Revellers brave the cold wearing Santa and elf costumes as they hit the streets to party and celebrate Christmas

REVELLERS braved the cold last night wearing Santa and elf costumes as they hit the streets to party and celebrate Christmas.

London has taken on SantaCon once again, the cities biggest annual convention of "Lapland present-giving personnel".

SantaCon is an iconic festive pub crawl which sees hundreds if not thousands of attendees each year.

Details about the event could be found online via the SantaCon London website and via Facebook.

Revellers were urged not to urinate in the street, litter or "be stupid" last night on Saturday, December 14.

The event also describes itself as "a non-profit, non-political, non-religious and non-sensical Christmas parade".

Aside from dressing as Santa, revellers were invited to download "carol sheets" and bring a "present for the kids".

The event began at the Floating Pocket Park at 11am - with no finishing time disclosed.

But pictures and live footage show hundreds of Santa's hitting the town with booze, musical instruments and good spirits.

SantaCon, which was never meant to become a tradition, began 30 years ago.

A group in San Francisco were the first to organise the event in 1994 after being inspired by the Danish activist theatre group, Solvogen.

Solvogen's antics were written about in the political nonprofit magazine, Mother Jones, which involved their subsequent arrest.

The group had dressed as Santa's, handing out "presents" from the shelves of a department store to customers.

Somehow the event blossomed and has spread around the globe.

In 2013, events were scheduled in 300 cities for the first time.

But the event is notoriously prominent in New York, Hoboken, Saint Paul, Portland, and San Francisco.

New York is the largest SantaCon venue, with over 30,000 taking part in 2012.

However, an opinion piece written in the New York Times in 2013 criticised the event for "sexism, drunkenness, xenophobia, homophobia and enough incidents of public vomiting and urination to fill an infinite dunk tank."

It added: "It contributes absolutely zero value – cultural, artistic, aesthetic, diversionary, culinary or political – to its host neighbourhood.

"Quite simply, SantaCon is a parasite."