Manhattan / Midtown
SantaCon
Bar Crawl
The December Santa-suit crawl, the honest version — what it actually is, where it goes, and five Midtown rooms for leaning in or escaping the crush.
SantaCon NYC is the second Saturday of December (Dec 12, 2026), starting around 10am near Broadway & 40th. The official bars and route stay secret till the day — check santacon.nyc — and the marquee venues need a $17 charity wristband.
- ~65 bars
- 2nd Sat of Dec
- starts ~10am
- $17 wristband
The short version
- What it is~65 Midtown bars, the second Saturday of December, kicking off around 10am.
- Lean inPrinter’s Alley & Stout – near the start, built for crowds.
- EscapeThe Rum House & The Stag’s Head – when the suits are too much.
- The catchOfficial route & bars stay secret till the day; $17 charity wristband for the marquee venues.
- Do it wellGo early, in a group, with a meet-up plan and an escape route.
SantaCon is the December Santa-suit bar crawl — thousands of people in red suits migrating between roughly 65 Midtown bars on the second Saturday of December (December 12, 2026), starting around 10am near Broadway and 40th. Here’s the honest part: the official route and bars stay secret until the day (check santacon.nyc, and the marquee venues need a $17 charity wristband), and whether it’s fun or miserable comes down to going early, in a group, and knowing where to escape. These five verified Midtown rooms cover both — Printer’s Alley near the start, Stout and The Playwright for the crowd, and The Rum House and The Stag’s Head when you need out. All five were checked open in June 2026.
At a glance
Five verified Midtown rooms for the day — what to order, and whether each is for leaning in or escaping.
| # | Bar | Order this | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Printer’s Alley | A frozen drink and the $8 nachos | Diving in near the start |
| 2 | Stout NYC | A pitcher for the table | A big group |
| 3 | The Playwright Irish Pub | A Guinness and a basket of something | A Santa-suit pint by Penn |
| 4 | The Rum House | A Mai Tai (or a $5 ‘Gansett) | A civilized escape |
| 5 | The Stag’s Head | A $6 draft, somewhere you can hear each other | Dodging the worst of it |
Map: where these 5 bars are
SantaCon clusters in Midtown around the Broadway-and-40th start. These five are walkable from Penn, Herald Square, Bryant Park, and Grand Central — the official venues change yearly, so check santacon.nyc on the day.
Pins are numbered to match the list above – tap any pin for the details and directions.
The five bars for the day
These are picks for the day, not an official route — SantaCon’s real venue list stays secret till the morning at santacon.nyc. More in our Midtown happy hour guide and the full NYC bar crawls hub.
1 · Printer’s Alley
Verdict: if you’re doing SantaCon for real, start near the start. Printer’s Alley is a Nashville-themed, two-level bar a block from the usual Broadway-and-40th kickoff — frozen drinks, country on the speakers, $8 nachos, and the capacity to absorb a sea of Santas. The move: get here early (the crowd is bearable before noon), eat something, and pace yourself, because this is a marathon. Honest caveat: by mid-afternoon it’s a costume crush — if that’s not your thing, this is exactly the room to avoid.
2 · Stout NYC
Verdict: the reliable big-group room. Stout’s Bryant Park location is a sprawling two-story pub built to swallow crowds, which is exactly what SantaCon is. It’s the kind of place that’s often on or near the official list, with the space and the bartenders to handle a hundred Santas at once. The move: a big group, a tab, and a table you hold all afternoon. Honest caveat: Stout doesn’t post SantaCon pricing ahead, the official venues need the $17 wristband, and it gets slammed — arrive before the noon wave.
3 · The Playwright Irish Pub
Verdict: a proper Irish pub for a mid-crawl pint, a block from Herald Square and Penn. The Playwright has booths, a long bar, multiple screens, and a four-hour weekday happy hour that won’t help you on a Saturday but tells you it knows how to move drinks. The move: a Guinness, a basket of something, and a sit-down before you rejoin the swarm. Honest caveat: it’s near Penn, so on SantaCon Saturday you’re sharing it with both Santas and whoever’s headed to the Garden.
4 · The Rum House
Verdict: the escape hatch. When the Santa suits get to be too much, The Rum House — a candlelit, brass-railed cocktail bar with a live piano next to the Edison Hotel — is a short walk and a different planet. Real cocktails, a $5 Narragansett if you’re economizing, and a room that politely ignores the chaos outside. The move: duck in, order a Mai Tai, let the piano reset your nervous system, then decide if you’re going back out. Honest caveat: it’s small and not a SantaCon venue, so leave the loudest of the group outside.
5 · The Stag’s Head
Verdict: the full dodge. If SantaCon sounds like your idea of hell but your friends are in, The Stag’s Head over in Midtown East — antler chandeliers, a back patio, $6 drafts, an eight-hour weekday happy hour — is far enough east (East 51st) that the crawl rarely reaches it. The move: agree on a meet-up time, let everyone else do the suits, and post up somewhere you can actually hear each other. Honest caveat: it’s a real neighborhood pub, not a party bar, so come for the calm, not the spectacle.
SantaCon NYC: FAQ
When is SantaCon NYC 2026?
SantaCon NYC is the second Saturday of December – December 12, 2026 – and it kicks off around 10am, mostly in Midtown. The exact start point, route, and bar list are confirmed last-minute, so check santacon.nyc on the day.
Where does SantaCon NYC happen?
Mostly Midtown Manhattan; the recent start point has been Broadway at 40th Street, and it sometimes spills into other neighborhoods. There’s no fixed route – only a starting point – and roughly 65 bars take part. The official venue list is kept secret until the day of.
How does SantaCon work – do I need a ticket?
It’s a charity pub crawl. A $17 donation gets you a wristband that’s your pass into the marquee SantaCon venues; plenty of other bars are just crowd-open. The honest move is to go early, in a group, and treat it as a daytime event – it starts at 10am and the crowds build all afternoon.
Which Midtown bars are good for SantaCon?
To lean in: Printer’s Alley (a block from the Broadway-and-40th start), Stout NYC (big-group capacity), and The Playwright Irish Pub (near Penn and Herald Square). To escape the crush: The Rum House (cocktails and a live piano) and The Stag’s Head (a quiet Midtown East pub far enough east to dodge it).
Is SantaCon worth doing?
Honestly, it depends on you. Go early with a group, pace yourself, and plan an escape route and it’s a genuinely fun, charity-raising day. Wander in unprepared mid-afternoon and it’s a costume crush with long lines. The charity angle is the best reason to lean in; the crowds are the best reason to have an exit.
Last updated: June 2026. Deals and hours change – confirm with the venue before you go. Spot something out of date? Let us know.