Party Like Santa

SantaCon, a wild tradition that is parts pub crawl, flash mob, and holiday parade, will take over the streets and major bars of downtown Fort Lauderdale this Saturday. The event brings together nearly 600 people decked out in Santa and reindeer gear for a night of silly merriment and joyful spontaneity. The costumed crew pops into establishments unannounced, of course, while treating onlookers to surprises, goodies, nerdy dance moves, and carols from the Naughty Carol Book. "Deck My Balls," anyone? Though the idea is for revelers to travel en masse, as libations flow and the mayhem unfolds, the Santas will eventually roam to all corners of Himmarshee's nightlife district. Thankfully, group leaders will tweet their whereabouts and shenanigans during the crawl via @santaconftl so stragglers and latecomers can join the group. A bring-your-own-food Santa Picnic will be held at 4 p.m. in Huizenga Park (32 E. Las Olas Blvd.), and the crawl kicks off at 7 at Mangos (904 E. Las Olas Blvd.), rain or shine. From there, the mob will head west, stopping at various venues on the way to the Green Room (109 SW Second Ave.) for the event's official afterparty -- Santapocalypse -- featuring live music, games, drink specials for those in costume, and more mayhem. Admission to all SantaCon events is free for participants dressed as Santa. Visit santaconftl.com, or follow @santaconftl.
Sat., Dec. 22, 7 p.m., 2012