On December 20th, 2024, Chlomosexual took SantaCon and made it more sleigh by hosting a queer-centered holiday rave with a DJ set by Season 10 RuPaul's Drag Race winner Aquaria. The event had an avant garde photo booth experience by Devin Kasparian, red goodies from queer cannabis-brand FLAMER, and influencer Miss Daddi dressed as Santa.
Each year, nearly 30,000 people — many being drunken finance bros — wander the streets of New York dressed as Santa, reindeer, or presents and hop from bar to bar. This “holiday” is known as SantaCon. Chloe Philips, party producer and founder of Chlomosexual presents, decided it was time to hold space for this holiday, but make it better. And what’s better than a queer holiday rave?
This past Friday, hundreds of people donned their gay apparel and gathered in Bushwick for the first ever Sleigh Con.
“People yearn to be festive and gay around the holidays,” Philips says. “But SantaCon regulars have created so much terror in NYC that any huge holiday party can’t exist without the shadow of SantaCon.” In planning for Sleigh Con, Philips learned that SantaCon was created by the same people as Burning Man in the ‘90s, and they never intended either for it to evolve into what it is today.
So we traded ugly sweaters and frat boy antics for glitter, glamor and unapologetic queer joy. The night started with a two-stop-pregame at Please Tell Me and The Woodshop — honoring the SantaCon bar crawl tradition. After the bars, everyone headed down the street to Brooklyn Monarch.
The event’s headliner, Aquaria, took to the spotlight with a DJ set that redefined holiday magic. “I'm definitely not the holly jolly jingle jangle diva — that's for sure,” Aquaria tells PAPER. “But I can definitely get down to a [Christmas] tune or two.” She brought her Boiler Room-style beats to Sleigh Con alongside DJs Vantage, Highgnx, Antide_xx and Paul Tomasiello. “Being ‘sleigh’ is taking the xmas-y theme — like I'd do with any theme — and giving it my own Aquaria touch,” she says. “I'm always up to something silly as a way to dodge doing things the expected or old-fashioned way.”
Miss Daddi(Vas Halastaras), an artist and TikTok influencer, reigned the night as Santa in fur-trimmed red basketball shorts and a curly white beard. They decided who was naughty and nice, much to the crowd’s delight. Santa’s little hotties, Hillary Henry and Zoë Fustgaard, danced on Daddi’s lap in matching red lace and glittery antlers.
And everyone sure did don their gay apparel: Aquaria went for a “Bran Castle babe look,” as she refers to it. Nightlife host Lindz Conrad wore a Brat-inspired Grinch look with furry green arms and everything. PAPER columnist Linux wore a sleek black fit with pink pin curls — giving the old (lesbian-coded) ladies that adopted the Grinch (but elevated). Musician and Sleigh Con show manager Von wore a black velvet corset with white trim, serving The Nightmare Before Christmas vibes.
Alongside the music and killer outfits, Sleigh Con was an unforgettable sensory experience. Live visuals by Tina Tarighian mesmerized the audience, while photography by Alexus Parker , videography by Kai Koren and the DEVSCAN Photo Booth by Devin Kasparian captured the night’s most iconic moments.
Decked out in a sheer top and angel wings, Kasparian shares why he opted for a scanner over a camera. “It’s an undervalued medium for documenting the people around you. It’s a lot more hands-on,” he laughs. “And it’s not just hands, but anything you want.”
“People literally formed a line,” Philips says. “Some [people] intentionally brought fun trinkets, out of excitement for this.”
From naughty-Santa-look-alikes with their chests pressed on the scanner to slutty reindeers and bow-covered queens holding red FLAMER joints — the DEVSCAN saw it all.
“To trust my guidance in composition, to lean your body over a table, and wait 30 seconds while the scanner does its magic,” Kasparian tells PAPER. “trusting that we're going to make something super special together — It's quite an involved, intimate and beautiful process.”
Sleigh Con felt like a gift to the queer community: a space to celebrate, connect and express ourselves — for queer people to take something tired and stale like SantaCon and give it life.
Photos by Alexus Parker
Scans by Devin Kasparian
