The Magic of Christmas

In the spirit of the holidays, I wanted to share with you a little vignette. As I left my local Kmart on Astor Place one Saturday in December, I came across a herd of gentlemen dressed as Santa Claus. This did not occur by happenstance. Once a year, people in the 5 boroughs join together for a pub-crawl on a chilly December day known as SantaCon. The only requirement to participate is that you dress in the full Kringle get-up – no elf hats and jeans will do my friends. The crew I encountered did look the part, as by this time of the day their cheeks and noses were a little rosy.

To give you a little description of the setting, Astor Place is a square in the middle of the East Village. In the square, along with bike racks and hipsters, there is a large sculpture that is a cube that stands on one of its corners. At that corner there is a pivot that allows you to spin the cube around.

On this fine early afternoon, a few jolly old elves felt so empowered by Christmas spirit(s) that they dashed and pranced through traffic to the monument in question. Giving a nod, four of them began to spin the cube. They really got it going as the white poof balls atop their caps flapped behind them and appeared strained to stay attached. Of course the pack of 30 or so Santa’s across the street had to cheer them on with an appropriate ….

“ Ho! Ho! Ho! …”

Seeing these Santa’s reminds me of one of my theories on how to interact with strangers in a public setting. Overall, wearing a timely costume is one of the best ways to meet people randomly on the street, at a bar, or seated at a public library. In part – as I recall from my undergrad psych classes – people will naturally take on a persona when the dress in uniform or a costume. It also provides an instant icebreaker

But, more than that, it provides an instant litmus test for the type of person with whom you, the costume wearer, is going to interact. Essentially, there are three types of people in this world when in a costume:

1) Those who are too cool for school or slightly wierded out by the alternative dress
2) Those who dress in a costume normally and think nothing of it
3) Those who fun extraverts looking for an excuse to make a friend.

Certainly in a social setting we would all like to meet number three and when wearing a costume you would probably just avoid 1 & 2. Therefore, go be social and if you need an icebreaker around Easter, try picking up some rabbit ears at your local drug store. It might just put a few more Ho-Ho-Ho’s in your evening.

SantaCon Video: