If your convention calendar went quiet after the summer and fall shows, there’s one more Tampa Bay con on the board before the year runs out. Holiday St. Pete 2026 takes over the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront in downtown St. Pete on Saturday and Sunday, November 21 and 22, and the pitch is simple: bring your favorite fandom, give it a Christmas twist and spend the weekend with other people doing the same thing.
Holiday St. Pete is run by Florida Comic Cons, the same organizer behind St. Pete Comic Con, Anime St. Pete and the horror show Sunshine City Scare. It’s the holiday edition of the group’s four annual St. Pete shows, and this year it’s in a new home. The official site bills the Hilton move as a chance to keep everything under one roof, from the vendor marketplace and daytime panels to late-night programming and a poolside party. If you’ve done St. Pete Comic Con, you already know the vibe: this is a cosplay-and-community show, not a celebrity mega-event. I’ve put together what’s confirmed so far, what it costs and a few things worth knowing before you go.
Three holiday themes under one roof
The big change for 2026 is that the show is split into three themed “experiences,” each sponsored by one of Florida Comic Cons’ other events. According to the organizer’s announcement, the weekend brings together Holiday Anime, Holiday Star Wars and Christmas Horror, and the whole thing is designed around festive cosplay and holiday photos.
Holiday Star Wars, sponsored by St. Pete Comic Con, brings in Star Wars fan groups, along with panels, photo meetups and a Star Wars holiday cosplay award. The one group named so far is Star Wars Morale Missions, which the con describes as a Lucasfilm-recognized official Star Wars club since 2022 that welcomes all Star Wars cosplay, not just Mandalorians. More group announcements are listed as “coming soon.”
Holiday Anime, sponsored by Anime St. Pete, has a Holiday Idol Festival with music and dance performances, anime panels, photo meetups and a holiday anime cosplay award. Its headline guest is Pokémon cosplayer PikaBelleChu, who will host an interactive Pokémon holiday detective game with prizes, bring Christmas mascots for meet-and-greets and run a fan panel, according to the Holiday Anime page.
Christmas Horror, sponsored by Sunshine City Scare, leans into the very real trend of horror movies with a Christmas theme. It has its own panels, photo meetups and a cosplay award for the best killer Santas and holiday monsters, plus a Horror Short Film Festival where selected independent shorts screen live and compete for trophies.
On top of the themes, there’s the usual Florida Comic Cons contest lineup. The Craftsmanship Cosplay Contest runs on Saturday with cash prizes and trophies in Journeyman, Masters and Best in Show. It’s capped at 25 entrants (kids don’t count toward the cap), costumes have to be at least 50% handmade or altered, and pre-judging is mandatory. Sunday brings a Lip Sync Competition and a Runway Cosplay Contest. The runway contest needs no pre-registration, and store-bought costumes are welcome. There’s also a “Show Us Your Moves!” dance contest open to any style. One thing to watch: the contest pages list a November 14 application deadline, but the con’s October 5 update gave November 11 for craftsmanship and lip sync entries. If you’re entering, submitting by the 11th covers you either way.
The judging setup is worth a mention, too. The guest cosplayers page explains that the main judges are newer cosplayers going through the organizer’s free guest-cosplayer mentoring program. Head judge PaladinPrintWorks and head teacher TheStarCos lead it. It’s a nice touch for a smaller show, since it gives up-and-coming local cosplayers a real path to guesting.
Saturday night, the con moves outside for Splashmas After Dark, from 7:30 to 10 PM at the Hilton’s pool and bar lounge. A live DJ is set to spin anime, gaming, K-pop and con-classic remixes, and there’s a Deckside Cosplay Contest plus fan trivia giveaways. It isn’t ticketed separately; your event wristband gets you in.
Tickets, hours and parking
This is one of the more affordable cons in the region. Here’s what the official ThunderTix ticket page listed when I checked on November 4. Base prices come first, with the all-in price including fees in parentheses:
- Weekend Pass (Saturday and Sunday): $30 ($35.10 all-in)
- Saturday only: $25 ($29.75 all-in)
- Sunday only: $20 ($24.40 all-in)
- VIP Pass: $125 ($136.75 all-in), which adds 30-minute early entry both days and a gift bag
- Kids 9 and under: free, but they still need a ticket
- Annual Pass: $129 ($141.03 all-in) for weekend passes to five shows: this one, St. Pete Comic Con 2027, Sunshine City Scare 2027, Anime St. Pete 2027 and Holiday St. Pete 2027
Each theme also comes with a $55 bundle deal that pairs a Holiday St. Pete weekend pass with a weekend pass to its sponsor show. That means Anime St. Pete (February 6–7, 2027), St. Pete Comic Con (April 17–18, 2027) or Sunshine City Scare (September 18–19, 2027). All ticket sales are final and non-refundable. If the event is moved because of weather or another emergency, tickets carry over to the new date.
If you shop, the organizer’s Fandom Shopping Rewards program gives you a free single-day ticket to one of its 2027 shows when you spend $50 across vendors, or a free weekend pass at $75. Anyone who shows up in cosplay, homemade or store-bought, also gets an entry in the Celebrate Cosplay Raffle. Its prize is two VIP tickets plus a $100 shopping spree, and winners are drawn at 3:30 PM each day.
Hours need a little care, because different official pages show different times. The homepage promises programming from 10 AM to 10 PM Saturday and 11 AM to 5 PM Sunday. The schedule page (last updated October 5) lists the vendor hall from 10 AM to 6 PM Saturday and 10 AM to 5 PM Sunday, with the con itself running until midnight on Saturday. The safe plan is to arrive for the 10 AM opening ceremony on Saturday and check the schedule again the week of the show.
Parking is the real-world catch with a downtown hotel venue. The con’s 2026 parking guide points to the USF St. Pete garage at 250 5th Ave S ($5.55 through ParkMobile, levels 2–4, zone code 38015), City of St. Pete parking ($5 from 8 AM to 2 PM, then a $15 flat rate), the Mahaffey Theater lot at 400 1st St S ($10, cash only) and the CVS at 301 3rd St S, where a same-day receipt on your dashboard gets you free parking for the day. New this year, ConKeeps lockers are on site if you don’t want to carry bags and props around all day.
Should you go?
Be realistic about what kind of show this is. As of today, the official guest page doesn’t list any big-name celebrity or voice-actor signings, so if autographs are your main reason to go to cons, MEGACON Orlando in May is the bigger target. Holiday St. Pete is a show for cosplayers, photographers, small artists and people who just want one more con weekend with friends before the holidays. For $30 for the weekend, with the whole thing inside one bayfront hotel and a pool party on Saturday night, that’s a pretty easy sell.
A few practical notes from the con’s rules: cosplay is not consent, so ask before you take photos. Prop weapons get checked at the door, and anything that could pass for real or fire a projectile isn’t allowed. If you’re thinking about a Christmas spin on your usual build, a Santa-hat Mandalorian, a festive Pikachu or a killer Santa, this is the weekend to try it. I’ll be keeping an eye on the Star Wars group and guest announcements as the show gets closer.
Featured image: official Holiday St. Pete 2026 theme posters, Image: Holiday St. Pete / Florida Comic Cons.
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