Cincinnati Santacon

O santa Con! 4 years of swindling santas staggering. Each year the game is upped, 2013 had quite a few new santas and even prizes at some locations. Fun times had by all, definitely worth checking out.

Let’s be real. What is possibly more fun than dressing up as Santa? What’s that you say? Oh you’re right… Dressing up as Santa and then joining hundreds of others Santas and doing a pubcrawl all around Downtown Cincinnati! This even is one like no other. This was my first year doing it, and it didn’t take long before my group was attached to another group as we spread cheer all through the city. There was Drinking, There was pedal cab rides, there was dancing and there was fun. As it is, I can not wait until next year where I will bring even more people with me to share in the festivities!

This is one fun, drunken mess of a Saturday. Here’s the deal… you show up at Fountain Square sporting your best Santa, Mrs. Clause, reindeer or elf outfit. At noon you get a tweet from Santa telling you which bar to go to. You’re there for a while and then you get another tweet directing you to different bars.
It is fun because the first tweet only gives you a couple of options so that bars are overrun with Santii for that first hour. Ensuing tweets give you two or three choices so it gets a little filtered down but you’ll still find Santii everywhere you go.
This is about being fun and colorful. The costumes reflect that as many are homemade or have a variety of twists from the traditional outfits we see every year. There is a group photo before you begin and you engage in singing a carol. If i recall some of the tweets encourage you to sing or meet at certain intersection to do this as well. Lots of people bring bags of candy and hand them out to kids and strangers as a sign of good will. This is basically a huge, holiday themed pub crawl so it really isn’t kid-​friendly.
This is free to sign up for but you may be asked to donate some cash or a toy at some point. Completely reasonable considering people have coordinated this with local businesses. A fun way to meet new people and see some holiday madness! Sounds like the total headcount last year was around 500 and I bet this year it jumps up quite a bit.

Great time — had a blast with some great friends. We visited 12 different bars throughout the course of the day. Rock Bottom Brewery was a great time, offering various in-​house made beers. Also, Tin Roof had a great selection of live country music and cheaper drinks.

500+ Santa’s elves and the like running around Cincinnati, spreading holiday cheer, what could be better? Lets throw in some bars and carols and candy canes, and you have SantaCon.
I had heard a rumor that in the past to particpate you were supposed to donate a toy or something to charity, I think that concept needs to come back honestly. Or be implemented. Although some contests through out the day do involve making a donation. Speaking of contests, there are tons that go out, from first to a place, first to order a drink at a certain location, first to get people singing, etc. And all of this stuff takes place at over 20 bars throughout downtown and OtR. That was a nice aspect, as it got me to places i otherwise probably wouldn’t have gone to. Like did you know Johnny Rockets at the Banks had a bar in it?! I didn’t, but I did get an awesome Yuengling shirt from it!
You start out as one huge group on Fountain Square at noon, and via text message through Twitter, or Facebook, you’re given the stops. There are normally 4 bars at a stop, and you can stay at one, or hit them all if you choose. And then after a few stops, they’ll try to reconvene everyone again at one location. Those stops tended to be a bit long… especailly when you’re trying to pace yourself to do the whole 12 hours. Also sometimes you don’t get the next stops all at once. You get one, then maybe the 2^nd and third one 10 minutes later, and the 4^th one 5 minutes later. Which is kind of a downer if you want to stay with the group, but maybe don’t care for the first selection.
They even got some food places in on the deals too! A few stops had free food, or discounted food, which is a major plus on a day like this. It’s important to eat and hydrate. Although most people will go all out and after 5pm, you won’t see half as many as you started with. But its up to you really if you want to start at noon and go till whenever, of if you’d like to join in a little later, you can too! Don’t think if you weren’t there at noon you can’t participate. If you can’t come out til 7 so be it, but its way more fun in the afternoon. As long as you’re getting the messages, you’re good to go!

What better way to celebrate the holidays than to dress up as Santa Claus and meet hundreds of other Santas for a downtown Cincinnati bar crawl? I absolutely loved seeing the unique and creative Santas, elves, Mrs. Claus etc really added an awesome aspect the a day of drinking. It was so much fun to see how many people I knew and also to meet some great people. My only complaint was the length of time at each bar was too long. I would have loved to go to more locations for a longer period of time. Regardless, I definitely look forward to Santacon 2013!

Epic day. If you missed it this year you MUST do it next year. Why? How often do you get to party all through the city with a huge group of people dressed as Santas, elves, and winter vixens and visit tons of bars with everyone around you smiling and enjoying the sight?
Anyways, let this sink in: Santacon is a MARATHON and not a sprint. If you have a low alcohol tolerance or can’t regulate your drinking when caught up in the moment, be very careful or you might not make it to dinnertime. Stop every once in awhile and drink a water or eat some FOOD. Seriously… this is a 12 hour party. Don’t let the city clamp down on this awesome event cuz you had 2 shots of whiskey and then blacked out on fountain square. Ok, sorry for the lecture, but I want everyone to have as much fun as my group did :)
Don’t have a Santa suit? Places like Party City and I think I even heard someone say Joanne Fabric have very reasonably priced Santa outfits and other paraphernalia that will fit the bill. I’ll give a shout out to Donkey T’s that has a pretty cool Santa T shirt that worked great in the mild weather we had. Check out the pics of some of the many creative and awesome outfits on this facebook album.
Other misc tips: Ladies, ditch the mega purse and travel as light as possible, in the craziness of the day, you don’t want to lose or have to carry around all that stuff. Everyone, have small bills (get your drinks quicker, plus its quaint to pay with cash, ha ha) as well as your credit cards. Make sure you don’t leave your tab open at a bar, it is easy to forget such a thing when you’re in a bar packed with partying Santas.
Thanks to all the participating bars and anyone else behind the scenes that put this mega crawl together, it was a success.
Awesome event, I’ll see you there next year.

One of the best events I have been to in Cincy. Some many Santas going from bar to bar was so crazy. It wasn’t just Santas there were lots of Mrs. Claus’s and even a few Reindeer’s. The stops at Fountain Square were so much fun. That is were you get to see the full scale of this event. 500 to 1000 St. Nicks hanging around the big lit up Christmas tree and the ice rink. The look on all of the kids eyes were so big at seeing of the holiday cheer. As the night goes on though Clause’s start to drop away. Every bar fewer and fewer. By the end of the night it turns into last Santa standing. It was such a great time.

I haven’t had this much fun in years! Next year is already blocked in my calendar! :-)

Ho Ho Holy Cow! OH WHAT FUN! Yea, so be prepared for a jolly good time next year on 12−13−14. You better not pout if you miss it. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It’s like Halloween in December. Get something christmas themed, and party on!