Top 7 Tips for Hosting an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party
We've gathered together the best of the best for your ugly Christmas sweater party this year. The best tips, tricks, crafts, and websites for you to be sure you're hosting the most memorable party any of your friends have been to! Without further ado, here are our top 7 picks. Can't get enough Christmas ideas? Head on over to our Pinterest for loads more!
1. Send Out Some Funky Invites
2. Find or Make The Ugliest Sweater
3. Decorate Your Venue
4. Make Some Awesome Christmas Sweater Themed Food
5. Plan Fun Activites to Entertain
- Christmas Booth: Festive Photo Fun (free)
- Christmas Photo Booth - Xmas Holiday Face Effects (free)
- Pocketbooth ($1)
6. Have A Tacky Gift Exchange
7. Reward the Ugliest Sweater
Before you get anything else done, make sure that everyone knows that your party is even happening! The wackier the invite the better. Click or tap the images below to buy these invites.
Get some ideas from these invites below:
Next is the make or break. You are the host, after all, so you have to make sure that you have a great outfit! There are plenty options out there both if you want to make a sweater yourself or if you want to buy one. They range from old fashioned to scandalous to funny. Choose your direction and go forth! Check out one of our own ugly Christmas sweaters from our online store Funky Christmas Sweaters.
Match your surroundings to the occasion with festive decorations. Before you get into the decorating too far, make sure you don't skip the mistletoe! It's a Christmas classic that you just can't beat. Buy some from a local craft store, make your own craft version, or check out some online versions, like these:
Now that you've got the mistletoe down, you can work on your set up for the party. You can create as many tables as you want with treats, awards, photos, and more.
Don't leave out the drinks. You can buy or make different covers for your drinks. This can also help to distinguish whose drink is whose!
Embrace the ugly sweater theme with some old embarassing family photos hanging on the walls.
Finally, you'll have to decorate the room that's everyone's likely to visit during the evening. The bathroom! It's often overlooked, but having a festive touch in an unepected room can be the cherry on top.
An ugly Christmas sweater party is still a party. Which means you'll need at least some nibbles and drinks.
The easist way to keep with the theme is cookies, because you can decorate them however you want. You could even make it party of the party, and set up a bunch of different frostings and sprinkles for your guests to choose from and decorate their own ugly sweater cookie. Everyone loves some good sugar cookies.
Don't forget about the gingerbread men! They're a Christmas classic that you can't skip.
Now let's talk drinks. Whether you're serving alcoholic drinks or non-alcoholic, there are plenty of options out there for festive drink recipes. Here are some of our fave options:
Let's get to the best part. Dessert. Go crazy with mince pies, cakes (or cupcakes), and more!
Set up a few really fun games that you can play with everyone. Whether you've gathered all of your family together for the party or just your friends, these will be a blast! You can step up your charades game, play gift swap games, play conversation-starter games, or even get really hands on in the minute to win it games! You can play with as many or as few people as you'd like, and choose the difficulty level that suits your needs. These games are sure to get everyone together and laughing.
Maybe you don't want to play games. Or maybe you do, but you want an extra something to entertain everyone. Set up a photobooth and let everyone capture silly photos of themselves! It's a great way to get a picture of everyone's sweaters, and it's a whole lot of fun to take the photos with different backdrops and props. Bonus: You can upload all of the photos into one album on Facebook after the party and all of your guests will have the photos from the party as a keepsake!
You can take the photos on an iPad with one of the following apps:
You can also use a digital camera to take higher quality photos. Here are some tutorials on how to set up a photbooth with a DSLR.
If you're just planning on letting everyone take photos on their own devices, print out a hashtag hang it up near the photobooth. That way all of your party-goers can post their pictures for the whole gang to see later! Make sure that the hashtag is unique enough that it won't have loads of photos from other people that weren't attending.
One of the best things to do at any Christmas party is to have a gift exchange. There are lots of different kinds with different price ranges, themes, and rules. You could stick to the theme of the night and go with a tacky gift exchange! Look for gifts on Ebay, your nearest dollar store, or a thrift shop. The tackiest gift wins.
We really like the idea of an ugly Christmas sock exchange. Then everyone can keep their toes warm in matching ugly sweaters and socks!
Still stuck for gift ideas? Here are a few cheap and easy options that will be big hits.
By the end of the night, you and your guests are bound to have noticed one sweater that's particularly spectacular. Be sure to reward the creative guest's efforts with an award. You can put as much or as little effort into these as you want. Add a small gift along with the reward, hand out awards that are catered to the particular winners, or make 3 awards for the top 3 sweaters. You could always make your own, but with the growing popularity of Ugly Christmas Sweater Parties, you can also find quite a few options on sites like Etsy! Here are a few ideas to get you started.
If you like what you see and you want to get some more ideas to throw the best party ever this Christmas, head on over to our Pinterest page for ideas on decor, movies, food, and gifts. Plus, we have a whole board dedicated to ugly Christmas sweater parties!
