It started in San Francisco and spread around the world, but this season, "Santa Con" is under fire.
Some have said the gathering of Santas is nothing more than a glorified pub crawl with too many bad actors.
Thousands of would-be Santas have been gathering in San Francisco since 1994 as a way of protesting the over commercialization of Christmas
The event has spread worldwide, including New York City, where signs are popping up in bars and restaurants to ward off overindulgent Santa Con-ers.
"They litter the streets, throw up in the gutter, start fights-it’s gross," a local man said.
Some Bay Area residents are among those chiming in on Reddit.
"Year I’ve seen more and more no Santas signs each of the past couple years," one writes.
Another wrote, "Stepping over piles of puke and santas even 24 hours after the event gets tiring."
One person also defended Santa Con, writing, "What’s wrong with getting wasted in a Santa suit?"
The event kicks off with Santa Con participants dropping off gifts to the San Francisco Fire Department toy drive which collected more than 3,000 toys last year alone.
Samantha Wolf sees the issue from both sides of the bar; as a participant and as bartender.
"Everyone’s kind of responsible for themselves but it’s good to look out for each other. The bartenders will be setting limits," Wolf said. "It’s kind of like Santa profiling because not everyone participating is taking it too far."
The Santa Con celebration for 2015 is set for Saturday December 12.
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