TBOX (Twelve Bars Of Xmas) is Chicago’s largest, longest-running Christmas bar crawl and costume party.
TBOX celebrates its 24th Annual Twelve Bars of Xmas crawl through Wrigleyville Dec 14. What started as a small group of buddies has grown into the largest, longest-running Christmas bar crawl in Chicago. Here’s everything you need to know about this Chicago rite of passage.
What’s TBOX?
TBOX is all your favorite holidays smashed into one festive celebration! They take all the drinking and good cheer of Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and St. Patrick’s Day and combine it with Halloween’s awesome costumes to make one memorable event. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year!
Every year, TBOX picks a theme for its giant holiday crawl. This year the theme is memes! Dress up as the holiday version of your favorite internet sensation and take photos at TBOX’s soon to be famous Meme Garden. Costumes are not required but make everything much more fun!
Schedule
9 a.m. Opening Ceremonies at Cubby Bear Wrigleyville.
Cubby Bear will open 90 minutes before other participating bars with opening ceremonies and live music featuring 80s glam metal tribute band, Hairbanger’s Ball. Dance, mingle, and drink while you listen to the best 80s glam rock and get ready for the greatest bar crawl of your life!
10:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. Main Crawl Through Wrigleyville
You’ll visit 30+ participating bars, 12 of which are Christmas-themed pop ups! As you crawl from bar to bar, show off your meme-themed costume, enjoy drink specials, and have holiday fun with all your friends. There’s also all day karaoke at Sandlot!
From 10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. enjoy free breakfast buffets from participating bars including Country Club, Happy Camper, Houndstooth, Old Crow and more!
1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ULTRABEAT performs at Rizzo’s Bar & Inn.
7:30 p.m. Closing Ceremonies.
After the crawl, head back to Cubby Bear for closing ceremonies and live music from Stache! Closing ceremonies are expecting to go until at least 9:30 p.m. – It’s awesome so we strongly recommend you stick around after the crawl.
Read the full schedule here.
Tickets and Perks
Tickets to TBOX 2019 start at $22.99 for nine people and go up in price depending on the size of your group. If you have a lot of friends coming, it’s worth it to buy a bunch and Venmo the purchaser later. Plus, the more the Christmas merrier!
Secret Chicago readers can use the code: SECRETCHICAGO for $5 off!
All tickets include free live music, a complimentary breakfast buffet, $12 in drink certificates to use during the crawl, $4-$7 drink specials, drinking/texting gloves, free admission to 12 Christmas-themed pop-ups and much more! With 30+ bars participating, you won’t want to miss this incredible day of holiday cheer.
TBOX has donated over $285,000 to local charities. A portion of all tickets sales will go to Lakeview East Community Partnership, which contributes to local non-profits. This year, TBOX will donate at least $40K, so you can also do some good while you crawl this holiday season.
TBOX is the original Christmas bar crawl and costume party. They practically take over Clark St and Wrigleyville every year. With all the great perks, good company, and holiday cheer, this bar crawl is a must on our holiday bucket list.