Ugly Sweater Party

[Gone Fishing]

So I am checking out at the Mal-worts the other day (with some hopefully BIFL Corelle dishes) and the fellow in front of me has two Christmas sweaters that match the picture on his smart phone.  He explains to the cashier that they are for an ugly sweater Christmas party and most folks are making their's but he found these instead.  We all have a chuckle, then the total pops up, $40 and some change.  He swipes his card happily, and he is off with his purchase.  In the end, he'll probably have less in the sweaters and the party than a casual dinner out, but something about the whole idea chaffed me a bit.  The mere thought of buying something for a party that would need to be either stored or disposed of afterwards seemed very antimustachian.  Thumbs up to those making their's as long as they did not spend $20 at the craft store for supplies!   

[Bob W]

Made ours last year.  Old sweaters and glued some little snowmen and xmas crap we had in storage on them.  Won the prize for ugliest sweaters. 

[Rosewhipped]

People pay big bucks for those sweaters they should be decorating themselves or buying at the thrift store. 

A morning show was talking about it the other day and they had all bought their sweaters at the link below but were still complaining about the price.

http://www.tipsyelves.com/

[mm1970]

We did that 2 years ago.  Some of the best were the handmade ones.  We were sleep deprived with a newborn, so got ours at the thrift store - but mine was $25! It was in the expensive section, like someone would actually want it!

Be sure, I donated it back to the thrift store.  Still felt stupid.

[mydogismyheart]

I was looking into this myself and seemed like so many of them were over $60 or $70 online! So I also ended up making one for just a few dollars using an old sweater I already had and gluing and sewing some crap on it.  Also wrote on it with puffy paint and glued a beaded necklace for a border.  LOL

[justajane]

I agree. I find the whole phenomenon rather strange. I saw ugly Christmas sweaters at Sam's the other day. They weren't explicitly marketed as such, but it's pretty obvious that's what they were.

That and the elf on the shelf have become rather ubiquitous in the last few years.

[whitedragon]

I'm having my 3rd Annual "Ugly Christmas Sweater" Party this weekend, and even thought I wasn't Mustachian back then, the idea was to have a Holiday get together and also make a fun "theme".  As far as being anti-mustachian, in my experience with it has been exactly the opposite, with pretty much everyone raiding Goodwill or their Mother's (or Grandmother's) closets for an extra ugly version.

Also, since this event has become popular, everybody saves their sweater, so again, my own experiences haven't really been all that anti-mustachian.

[eyePod]

Thrift store - $5. I'm just pissed that Walmart started selling them since they were such a great eBay re-sell item. Buy it for under $5 and sell for $30 plus every year. This might be the last unless it's really awesome/ugly or vintage.

[socaso]

Made ours last year.  Old sweaters and glued some little snowmen and xmas crap we had in storage on them.  Won the prize for ugliest sweaters.

My brother did the same thing and used a couple of thrift store sweaters that were 50 cents each. I've heard that some thrift stores are marking up ugly xmas sweaters around the holidays because the parties are so popular. I've never been to one. We have friends who throw an annual holiday glog party. It seems like a pretty inexpensive party. They have a big batch of glog in their large slow cooker and a few small bites and most everyone who comes brings beer or food.

[lielec11]

People pay big bucks for those sweaters they should be decorating themselves or buying at the thrift store. 

A morning show was talking about it the other day and they had all bought their sweaters at the link below but were still complaining about the price.

http://www.tipsyelves.com/

Have to admit, the one of Santa pissing "Merry Christmas" in the snow is pricelss... although I certainly wouldn't pay for it.

[MgoSam]

What I find interesting is that I didn't hear about ugly sweater parties until a few years ago. And then I thought it was in bad sport, like making funof a sweater that an aunt or mom or grandma made for someone, which I thought was rude.

[dycker1978]

Well... to take this one step farther... it is ugly Christmas sweater day her in Canada... I didn't even know this was a thing... look what these forms have taught me. p;

[I'm a red panda]

I've heard that some thrift stores are marking up ugly xmas sweaters around the holidays because the parties are so popular.

The ones around here do that. I went looking for one last November and they told me they would set them out after Thanksgiving on a special rack. I got there and the special rack of sweaters cost $25 each.

I bought a sweatshirt for $1 and decorated it instead, with about a dollars worth of safety pins and a dollars worth of ribbon. It was plenty ugly.  I've since loaned it out to multiple other people to wear to parties (I couldn't possibly wear the same ugly sweater twice) so I got my money's worth.

[Jags4186]

Eh I'm just going to throw a bah humbug out there on this one.  I go to an ugly sweater party every year and it's a blast!  Well worth the $20 investment 5 years ago...I just keep re wearing the same sweater.

$4/yr for some hilarity is definitely not anti-mustachian.

[Zikoris]

I made mine out of a sweater that was getting too old and beat up to wear anymore.

http://imgur.com/UdEpvBY

http://imgur.com/s4Ko3Bq

[sheepstache]

Okay so a friend just posted on facebook that he purchased ugly sweaters specifically for a party but that the prizes he won made it a solid return on investment. So at least somebody besides the stores is thinking about the math here.