouldn't be able to move. But that wasn't the case! Yes, there were a lot of people there, but the crowds weren't that bad. I've seen worse on a Saturday night.
The venue also had an outdoor rooftop bar section with igloos. People were able to pretend they were at the North Pole; just if the North Pole was in the middle of Manhattan and had an unlimited supply of booze.
Everyone was friendly and in good cheer (how could you not be when you're dancing along to Chrismas music wearing a holiday onesie?). We were very impressed by everyone's attire.
Something that I kept on trying to instill on the SantaCon naysayers was that when you have enough, you leave. The only money you spent was for the beer you drank and charitable donation, then you're not stuck trying to make it worth your money if you grow tired of dancing or bored of the situation. So once we had enough of the club dancing scene, we switched gears and walked to Jack Demsey's Bar where we enjoyed a nicely decorated bar with mozzarella sticks and "Elf" on the television along with casual conversation with other SantaConners.
And when we grew bored of that? We switched gears and went to another club, Slake.
To be honest, we mainly decided to go to Slake because on SantaCon sticker it said that there were free Cinnabons all day and that really sounds like our type of party. But unfortunately, we arrived to a Cinnabon-less venue. So after finishing our drinks and having our stomachs lead the way, we left for a more casual setting at Reichenbach Hall — a German beer hall lined with Santas ready for some schnitzel and liters.
After roaming the city and bar hopping for six hours, it was time to go home. Throughout midtown, we saw our fellow SantaConners stumbling around trying to either get some fast food and find their correct transportation hub.
(Leave some Shake Shack out for Santa this Christmas Eve.)
Christmas-time is pretty magical in the city this time of year. The more cognizant SantaConners were able to appreciate the lights set up and the window displays.
Even though SantaCon is centered around drinking, my experience showed that it really doesn't deserve the bad rap it gets. People are spread out across the 50+ participating locations, so the crowds aren't too bad. Yes, people are drunk, but they're also wearing strings lights, Santa hats and bells; it's very difficult to get mad when you're decked out like that. And best of all, it's for charity.
So have a cup of beer... I mean cheer.
