santacon 2009

My current "say yes to everything" policy brought me to an incredibly fun event today: Santacon. Santacon takes place in several major US cities close to Christmas, and the basic idea is that everyone dresses up as Santa and goes on a pub crawl. Fun and hysterical, but something you might want to keep your kids safely in the house for. Zoe and I were conservative with our outfits, wearing just Santa hats, since it was our first time and didn't know what to expect. It's a pretty tricky event to dress up for because you want to get decked out in Santa gear but you have to spend a lot of time outdoors where it is pretty fr*ggin cold. Now that I've experienced it though, I'm determined to go and get dressed up next year. I checked out some options on Amazon, and these are the front-runners so far (particularly the ones with sleeves):

I wouldn't wear them just like that though. Like I said, it's pretty fr*ggin cold plus there's a lot of schlepping between bars involved. I'm thinking that I'll add a little twist and be the Harajuku version of Mrs. Claus, an elf or a nutcracker. Wear them with cozy boots and jazz them up with legwarmers and a crazy wig. Layer up with a turtleneck, cozy gloves, thick chunky tights and possibly some thermals too since it would be a shame to have a super cute outfit and then have to hide it under a puffy coat all day.

We had a total blast today. I caught up with the Queens group at the Astoria beer garden, then we all left to meet up with Santas from Manhattan and all the boroughs at Washington Square Park. The train ride was hysterical, with the N train packed with Santas of all sorts.

But nothing prepared me for the scene at Washington Square Park.

Santa and all his helpers were just having a blast—jumping rope, doing the limbo, hula-hooping, dancing in a mosh pit and crowd-surfing.

My favorite costumes were these two. The girl on the left rented her costume from a theater company in DC and I thought it was just the perfect Mrs. Claus outfit. Very cute without being slutty, and quite weather-appropriate. The Elvis Santa on the right just cracked me up, and I was in awe of the Christmas lights strung through his costume. Awesome.

There were lots of interesting costumes, from "underwater" Santas to toy soldiers to girls strung together as reindeer.

What a great way to get into the Christmas spirit! Can't wait til next year!