London SantaCon 2010

December 13, 2010

More than one week without posting anything???!!! So sorry!!! Work has been disastrous busy and I have spent most of the evening vegging out on the sofa trying to recover from it... I tell you, I have a new-found respect fr all mothers out there who work a full week and then still have to entertain the kids afterwards. Really, overtime every night is not my thing... Unpaid even which is the worst... anyway, over to happier topics as I'm sure slagging work on my blog will be frowned upon if discovered ;)

Last Saturday it was that time of year again, the annual SantaCon! It is a huge event of a few hundred (nearly 1000 at times) Santas in all shapes and sizes gathering in various London locations spreading Christmas cheer. This year was my third and to my disappointment they had split the routes again (something they did in my first year but not last year which was my second and it was so much more fun!) meaning that most of my friends were on different routes. On top of that, due to all the overtime at work I actually woke up closer to 11am than anything else meaning I would miss the 11h30 start. Woops... luckily, someone else wanted to sleep in also and had created a sub-event to meet at 2pm and go from there. Another woops as he didnt actually show up until 3pm... By then the walk was over and the Trafalgar Square gathering was beginning. So we headed directly to Trafalgar Square and joined the masses. A little sad not having done the whole walk, but on the other hand I was with people I knew which was also nice. So, you curious yet? Well, by Santas of all shapes and sizes, I really mean ALL shapes and sizes... the more spoofed the better! And so this year we had:

Big Mouse Santa (not quite sure which mouse though)

Zombie Santas

Hannibal Lecter Santa

Mexican Santa (complete with lights and baubles hanging from his sombrero)

Funny Sunglasses Santa (love the ones on the right!)

There was even a Christmas tree!

Am sure by now you're curious as to what I went as, loving my costumes and all... I wore the same Santa outfit as I do every year (people know me by this outfit now as I'm the only one dressed like this LOL). When I made this dress 3 years ago, I just had to combine my love for Halloween with the Christmas event. And so I always go to SantaCon as...

Witchy Santa!!

The hat is a red woollen hat made from a Gandalf hat pattern, with white fluffy fur and candy canes added to it. The cloak is my red cloak from my Bloodelf Costume for my second EFF dress, as well as the skirt actually. I pinned white fur on the edges of the cloak so that I can remove it for when the medieval season starts. The top is actually a hippy mini dress I bought at the Angel Sale (more about that another time) to which I also added the fluffy fur. The apron was once a bedsheet which is now embellished with leftover fabrics and some felt. I loooove my Witchy Santa outfit! And it's so nice and toasty and very waterproof so perfect for the walk :)

You may have noticed the lack of elves in the crowd. That's because elves get pelted with (raw!) brussel sprouts and they hurt! However, there is one elf that is allowed at SantaCon:

And that is Merry Ho, our lovely direction elf :)

Anyone who has ever been to Trafalgar Square will know the Nelson statue (thats the big spike in the middle). It is surrounded by lions. A group of Santas brought a Santa hat for the lion!! It was so funny! It took a while to get it on, but check this out:

Yay, it's finally on! Let's drink to that :) Doesnt it look great!

LOL, yes, it is a bit of a drinking event also but totally doable sober (especially as I rarely drink), still tons of fun! Two years back someone actually fell from the lion (while drunk and in the rain) and broke his collar bone, oops...)

Now that all the Santas were there, let the gathering begin...

(Photo by Marcus Tylor)

We only had a few Santas really hahaha

(Photo by Marcus Tylor)

Then it was time to find some more friends...

Like Plastic Sister who is also a regular at dress up events :)
The flowers also had twinkle lights but thats a little hard to see here.

Everyone loved Plastic Sister tho! Hihi

Then it got dark, and cold (especially my feet in non-waterproof shoes) and the Santas went to the pubs to get warm. Which was my cue to go home and get comfy on the sofa. One last photo, dont you just love the Santa colours on the fountain?

So another SantaCon has passed... Come join us next year!!