The holidays are a time for family, goodwill, and pretending you love the gift someone bought you. But for Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme, the holidays are also an opportunity for sequins, supernatural shenanigans, questionable Christmas treats, and a healthy dose of queer chaos.
The dynamic duo behind The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show is returning for another round of festive mayhem, marking the show’s ninth year with a brand-new production touring 30 cities across the United States and Canada from November 6 through December 30, 2026. And because a theatrical extravaganza apparently isn’t enough to keep these queens busy, they’re also bringing their holiday universe to bookshelves with How the Queens Made Christmas: A Raunchy Holiday Romp for Festive Adults!, arriving October 20 from Chronicle Books.
Consider it a two-part holiday gift: one experience that lets you leave the house and another that lets you stay home in your pajamas while reading about two drag queens trapped inside a book. Honestly, both sound like excellent ways to avoid awkward family conversations.
We sat down with Jinkx and DeLa and talk unwrapped the secrets behind this year’s tour and the upcoming book.
Jinkx an BenDeLaCreme & Instinct
Since launching in 2018, The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show has grown from a scrappy, self-produced tour into an internationally acclaimed holiday tradition. The queens have already tackled an impressive assortment of festive absurdities, including sentient Christmas treats, Dickensian ghosts, the Nutcracker’s Land of Sweets, immaculate conceptions, artificial intelligence, body swaps, and elf attacks.
At this point, it’s probably best not to ask what could possibly go wrong. With these two, the answer is almost certainly something involving elaborate costume changes.
The annual production promises another all-new spectacle filled with over-the-top camp, original songs, heartfelt storytelling, elaborate costumes, and thrilling dance numbers. BenDeLaCreme writes, directs, and produces the show, with additional writing from Jinkx Monsoon. The production is presented by BenDeLaCreme Presents, the creative company behind the growing holiday universe.
Despite the enormous undertaking of creating a new production every year, the queens say the experience remains as exciting as ever.
“This year marks our 8th touring production, and my relationship with the ‘Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show’ feels just as fresh as it did when we started in 2018,” said BenDeLaCreme during this year’s tour announcement.
For Jinkx, returning to the production is something worth celebrating, even if the calendar insists on moving forward.
“Nine years, where does the time go?!” Monsoon said. “Somehow, every year, our amazing company makes something spectacular that exceeds even our own expectations — then we get to share it with our community at a very meaningful time.”
She summed up the seasonal appeal in a way that feels particularly appropriate for a witch with a flair for theatricality: “What a great way for a witch to spend the solstice.”
And who are we to argue with a witch?
Just when you thought the queens had exhausted every possible way to make Christmas delightfully inappropriate, they’re publishing a book.
How the Queens Made Christmas: A Raunchy Holiday Romp for Festive Adults! arrives October 20, 2026, from Chronicle Books. Written by BenDeLaCreme, the book follows Jinkx and DeLa as they mysteriously find themselves trapped inside a book with only one way out: together.
Naturally, escaping requires them to create a winning Christmas story. Along the way, readers can expect rhyming text, candy-colored illustrations, double entendres, and plenty of costume changes. Because apparently even fictional imprisonment can’t stop these queens from serving a look.
The book captures the irreverent spirit and colorful aesthetic of the live show while offering a new way for longtime fans and newcomers to experience the pair’s holiday world. It also includes behind-the-scenes photographs and lyrics from three of their original songs, giving readers a peek at the creative universe behind the spectacle.
And because one festive publication apparently wasn’t enough, a companion collection of 12 pop-out hanging ornaments is also arriving in time for the season, featuring sassy holiday tips and quips. Your tree has officially been warned.
For BenDeLaCreme, the book represents more than a new creative format. It’s another chapter in a project that has grown into something meaningful for the community that supports it.
“What began as a scrappy, self-produced tour in smaller rooms has grown into a full creative universe made by misfits who just want to create work that helps people feel less alone,” she said.
That sense of connection, she explained, is central to the project. Beneath the sequins, comedy, and show-stopping numbers are themes of belonging, loss, and chosen family.
In other words, come for the raunchy rhymes; stay for the emotional character development.
For all the camp and comedy, there’s a reason the Holiday Show has become an annual tradition for so many LGBTQ+ fans. The holidays can be complicated, especially for people who don’t feel welcome in their families of origin or who are navigating grief, loneliness, and expectations about what a perfect Christmas should look like.
Jinkx and DeLa offer an alternative: a space where queer joy takes center stage, where chosen family matters, and where being a little weird is practically a requirement.
The pair’s creative universe celebrates the idea that community doesn’t have to look like a picture-perfect family gathered around a fireplace. Sometimes, it looks like a theater full of people laughing together at a joke that would make Grandma clutch her pearls.
And sometimes, it looks like two drag queens trapped in a book, desperately trying to write their way out of trouble.
BenDeLaCreme hopes the book will remind readers that they’re not alone, describing the show and its expanded creative world as a celebration of connection that extends beyond the stage. That emotional foundation gives the spectacle its staying power: beneath the glitter and double entendres is a genuine invitation to find your people.
It’s a particularly welcome message during a season that can put pressure on people to feel happy simply because the calendar says it’s Christmas.
With nine years of productions behind them and a tenth anniversary approaching, Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme have built something that reaches beyond an annual tour. Their collaboration now spans live theater, music, a 2020 holiday film special, and a growing collection of books and festive merchandise.
The 2026 tour opens officially in Charlotte, North Carolina, on November 8, following preview performances on November 6 and 7, before continuing across the United States and Canada through December 30. The final scheduled performance takes place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, How the Queens Made Christmas arrives October 20, offering fans a chance to bring some of that holiday magic home. The companion ornament book promises 12 pop-out decorations, each bringing its own festive personality to the tree.
Whether you’re planning a theatrical night out or looking for a holiday gift that won’t be mistaken for another generic scented candle, the queens have options.
And if there’s one thing nine years of Jinkx and DeLa have taught us, it’s that Christmas doesn’t have to be traditional to be meaningful. It can be bawdy, bizarre, glitter-covered, and gloriously queer.
After all, the most wonderful time of the year is even better when you can celebrate it with people who understand you—and when the elves aren’t trying to kill you.
For tickets, tour dates, and book information, visit JinkxandDeLa.com.
