Every year, sometime in late November, the group chats start. Flight deals to Lagos. Brunches being organised. Parties being announced. The familiar drumroll of Detty December building up to the same climax it always builds up to — three weeks of relentless social performance dressed as celebration.
And every year, the same people who swore they were not going to do it again are on a flight to Lagos by December 15th, credit card committed, outfit sorted, content calendar mentally drafted.
We need to talk about this.
The Performance We Cannot Admit To
Detty December began as something real. It was the season when Nigerians in the diaspora came home, when old money Lagos opened its doors, when the city actually celebrated itself with genuine enthusiasm. There was something true in it — the reunion, the music, the food, the feeling of being somewhere that understood you without explanation.
That version still exists, just buried underneath about forty layers of content creation.
"Nobody is having fun. We are all just producing content and calling it a lifestyle."
The honest conversation is this: a significant portion of Detty December attendance is not about joy. It is about being seen to be there. The FOMO is not about missing the experience — it is about missing the documentation of the experience. The photos. The videos. The "I was there" proof that functions as social currency until January when everyone goes quiet and nobody mentions that they spent their rent money on a party they did not fully enjoy.
The Economics Nobody Discusses
Let us talk about the money. The flights alone — Lagos in December is one of the most expensive airline routes in the world for those three weeks. Then there is the accommodation, because you are not staying with family, you are staying somewhere you can photograph the bathroom. Then the outfits, because you cannot wear the same thing twice when every event is being documented. Then the parties themselves, which cost money to attend, and the tables at those parties, which cost more money. Then the small chops and the drinks and the Ubers at 3am.
The Real Calculation
By the time January arrives, the average Detty December participant has spent money they will spend the first quarter recovering from, has documented experiences they were not fully present for, and has returned to their regular life with content that performed well on Instagram and a credit card statement they are avoiding opening.
Nobody talks about the January silence. The way the feeds go quiet. The way the group chats that were buzzing in December suddenly have nothing to say. Because the thing that was holding everyone together was not connection — it was the shared performance of being somewhere worth photographing.
What It Actually Costs
The deeper cost is not financial. It is the exhaustion of performing celebration when what you actually want is rest. December in Nigeria is genuinely one of the most energetic and alive periods anywhere in the world — the music, the food, the weather, the feeling of the city switched on. That is real and worth experiencing.
But there is a version of Detty December that has nothing to do with any of that. It is pure optics, pure positioning, pure social proof. And the people most exhausted by it are the ones who participate most visibly — because they know, better than anyone, that they were not actually there. They were performing being there.
The Final Pepper
The question is not whether to go to Lagos in December. The question is why you are going. If the answer is the music, the food, your people, the city — go, and go fully. If the answer is the content — stay home, rest, and save the money for something you will actually remember with your whole body and not just your camera roll.
Detty December should be detty for you — not for your followers. Know the difference before you book the flight.
— Lola · The Pepper Gazette