National Ugly Sweater Day: how to celebrate with friends and your partner

National Ugly Sweater Day falls on the third Friday of December, so the date shifts by a few days each year. In 2026 it's on December 18.

An example: Imani has thrown an ugly sweater night in her living room for four years now, always on the Saturday closest to the day. This year she stood in front of the navy sofa and held up a paper crown she had cut out of a cereal box that afternoon. Rhys had spent two evenings sewing white and sky blue pompoms onto an old green sweater, sixty-two of them, and he wanted somebody to count. Hedda had bought a sky blue sweater on sale, wrapped it in tinsel and sewn on little gold bells. She reached for the crown before the voting had even started. Caleb wore a plain sand sweater with one strand of tinsel over the shoulder and held the biggest bowl of popcorn in the room. He had come to watch, eat and vote.

The day itself is simple. You wear the loudest, tackiest holiday sweater you can find or make, and many people turn it into a party at home with a contest and far too many photos.

The third Friday of December, and where the day came from

The day started in 2011, and no one is named as its founder. Ugly sweater parties go back to the early 2000s, well before the day had a name. It sits a week or so before Christmas, when people are ready for something silly. In Britain the same piece of clothing is called a Christmas jumper.

You don't have to celebrate on the Friday itself. Plenty of groups pick the nearest Saturday, so nobody has to rush home and glue felt reindeer to a sweater after work.

Throwing an ugly sweater party at home

A good party needs very little: a room, a few snacks and friends who agree to look ridiculous together.

• Invite people two weeks ahead. That gives the makers time to make and the shoppers time to find something terrible.
• Say that homemade counts. Some guests worry that a store-bought sweater is cheating. It isn't, and a homemade one is welcome too.
• Clear a short runway. A strip of floor between the sofa and the door is enough for each guest to walk and turn.
• Keep a box of spare decorations by the door. Tinsel, bows and clip-on ornaments let anyone who arrives in a plain sweater join in.
• Put the best light near the tree. Everyone will want a photo, and a lamp beats the ceiling light.

If your friend group likes a theme night every few weeks, girls' night ideas has plenty more to borrow after December.

Ugly sweater contest categories everyone can win

One prize for "ugliest" leaves most people out. Several small categories keep the whole room in the running:

1. Ugliest overall, the main event.
2. Most handmade, for the person who sewed every pompom.
3. Most lights, battery-powered, the brighter the better.
4. Best thrift-store find, for a sweater that was sincerely sold as fashion.
5. Loudest, for bells, squeakers and anything that jingles.
6. Best matching pair, for friends or couples who planned together.
7. Did you even try? for the guest in a plain sweater with one strand of tinsel.

Let everyone vote with a show of hands or folded slips of paper in a bowl. The prize can be as small as a paper crown or a sweater-shaped cookie.

To win, commit to one idea and push it all the way. Make it stick out from the sweater, add something that lights up or rings, and give your runway walk a little story.

Making an ugly sweater yourself

You can make a winner in one evening at the kitchen table.

• Start with a cheap base. A thrift-store sweater one size too big leaves room for whatever you add.
• Cut shapes from felt. Trees, snowmen, a reindeer face. Fabric glue holds them, and a few stitches hold them better.
• Pile on texture. Pompoms, tinsel, bows, bells, tiny ornaments. Light things stay on, and heavy ones drag the sweater down.
• Add a string of battery lights. Sew it on with loose stitches so you can take it off afterward.
• Pick a theme. A sweater that tells one joke, like a snowman melting in a sauna, beats one covered in random stuff.

Safety pins let you take everything off in January and reuse the base next year.

Party games that keep everyone laughing

None of these need a drink in hand.

• The runway. Each guest walks while one friend gives a sports-style commentary.
• Whose sweater is it? Lay the sweaters on the bed before people put them on, and let the group guess who made which.
• Pompom toss. Throw pompoms into a bowl from across the room. Rhys brought spares.
• Sweater bingo. Cards with squares like "has a reindeer" and "jingles when they walk." Mingle until someone gets a line.
• Swap the worst ornament. Everyone brings one wrapped ornament, the uglier the better, and people trade by drawing numbers.

For more to play once the trades are done, Christmas party games for adults has team games like the toilet paper snowman.

Food that matches the sweaters

Keep the food as playful as the clothes. A hot chocolate bar with marshmallows, crushed peppermint and whipped cream feels like a treat for adults too. Set out plain sugar cookies and let people decorate them as ugly as they like, then vote on those as well. A big pot of chili or soup keeps the night going, and popcorn in large bowls gives the watchers something to hold. Groups that already host a Friendsgiving can reuse the same sign-up list, so the snacks are covered before anyone starts sewing.

An ugly sweater night in for two

Couples can have just as much fun without a crowd. Agree on a budget of fifteen dollars and a secret theme, then make a sweater for each other and do the reveal on the sofa. Or wear matching ones and take the same photo by the tree each year, so your album fills with worse and worse sweaters. Finish with a winter film and hot chocolate. For more evenings like this, winter date ideas collects cozy plans for the whole season.

Who wants the crown, who wants the glue, who just wants popcorn

Many ugly sweater parties have the same three groups: people who want to win, people who love making the thing and people who came to watch. Personality has something to say about which group a friend lands in. Here is how eight of the 16 types tend to show up:

• Ideator brings the strangest idea in the room, like a sweater that doubles as an advent calendar. The idea is the fun part.
• Vitalizer often hosts, cheers every entry and makes sure the shyest guest gets the loudest applause. Imani is one.
• Analyst prefers to watch and quietly checks that the voting is fair. If there are categories, they wrote them.
• Commander wants the crown and says so out loud. Expect lights, bells and a runway walk full of swagger. Hedda fits.
• Diplomat plays to the crowd on the runway and often walks off with the crowd vote.
• Strategist comes in plain, sits by the snacks and gives the driest one-line review of each sweater. That's Caleb.
• Organizer makes theirs to last, with pompoms sewn on properly and lights that will still work next year.
• Craftsman enjoys the making most: the right felt, neat stitches, a reindeer whose ears stand up. Rhys is one.

See why one friend wants the crown and another the popcorn

At any party one friend wants to win, one wants to make something and one just wants to watch, and type explains part of that. On the morning after, take the free friendship compatibility test with your coffee. Drop your result's link into the group chat. As each friend answers, you get a relationship type for that friendship, so you can see which parts are easy and which get misread.

Questions people ask

When is ugly sweater day?

It falls on the third Friday of December every year, about a week before Christmas.

What is the ugly sweater day about?

It's an unofficial holiday for wearing a loud, tacky holiday sweater. It started in 2011, and many people celebrate with a party at home.

How do you win an ugly sweater contest?

Pick one clear idea and go all the way with it. Add something 3D, something that lights up or jingles, and walk the runway like you mean it.

What is an ugly Christmas sweater party?

It's a party where every guest wears the worst holiday sweater they can find or make, and the group votes on categories like ugliest, most handmade and most lights.

Does an ugly sweater have to be about Christmas?

No. Snowmen, winter animals, food jokes and general sparkle all count, so anyone can join whatever they celebrate.

Sources

• Dictionary.com, "National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day". The third Friday of December, the start in 2011, and ugly sweater parties since the early 2000s.

Written by Virko Kask, founder of Typeza
Written with the help of AI tools.