SantaCon, Ugly Sweaters and Detroit's Holiday Bar Crawls

Why December is the biggest crawl month of the year

Between Thanksgiving and New Year's, a night out stops being just a night out. It's the office party, the friend group reunion, the one time a year everyone's actually in town. That gives Detroit bar crawls their best energy of the season — and their worst availability.

December Saturdays are the first dates to sell out, and the last two weekends of the month are usually gone first. If your group is more than four people, book before you start planning anything else.

What's on in Detroit this season

We run a few different holiday crawls, and each one has its own personality:

• —SantaCon in the D — the classic: Santa suits, holiday chaos and a hosted route through Downtown Detroit bars.
• —12 Bars of Christmas — the holiday-themed crawl for groups that want the full Christmas party treatment.
• —Sleight in the D — for the group that would rather have something a little stranger than another ugly sweater.

Check each event page for this year's date, start time and ticket price, since holiday dates shift year to year.

What makes a holiday crawl good (and what ruins one)

Good: a costume theme you can actually pull off with what's in your closet, stops close enough to walk in the cold, and something to do at each stop besides order.

Ruinous: a route that's too spread out. In December, walking six blocks between bars in costume kills the mood faster than any cover charge. Tight routes with quick hops are what make a winter crawl work.

That's the design behind ours: three bars, close together, with a host running games so the group has something to do the moment you walk in.

What to wear

• —Costume over warmth, not instead of it. A Santa suit is warm; a costume that isn't means a coat over it, which is fine and normal.
• —Shoes you can walk in. Costume boots that hurt by 9 PM will end somebody's night early.
• —Coat check strategy. Ask at the first stop. Most downtown bars will take a coat, and carrying one all night is miserable.
• —No props that need a hand all night. Reindeer antlers are fine. A giant candy cane gets old in 20 minutes.

Private holiday parties for groups

If your group is 10-plus — office party, friend reunion, family-in-town situation — a private crawl is usually the better fit: you get your own host, your own start time, and the games run for your group rather than a room of strangers.

For company holiday parties, we run corporate crawls through the same format, with a route and timing that works around a dinner reservation or a hard end time.

Book the date first

Holiday plans have a habit of getting agreed in a group chat and booked in a panic two weeks later, when the good Saturdays are gone. Pick the date, put the deposit down, then figure out the logistics.

See the full event lineup for what's currently on sale.