Santa Con

Tonight I'm trying to recover from an epic night of Santa Con. For those of you who don't know, Santa Con is one crazy night in December where thousands of people dressed as elves and Santas roam Manhattan on a massive pub crawl. I thought it would be fun this year to check it out. At the very least, the whole thing sounds wildly entertaining.

The night began innocently enough, with dinner amongst friends in Queens. People really seem to be approaching the holidays with intense spirit, perhaps as a way to end such a rough year on a good note, or set the tone for 2010. It's a good excuse to party.

This is the first in a long string of holiday parties scheduled over the next two weeks. We started off with spiked egg nog, hot spinach dip, and baby tomatoes skewered with basil and fresh mozzarella, followed by lots and lots of wine. My friends, Sam and Sue, made a delicious dinner of onion tart with beef tenderloin, asparagus and roasted potatoes.







When I left at 11, the night seemed young. I met up in Williamsburg with some elves who'd gotten a head start. Here's how I went out (the red nose is fairly understated):



My nose was naturally red from the festive dinner, and the group I joined was trying to rally on. Instead of hitting the next destination in Williamsburg (which had a $10 cover charge and a line out the door for drinks), we went to The Levee instead, where we were guaranteed drinks and a good time.

Here's what I like about the concept of Santa Con:
-people from all over are brought together
-you are forced to venture to a different part of town and discover new bars
-dressing up is super fun, and it's nice to have an extra day to do it
-a fleet of Santas, elves, reindeer, and snowflakes is hilarious and entertaining for bystanders as well as participants
-you feel like you can drink with a purpose

Here's what I don't like about Santa Con:
-crowds are insane
-costumes get really expensive and ladies always end up being scantily clad
-all those extra buttons make the wait in the bathroom line that much longer
-bars have cover charges and no drink specials
-belligerent Santas are actually quite frightening

So is today the first of the twelve days of Christmas? We were theorizing with another elf and Santa on why tonight was the Santa Con night when Christmas feels so far away. Unfortunately, everyone was a bit too far in the bag to look into the matter.

It's worth going to, but I was happy to get home and cross that off my list. The important list is still getting double checked over the next couple weeks.