Philadelphia's premiere pop-up bar is back and ready to fly into the playoffs with the city's first-ever Philly sports fan theme pop-up bar and experience. Following sold out runs for Nightmare Before Tinsel and Tinsel Christmas Pop-Up Bar, Tinsel Takes Flight will open tonight, Wednesday, January 18, 2023 at 4:00pm at 116 S. 12th Street. Philadelphia sports fans can bleed green and cheer on the hometown team with 2,000 square feet of space for this one-of-a-kind sports fan experience. Fans will find sports memorabilia, original art installations, sports murals, photo opportunities, light installations and more. At the bar, look for a full menu of sports-inspired and Philly team inspired creations, such as Hurts So Good, Weapon X, Swole Batman, Philly Especial, The Graham Sacker, The Hungry Dog and more. The beer selection will include Free Will Dreams & Nightmares and Flying Fish Go Birds. Inside the sports fan experience, fans will find giant televisions placed throughout the space to catch playoff games, and of course, the big game on Sunday, February 12, 2023. Tinsel Takes Flight hours will be Monday to Thursday, Friday 4:00pm to 2:00am, Saturday Noon to 2:00am and Sunday Noon to 12:00am. For more info, visit and follow @TinselPhilly on social media.

"Tinsel Takes Flight is a whole new direction for Philadelphia's premiere pop-up bar," said Owner of Craft Concepts Group Teddy Sourias. "We are known as the city's number one pop-up bar for Halloween and for Christmas, and we wanted to challenge ourselves, transition and try out something new. Our team is full of die-hard Philly fans who want to celebrate this historic season for Philly sports. We tapped our new lead designers from our holiday installations and created something that we hope will be a true touchdown for our city."

Sourias added, "There's never been a better time to be a Philly sports fan and we want to celebrate that energy and excitement. We want to bring the best sports fans in the world together in one place to support our city."

Tinsel Takes Flight takes Philadelphia's pop-up theme bar in a whole new direction just in time for the playoffs. Tinsel is taking flight and ready to fly with the birds with an experience that is all about football, fandon and fun. Fans are invited to experience the space like never before in a living museum that celebrates our favorite hometown team, filled wall to wall with memorabilia, photo ops, and custom artwork and creations, and featuring a “gameday” ready beverage list, with seasonal canned and draft beers, and a full cocktail list served with keepsake glassware. For the first time ever, Tinsel will be showing football making this the perfect place to watch playoff games for the rest of the season.

Special sports themed cocktails are a play on Philly icons and our teams. Drinks were designed by Alexis Alman and Josh Leva, and include:

Hurts So Good:
City Distilling Vodka, Lemonade, Blue Curacao, Razzmatazz

Weapon X:
Union Forge Vodka, Peach Schnapps, Cranberry, Pineapple, Activated Charcoal

Swole Batman:
Tequila, Sour Apple, Cranberry, splash Pineapple

Philly Especial:
Ghost Tequila, Sour Mix, Splash Melon, Jalapeno garnish

Jawsaritaville:
Bacardi, Malibu, Lime Juice, Melon, Club

The Graham Sacker:
Jameson Orange Whiskey, Amaretto, Apple Cider

The Hungry Dog:
Whiskey, Peach, Lemonade

Philly, Philly:
Absolut Vanilla, Kahlua, Rumchata

Beer and seltzers will include:

Flying Fish Go Birds
Hazy Pale Ale / 6% / $7 16oz

Miller Lite
$10 22oz

Free Will Dreams & Nightmares
Pale Lager / 12oz can $7

Corona $7
White Claw $7

For vibe and renovations, Tinsel tapped the creative talents of Jillian Keys (who worked on Tinsel Christmas 2022) and Stephanie Irwin (who assisted with Uptown U-Ville 2022 and Tinsel Christmas 2022). Artist Scott Johnston returned and did the custom bartop and custom art pieces, and Mistress Zeneca and Jason Miller created the moving player custom piece high above the bar. Renovations including the additional of walls and installations, revamping the main entrance tunnel and a brand new custom bar top with sports memorabilia from over the decades.

For music, look for tunes to set the mood that is hype and football oriented, with upbeat tunes and Philly favorites mixed in between. For Eagles in the playoffs, look for the sound on during game time.

For new TV installations to watch the game, look for a giant 100 inch screen, with five additional televisions that range from 32 to 80 inches each.

TEAM

Owner - Teddy Sourias, Craft Concepts Group
Manager - Josh Leva
Interior Designers - Jillian Keys and Stephanie Irwin
Project Manager - Alex Bokulich
Director of Operations - Alexis Alman and Hank Henson
Events - Hank Henson and Molly Purcell

DESIGNER BIOS

Jill Keys is a maker and designer who has mostly been doing professional theater work in Philly for over 15 years. She mainly was doing costume design (Barrymore Nominated 3 times) with some scenic and mural work mixed in, and when the pandemic hit she transitioned into doing design and install work for bars, restaurants, and pop-ups. She started down in Wilmington Delaware 2020 as a design associate, installer, and project manager for Blitzen (the Christmas bar) and Faire Cafe. This past summer Keys designed the pop-up beer garden for The Oval, with Our People Entertainment. “Tinsel Takes Flight” is her third project with CCG since doing a Halloween install at Blume, and designing for the 2022 Tinsel season.

ABOUT TINSEL

Tinsel started out as Philadelphia's only home-grown Christmas Bar that brought Christmas cheer into the space formerly occupied by Simpson's Jewelry in Midtown Village each year. Tinsel debuted to capacity crowds every single day it was open in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Back in 2017, Tinsel was originally opened in less than three weeks when Simpson's moved out of the space next to Finn McCool's. In 2018, Craft Concepts Group spent months on raising the ceilings, breaking through the walls, exposing the original grand staircase, lengthening the bar and creating even more space for holiday revelry. For 2019, Tinsel became more than a Christmas pop-up bar when Nightmare Before Tinsel debuted for spooky season. Tinsel's unique pop-up space then was activated for the entire month of Halloween and during the holidays between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve.

For 2020, Christmas came early with the debut of Tinsel in July with America's first-ever socially-distanced Christmas themed pop-up eatery - that was designed to bring light and hope during these very challenging and serious times. Nightmare Before Tinsel changed to a walk-through Halloween attraction, and Tinsel Christmas Pop-up continued to spread holiday joy.

In 2021 and 2022, Nightmare Before Tinsel and Tinsel Christmas Pop-up returned in their original format for spooky season and for the holidays. 2022 for Tinsel was the biggest season ever with continued sold out crowds during all of December.

Tinsel now returns for the first time as Tinsel Takes Flight - touchdown.