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Guests at the bar of the Sand Dollar Lounge in Las Vegas, Monday, Nov. 25, 2019. The bar is hosting Miracle on Spring Mountain, a five-week holiday pop-up with extravagant decorations and a specialty cocktail menu. (Rachel Aston/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Making spirits brighter
Six seasonal pop-up bars spreading holiday cheer
This story first appeared in the Winter 2024 issue of rjmagazine, a quarterly published inside the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

6 pop-up bars spreading holiday cheer in Las Vegas

It might be the best way to turn even the Grinch’s frown upside down.

Spread some seasonal cheer with some seasonal “cheers!” in various Christmas-themed pop-up bars around town.

Here are six must-visit spots to boost your holiday spirits with holiday spirits:

Miracle at Spring Mountain and Sippin’ Santa on Main

Sand Dollar Lounge and Sand Dollar Downtown

No one sings the blues at these two blues bars come December, when both become festooned with nearly $100,000 worth of luminous holiday décor, an abundance of lights and bulbs and presents to unwrap.

Christmas cocktail at Sippin’ Santa on Main at the Sand Dollar downtown (Atomic City PR)
Christmas cocktail at Sippin’ Santa on Main at the Sand Dollar downtown (Atomic City PR)

And don’t forget to make a toast with one of their St. Nick shot glasses, which let you choose between naughty or nice

Bad Elf Pop-up Bar

The Silverton

Where do all those elves go upon retiring from a long career toiling in Santa’s workshop, hands calloused, throats parched?

Las Vegas, of course.

Bad Elf pop-up holiday bar at the Silverton casino in 2021. (Eugene Dela Cruz/OneSeven Agency)
Bad Elf pop-up holiday bar at the Silverton casino in 2021. (Eugene Dela Cruz/OneSeven Agency)

More specifically, the Bad Elf pop-up bar at the Silverton, which takes over the casino’s Shady Grove Lounge annually with string lights, wrapped presents, oversized ornaments and seasonal spirits.

Festooned with dozens of St. Nick’s little helpers donated from families across the country and suspended from the ceiling, the Bad Elf = good times fueled by a Mistletoe Margarita or two among all the “rebels without a Claus.”

Ski Lodge

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

It always feels like winter at this mountain cabin-themed hang hidden behind an unmarked door near super-freaky Italian restaurant Superfrico, with a picture window overlooking a snow-laden forest and a crackling fire that blazes in perpetuity.

Ski Lodge at The Cosmopolitan adds extra holiday decor for ambiance. (Rachel Harrison Communica ...
Ski Lodge at The Cosmopolitan adds extra holiday decor for ambiance. (Rachel Harrison Communications)

But Ski Lodge also ups the seasonal ante every year with Christmas decorations and holiday sips, which have included classics like the Salty Sled Dog (Helix vodka, Punt e Mes, Aperol, grapefruit, strawberry, soda) and the Scrooged Sour (bourbon, lemon, mulled wine, egg white). This is the place to warm up to wintertime.

Nightmare Before Xmas

Más Por Favor Taqueria y Tequila

Get tipsy with Jack Skellington and crew en route to Christmas Town at this equally spooky and seasonal “Nightmare Before Christmas”-inspired speakeasy in the back of Más Por Favor Taqueria y Tequila.

Mas Por Favor Taqueria y Tequila hosts its spooky and seasonal "Nightmare Before Christmas"-ins ...
Mas Por Favor Taqueria y Tequila hosts its spooky and seasonal "Nightmare Before Christmas"-inspired speakeasy. (Mas Por Favor)

The decor is straight from Tim Burton’s ghoulish Yuletide classic, and the drinks and eats are just as scary good — another slice of Oogie Boogie Dirt Pie?

Don’t mind if we do.

“Kidnap the Sandy Claws” in style here.

Navidad Azul

Fontainebleau Las Vegas

The best place to break out your ugly Christmas sweater?

Fontainebleau Las Vegas, Navidad Azul, Festive Margarital, The Ponche Navidad cocktail. (Fontai ...
Fontainebleau Las Vegas, Navidad Azul, Festive Margarital, The Ponche Navidad cocktail. (Fontainebleau Las Vegas)

A spot designed to be just as supremely gaudy as said threads.

And that would be Navidad Azul. Fontainebleau’s chic, Latin-influenced cocktail hideaway, which is inspired by the authentic mezcalerias of Mexico, undergoes a Yuletide makeover with seasonal décor and entertainment as well as exclusive themed cocktails.

Rouge Room

Red Rock Resort

Winter wonderlands are cool and all, but the only thing cold that we like this time of year is an ice cube or two in a cocktail.

Drinks from Red Rock Resort's Rouge Room. Clockwise starting from the upper left. ClausMopolitan, The White Christmas, Santa’s, The Gin-gle Bell, Spiked Hot Chocolate, (Wish You Were Here)

That’s what makes the Rouge Room at Red Rock Resort’s annual holiday transformation so inviting: You get to experience wintry cheer without wintry temperatures.

This year at Rouge, you can take a trip to Candy Cane Lane, an evergreen forest loaded with Christmas trees decked with lights and oversized candy canes. Outside on the patio, there’s an alpine refuge adorned with garlands and patio heaters.

Bring some friends and order the shareable Spiced Hibiscus Champagne Punch, which is served in an ornament-shaped bowl for four to six people, or the Holiday Shot Tree, featuring six shots of up to three flavors. ◆

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