Last year I told everyone in my family to plan for an ugly sweater Christmas party. That way they all had time to look for sweaters and/or find clearance deals in case they didn't already have one. I also told them there was no need to spend money. They could simply dress up a sweater they already had or borrow one. However, EVERYONE got into the spirit of it and went all out. It was so fun to see everyone when they arrived!
I found this photo backdrop on clearance at Kohl's last year. I couldn't pass it up. I think a photo backdrop is a MUST when hosting an ugly sweater party. Everyone had fun with this and we got some awesome photos!
We played a couple of Christmas games. For the first one my husband played Christmas songs and the first person to guess the name of the song won a candy bar. After they won a candy bar they were no longer allowed to guess unless they were helping someone else. That way everyone won a candy bar instead of the few same people winning all of them.
For the second game I wrote a bunch of different words that were related to Christmas (including movies and songs) on the back of some Santa hat cards. Everyone took turns giving clues without saying the words on their card. The first person who guessed right got to keep the Santa hat. The person with the most hats at the end of the game won a prize. We played in teams of two so I gave out two prizes.
I passed out ballots and had everyone vote. I then quickly tallied up the votes and awarded the prizes.
Prizes were awarded for:
The ugliest sweater, the cutest sweater, the best overall, the most creative, the best hairstyle, the best accessories, and the best footwear. This encouraged them to be creative & gave multiple people a chance to win a prize. It also made for great photos!
For the Best Overall, the Ugliest Sweater & the Cutest Sweaters I gave $10 Amazon gift cards and let them pick a prize from the prize table. The Most Creative, Best Hairstyle, Best Accessories, & Best Footwear each got $5 and a prize from the prize table. The remaining guest went in order from youngest to oldest until everyone had chosen a prize from the prize table. I thought everyone deserved one for dressing up.
We had a nice Christmas dinner ( I didn't get photos of that) and then I served a buffet of our families favorite Christmas treats for the refreshments. There were plenty leftover so everyone got to take a plate of treats home with them.
It really was such a fun night. I highly recommend hosting an ugly sweater party!
I have listed the voting & award certificate printables on my Etsy Shop, Party Crush Designs in case you are interested in hosting your own party and would like to purchase them.
I also created these Christmas mug shot photo prop printables. They can be used for photos at Christmas parties or you can use them for your Christmas card photos.
