One of the most popular holiday parties thrown in college is the “Ugly Christmas Sweater Party.” For an ugly sweater party, students don their tackiest and funniest holiday sweaters, and some people even wear holiday hats, shoes, and accessories. During the party, the hosts ask their guests to vote for the best holiday sweater, and the winners receive a prize.
To throw a successful ugly Christmas sweater party, student hosts should plan fun holiday-themed games and create holiday-themed playlists. They should also make holiday-themed snacks and drinks. And, most importantly, they should put up Christmas decorations to complement the Christmas sweaters. The following sections provide ideas for hosting an ugly Christmas sweater party.
Play Holiday-Themed Games and Give Away Holiday-Themed Prizes
Since a fun holiday party often includes games, student hosts should plan fun holiday-themed games to play at their parties. Students can play holiday-themed trivia, in which they ask their guests questions related to the major winter holidays, like Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. They can also play “name that song” with the theme songs from classic holiday movies, like Frosty the Snowman and Christmas Vacation.
For prizes, students can give the winners of the holiday games classic holiday presents, such as food items, like frosted cookies and fruitcakes. They can also give CDs of holiday music or DVDs of classic holiday films, like It's a Wonderful Life. The winner of the ugly Christmas sweater contest can receive a holiday frame for a picture of him or her sporting their ugly sweater at the party.
Create a Holiday-Themed Playlist with Christmas Music
In addition to modern songs, student hosts can incorporate Christmas songs into their party playlists. They can choose childhood classics, like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and contemporary hits, like Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Students can also add songs from popular holiday movies, like The Grinch, and even sound bites from these movies, such as from the “You’ll shoot your eye out” scene in A Christmas Story.
Serve Holiday-Themed Snacks and Make Holiday-Themed Cocktails
To continue with the ugly sweater theme, student hosts can provide holiday-themed snacks and cocktails for their guests. For snacks, students can provide food items related to the night before Christmas for Santa and his reindeer, such as carrots and celery (with dip) and cheese (with crackers). They can also provide cookies, fruitcake, and a dessert that contains sugarplums.
For beverages, hosts can serve eggnog (with or without rum), and they can also serve holiday-themed beer and wine. And, if they are feeling creative, student hosts can also create their own cocktails using traditional holiday ingredients, such as cranberries, peppermint, and mixed fruit. For example, they can create a “fruitcake-tini” that contains fruit and is served in a martini glass with red and green sprinkles around the edge.
Decorate With Winter-Themed and Christmas-Themed Objects and Symbols
To create a winter wonderland, student hosts can decorate their party spaces with winter-themed and holiday-themed objects and symbols. Students can decorate with artificial snow and lights. They can also decorate a Christmas tree, hang up wreaths, and attach mistletoe to their doorways. The hosts can also replace regular light bulbs with red and green bulbs, and they can play a muted holiday movie, such as Elf, on their televisions.
Whether it’s decorating a Christmas tree or concocting a tasty holiday cocktail, there are several ways student hosts can create a memorable ugly Christmas sweater party. Hosts can create fun holiday games and holiday playlists. They can also serve holiday-inspired food and drinks. And, they can decorate their party spaces to resemble winter wonderlands.
Anna Kendall - Anna Kendall is a freelance editor and writer. Her writing has appeared in various Chicken Soup for the Soul books, and she is the author ...
