This is a throwback post, which seems right as it celebrates a throwback party: The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party.
Years ago, we had the honor of hosting a kid-friendly holiday bash for a large group of friends. We were excited and immediately got to brainstorming themes. Since I have never been one to shy away from a good trend we embraced the Ugly Christmas Sweater party for the first time.
When thinking of our Ugly Christmas Sweater theme, we weren’t thinking “tacky,” which is where I know a lot of people go.
We were, instead, trying to capture the nostalgic ’80s glory of the Griswolds alongside grandma’s classic and traditional holiday vibes. We wanted this to feel both horribly outdated and comforting in that.
Alas, the day of our party those years ago was a warm 60-degree day in North Carolina. But it didn’t stop the sweater love!
Where to Get (or How to Make) Ugly Christmas Sweaters
These days, Amazon sells a plethora of ugly Christmas sweaters – just pick what makes you laugh and how ostentatious you want to be. The world is your ugly holiday sweater oyster here in 2023.
But when we held this party, it was slimmer pickings.
We, of course, had great luck at local thrift stores when it came to my sweater and Mr. Family Trip’s.
For the kids, they were much smaller, so we bought them cheap thrift store sweaters and offered puff paint, googly eyes, felt, Christmas appliques, and let them craft!
Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Favors
We wanted to send everyone home with Ugly Christmas Sweater Party favors.
To both encapsulate the personality of the party and the era we were striving for, we bought cheap shot glasses and browsed the Martha section of the craft store. Using Mod Podge and glass glue, I “wrapped” each shot glass in its own “ugly Christmas sweater” using red tissue paper topped with Martha’s special gold metallic borders. They were perfectly imperfect. (Although, pretty sure the shot glasses were NOT safe to drink out of, in retrospect.)
To round out the favor bags, we went to the ABC store for sample-sized bourbons (the “internal sweater as Mr. Family Trip likes to say on fall football game days), bought classic ribbon candy at the grocery store, and shared some candy canes.
I downloaded the Christmas Card font from dafont.com and made a little note:
“May you & your sweetie be snug & warm this Christmas.”
Keeping with the theme of simple, throwback, and not too fancy, these were packaged in brown paper bags.
Ugly Christmas Sweater Menu
The menu was very fun to create. We had a lot of laughs brainstorming foods that showed up on the holiday party tables from our childhoods. More fun was watching our guests’ reactions to the spread.
We had…
- Meatballs in a crock pot, the kind with jellied cranberry sauce and cocktail sauce.
- Spinach and artichoke dip.
The dish most talked about: Pear “Salad.”
Did anyone else grow up with this? Mr. Family Trip and his entire family remember this being a staple (being served on iceberg lettuce).
The recipe: take canned pear halves, set them on a plate, place a dollop of mayonnaise inside, sprinkle some cheddar cheese on top, and top with half of a maraschino cherry.
If you need proof that Pear Salad is a legitimate dish, check out this article and recipe on Southern Living.
When asked “Should I serve Pear Salad at my next dinner party?” the author writes:
Dang, that would be a riot. I mean, why not? Half the people will love you for ringing their nostalgia bell. A solid one-quarter of the guests will totally think you've lost your mind. The remaining quarter will be polite and try it—and may be surprised to discover they actually like it. If nothing else, you'll have turned the salad course into a conversation piece, and that's always a party win.
Other dishes offered:
- A ball of cheese.
- Pigs in a blanket. OBVIOUSLY.
- Chex Mix, which is always better handmade.
Desserts included many handmade favorites such as frosted cookies, bourbon balls, and Oreo truffles. I also started making a Santa hat mini-brownie years ago, and it is something that kids and adults like.
You may not be surprised to see we served up a Sherbert ginger ale punch. As a kid who grew up in the ’80s, this was always available at parties and neighborhood gatherings. Hard to believe that our kids had never before experienced this sugary concoction of weird green liquid.
Ugly Christmas Sweater Photo Booth and Activities
For partygoers, I took a hallway area of our house and crafted a makeshift photo booth. Using a cheap tension rod from Target, I hung a white sheet as a background and strung some Christmas lights over them, leaving the wires exposed of course because it felt like the right vibe. I had some Santa hats and other wigs (yes, including a mullet wig) and paraphernalia that made photo-boothing fun.
Things we did to go the extra mile? We had sugar cookies for decorating, complete with all the toppings, and bought a bunch of bulk craft kits from Michael’s for kids (and even adults got in on the crafting).
We awarded Old Navy gift cards for both the best Ugly Christmas Sweater family and the overall individual winner.
This was, overall, a very easy and comfortable party. Traditions are so different from family to family, from generation to generation. But being able to spend some time with nostalgia (to share a little bit from a time my kids definitely will never know), felt like… well…it felt like putting on an old sweater.
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