The Moscow, PA bar and grill is hosting “Jingle Christmas” throughout the holiday season…
There are two kinds of holiday bars in December. The first throws a wreath on the door, adds cinnamon to the vodka, and calls it a day. The second commits fully; no half measures, no irony, no apology. Slingshots Bar & Grill (Moscow, PA) has chosen the latter path, and for a small-town bar, that decision matters more than it might seem at first glance.
From December 5 through January 10, Slingshots has transformed itself into Jingle Christmas, a full-room holiday pop-up that turns a familiar neighborhood bar into something closer to a winter fever dream. This isn’t a corner-of-the-bar gimmick or a themed drink list taped to the wall. It’s a complete takeover. You walk in under a mistletoe archway. The pool table becomes a miniature Christmas village. Lights, ornaments, and oversized holiday set pieces fill the space. Outside, an actual snow globe waits for photos, with Santa dropping by on select dates, as promoted through Slingshots’ social channels.
It’s maximalist. It’s indulgent. And it works because Slingshots understands its role in the community well enough to know when to push.
Bring on the booze…
The drink menu leans hard into playful excess, especially on the martini side. Holiday Lemon Drops, Candy Canes, Christmas Cosmos, Sugar Cookie Espresso Martinis, and a Little Debbie Christmas Tree-tini that knows exactly what it’s doing all make appearances. There’s a Ferrero Rocher martini for dessert drinkers who want to skip subtlety entirely, and Comet’s Caramel Kiss for those who like their nostalgia with a sugar rim. The cocktail list rounds things out with seasonal twists like a Christmas Old Fashioned, Maple Sour, Mistletoe Mule, and a Dirty Santa that feels intentionally vague in the way all good bar legends start.
The glassware is festive, the garnishes are theatrical, and the drinks are built to be photographed, but crucially, they’re also built to be ordered, sipped, and reordered while sitting at a table with actual food in front of you.
That’s where Slingshots separates itself from a lot of pop-ups chasing Instagram numbers. The kitchen stays fully open throughout Jingle Christmas. Taco Tuesdays roll on. Wing and clam nights still anchor Thursdays. Football Sundays remain exactly what they’ve always been: wings, pool, NFL Sunday Ticket, and the kind of crowd that treats kickoff times as sacred appointments. There’s a $5 football menu, chili cheese dogs, sliders, quesadillas, and nachos, real bar food that gives people a reason to stay longer than it takes to grab a photo and leave.
Programming fills in the gaps. Holiday trivia nights, live music, ugly sweater contests, and decorating parties turn the calendar into something worth checking instead of an afterthought. It’s less about spectacle for spectacle’s sake and more about turning the bar into a winter third place, a spot where people actually gather during the cold months instead of retreating to couches and streaming queues.
Bringing something unique to the North Pocono area…
Formerly Doc’s, the building has been part of Moscow’s social fabric since the 1800s. Owner Mike Gallagher has been involved for about three years, long enough to understand both the history and the limitations of the space. Jingle Christmas marks the bar’s first-ever themed pop-up, sparked by bar manager Ashley Williams, who pitched the idea back in October. Gallagher has already hinted at future seasonal takeovers—St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, which suggests this wasn’t a one-off gamble so much as a test run for something bigger.
That’s where this pop-up really lands within the North Pocono scene. Moscow doesn’t typically get destination-style nightlife concepts. Residents tend to stay local by necessity and by choice, favoring neighborhood bars over driving into Scranton. Jingle Christmas flips that dynamic. It gives North Pocono something usually reserved for bigger cities: a reason to plan a night out around a bar, not just stop by one.
Slingshots now sits squarely within a broader NEPA trend, maximalist décor, themed cocktails, and spaces designed for shared experience. But unlike some trend-chasers, Slingshots hasn’t lost its identity in the process. It’s still a bar where you can eat dinner, watch a game, play pool, and run into people you know.
Jingle Christmas doesn’t try to be ironic or self-aware. It commits fully, serves drinks with a wink, keeps the kitchen hot, and remembers that the best holiday bars aren’t about escape, they’re about gathering. In a town like Moscow, that kind of commitment is more than festive decoration. It’s a statement of intent.
