A cadre of ‘Cousin Eddies’ made their way around Red Bank Saturday night in a successful bid to get loopy and raise some money. (Photos courtesy of Robert Kern. Click to enlarge)

Eighteen area men took to Red Bank’s bars and restaurants dressed in bathrobes and trapper hats Saturday night.

In a twist on Santacon, a somewhat raunchy gathering of faux Santa Clauses held annually in New York and elsewhere, the men did a pub crawl dressed as their favorite movie character: “Cousin Eddie,” from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

Led by Chris Kenny of Shrewsbury and Dave Carr of Rumson, the mostly thirty-something robesmen hit more than a dozen watering holes on both sides of town, eating, indulging in cold beverages and shaking a pail all along the way to raise money for the Monmouth Day Care Center.

Dubbed “Cousin Eddiecon,” the gathering came together as a goof, a way for the ersatz Eddies, most of whom play in a Sunday morning softball league in warmer weather, to share their bromance for Randy Quaid‘s uncouth, bathrobe-clad character.

At some point in the planning, someone suggested that they make it a fundraiser for the center, based on Drs. James Parker Boulevard on the West Side. Then Kenny read on redbankgreen last Friday that the center had been burglarized three times in the past month, allegedly by the same perpetrator, whom police arrested. That sealed it.

The eighteen gathered at an apartment on Wallace Street and hit the town, hoofing it all the way. The watering holes on the itinerary: Murphy Style Grill, Red, the Globe, Brannigan’s, the Downtown, Fixx, Brothers Pizza, Danny’s Steakhouse, Taste, the Walt Street Pub, Jamian‘s and the Dublin House.

“All the bars were awesome,” says Kenny. “Most of them gave us drink discounts, and Danny gave us free pies.”

Between Fixx and Brothers, the terry-clothed tumblers got Shanghaied into Elks Lodge 233 on West Front Street, where they were treated to free beer.

All along the way, the Eddies passed around a pail soliciting donations. By the end of the night, they’d collected $518.

Red Bank cabs took all those who needed rides home, Kenny said.