How to throw an ugly sweater party at work
Everything for an office ugly sweater party, from the invitation to the group photo. With 30 DIY sweater ideas, contest categories, 12 games and a version for remote teams.
An ugly sweater party is the easiest holiday party to say yes to. The dress code is a joke everyone is in on, the decor is whatever people wear, and the sweaters start the conversations for you. This guide covers the whole thing for an office: a planning timeline, invitations to copy, 30 DIY ugly sweater ideas for people who don’t own one, how to run the contest, 12 games, food and the remote version.
What is an ugly Christmas sweater party?
It is a holiday party where the goal is the loudest, tackiest holiday sweater in the room: reindeer, tinsel, bells, lights, the works. At work it is usually one hour with a sweater parade, a vote by category, a few games and some food. It costs almost nothing, and joining in a regular outfit is always fine.
National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day is often marked on the third Friday of December, which in 2026 falls on Friday, December 18. That makes a natural date, or hold it on your holiday party day. It is one of the classic holiday party themes, and it also works as one day of a Christmas spirit week.
Ugly sweater party planning timeline
- 4 weeks out
- Pick the date and the hour, book a room or a call link, and book a host or kits if you want one.
- 3 weeks out
- Send the invitation. People need time to thrift a sweater or build one.
- 2 weeks out
- Buy supplies for a DIY table and a few spare plain sweaters for anyone who forgets.
- 1 week out
- Send a reminder with the contest categories and the voting plan.
- The day before
- Set up the DIY table, print the ballots and the bingo cards, and test the playlist.
- On the day
- Run the hour below, announce winners, and post the group photo by the next morning.
A 60-minute run of show
- 10 minArrive and play bingo. Hand out Sweater Bingo cards at the door so people mingle from the first minute.
- 15 minThe sweater parade. Everyone walks a taped runway (or turns to the camera) for ten seconds while the playlist runs.
- 20 minTwo or three games. Pick from the 12 below. Voting stays open while you play.
- 10 minFood and the final vote. Close the ballots, count while people eat.
- 5 minAwards and the group photo. Winners first, then everyone in one shot, sweaters front and center.
Ugly sweater party invitation wording
Send it three weeks ahead. Fill in the brackets and paste it into an email or your team channel.
Office invitation
Subject: You're invited: the [Team] ugly sweater party Dig out the loudest sweater you own, or make one. Our ugly sweater party is [day, date] at [time] in [room]. There's a contest with [number] categories, games, food, and a DIY table with felt, ribbon and bells if you'd rather build your sweater on the spot. Not into sweaters? Come as you are and vote. Please tell us about any food allergies by [date]. See you there, [Your name]
Remote invitation
Subject: Camera on, sweater on: our virtual ugly sweater party Join us on [Zoom / Teams link] on [day, date] at [time, time zone] for an ugly holiday sweater party. Wear your most festive sweater, add a holiday background if you like, and bring a warm drink. We'll do a sweater parade in gallery view, a couple of quick games and a vote in [poll tool]. Winners get [prize]. No sweater? Draw one on paper and hold it up to the camera. That counts. [Your name]
30 DIY ugly sweater ideas
Start with a plain sweater from a thrift store or the back of a closet. Felt, ribbon, pom-poms, bells and safety pins from a craft store do the rest. Set up a DIY table at the party and these double as an activity.
10 felt and ribbon classics
Fabric glue or safety pins only. Each takes about 30 minutes on a plain sweater.
- Felt snowman: Three white felt circles stacked down the front, a ribbon scarf and button eyes.
- Reindeer face: Brown felt antlers at the shoulders and a red pom-pom nose in the middle.
- Felt Christmas tree: A green felt triangle covered in mini pom-pom ornaments and a gold star on top.
- Wrapped present: Wide ribbon crossed over the front with a big bow pinned where it meets.
- Gingerbread person: A brown felt cut-out with white rickrack for the icing.
- Candy cane stripes: Diagonal strips of red and white ribbon from shoulder to hem.
- Snowflake storm: A dozen white felt snowflakes scattered over the front and back.
- Penguin belly: A white felt oval on a black sweater and an orange felt beak at the neckline.
- Cozy fireplace: Red felt bricks along the hem with tiny felt stockings pinned above.
- Felt wreath: A ring of green felt leaves with a red bow, centered on the chest.
10 with lights, bells and 3D bits
The ones that win "most festive". Use battery lights with the pack in a pocket, and shatterproof ornaments only.
- Light-up tree: Battery string lights pinned in a zigzag tree shape, the pack tucked in a pocket.
- Jingle bell hem: Small bells sewn or pinned along the hem and cuffs, so people hear you coming.
- Ornament display: Six to eight light plastic ornaments safety-pinned across the front.
- Tinsel trim: Tinsel garland around the collar and both cuffs, held on with a few stitches.
- Climbing elf: A small plush elf pinned to the shoulder as if it's climbing up to your ear.
- Toy train belt: A ribbon track around the middle with a small plastic toy train glued on the front.
- Gift box pocket: A small empty gift box glued on as a pocket, with a candy cane sticking out.
- Snow globe front: A clear plastic plate glued over a small felt scene, with fake snow trapped inside.
- Santa front and back: Santa's face on the front and his belt and coat tails on the back.
- Advent calendar front: 24 numbered paper flaps pinned in a grid, each one hiding a tiny doodle.
10 made from office supplies
For the person who forgot until the morning of the party. Everything here is in the supply closet or the mail room.
- Sticky-note pixel star: Yellow sticky notes in a pixel-art star, sealed under clear packing tape so they stay on.
- Binder clip ornaments: Colored binder clips clipped along the hem and cuffs like a row of baubles.
- Paper clip garland: A chain of colored paper clips pinned in loops across the chest.
- Spreadsheet tree: A printed grid taped to the front, with cells shaded green and red to form a tree.
- Reindeer name tags: Nine "Hello, my name is" stickers, one per reindeer, from Dasher to Rudolph.
- Workshop org chart: Printed boxes for Santa, Head Elf and Reindeer Ops, joined with marker lines.
- Cookie pie chart: A paper pie chart of cookies eaten versus cookies left. Mostly eaten.
- Spirit loading bar: A paper progress bar that reads Holiday spirit loading, stuck at 80 percent.
- Bubble wrap snowdrift: Bubble wrap from the mail room, cut into a snowdrift along the bottom.
- Out-of-office sign: A printed sign: Out of office until January, with a paper sun in the corner.
Ugly sweater contest categories and voting
One winner means one happy person. Ten categories mean ten, and the shy people who built something clever get noticed too.
- Most festive overall: The one you see from across the room.
- Best homemade: Built, not bought. Extra credit for doing it at the DIY table.
- Most lights: Count the bulbs. Battery packs only.
- Loudest: Bells, squeakers, anything you hear before you see it.
- Most supply-closet engineering: Binder clips, sticky notes, the label maker.
- Best 3D detail: Something that sticks out, hangs off or climbs up.
- Best pun: A sweater that makes the room groan, kindly.
- Best duo or team match: Two or more people whose sweaters belong together.
- Head-to-toe commitment: The sweater plus a matching hat, socks, earrings or tie.
- Brightest on camera: The remote sweater that fills the gallery view.
How to run the vote
- Number every entrant and vote by number, so nobody campaigns by name.
- One vote per person per category, on a paper ballot, sticker dots or a poll.
- Nobody votes for themselves, and nobody can win more than one category.
- Count while people eat, and announce from the last category to the top prize.
12 ugly sweater party games
Pick two or three for a one-hour party. Each one uses the sweaters, so they fit this party better than a generic holiday game.
- Sweater Bingo: Cards of sweater features (a reindeer, lights, bells, a pun, a pom-pom). Find a match, get their initials in the square. 15 min · Office or remote
- Whose Sweater? One person picks a sweater in the room and describes it in three words. Everyone else guesses whose it is. 10 min · Office or remote
- Sweater Origin Stories: Thirty seconds each on where the sweater came from. Thrifted, inherited or built last night: the best story wins a point. 15 min · Office or remote
- Speed Decorating Challenge: Teams of three get one plain sweater, a bag of supplies and ten minutes. One teammate models it. 20 min · Office
- Name Your Sweater: Everyone gives their sweater a name and a one-line backstory on a sticky note. Read them out and vote. 10 min · Office or remote
- Jingle Jar: A clear jar of jingle bells on the snack table. Closest guess to the count takes the jar. All party · Office
- Sweater Charades: Act out a sweater design (a sledding penguin, a melting snowman) without words while your team guesses. 15 min · Office or remote
- Draw the Ugliest Sweater: Three minutes, one sheet of paper, the ugliest sweater you can draw. Hold them up and vote. 10 min · Office or remote
- Spot the Difference: Two people step out and change one detail on their sweaters. The room has 60 seconds to spot both. 10 min · Office
- Tangled Lights Race: Each team gets the same knotted string of unplugged lights. The first team to lay it out straight wins. 10 min · Office
- Wrapped Sweater Parcel: A spare ugly sweater wrapped in ten layers of paper goes round while music plays. Whoever holds it when the music stops peels a layer; the last layer wins the sweater. 15 min · Office
- Pass the Sweater Relay: Teams race to pull one oversized sweater on over their own clothes, then off, and pass it down the line. 10 min · Office
Ugly sweater party food and prizes
Food that matches the sweaters
- Sugar cookies iced like sweaters (buy them plain and decorate as a game)
- Hot chocolate with a toppings tray: marshmallows, crushed peppermint, whipped cream
- Warm apple cider and a pot of hot water with tea bags
- Mini grilled cheese bites or sliders, the easiest savory crowd-pleaser
- A veggie platter arranged as a wreath, with dip in the middle
- Fruit candy canes: banana and strawberry slices in a striped row
- Popcorn with a shaker of cinnamon sugar
- A labeled plate for gluten-free and nut-free treats, set apart from the rest
Prizes people actually want
- A traveling trophy: a thrifted sweater framed or on a hanger, passed to next year's winner
- A coffee shop or lunch gift card
- First pick of the white elephant gifts
- Choosing next year's party theme
- A paper crown and the title for the rest of the day
Running a gift swap at the same party? These white elephant gift ideas keep it fun, and our raffle prize ideas have more prizes for every budget. For the group shot, borrow a pose from our group photo ideas.
How to host a virtual ugly holiday sweater party
The sweaters work even better on camera: they fill the frame. Six things make the remote version as good as the office one.
- Ask for cameras on in the invite. Say it plainly, and say a sweater drawn on paper counts too, so nobody skips the call.
- Use gallery view for the parade. Go down the grid in order. Each person gets ten seconds and a sentence about their sweater.
- Vote in a poll. Use the poll in your meeting tool or a simple form, with one question per category.
- Pick games that work through a screen. Whose Sweater?, Sweater Charades, Draw the Ugliest Sweater and Sweater Bingo all do.
- Mail the supplies. For a DIY round, mail each person a small pouch of felt, pom-poms and safety pins about two weeks ahead.
- Take the group photo as a screenshot. Ask everyone to stay still for three seconds in gallery view, then share it in the team channel.
Want someone to run the games?
A live host can run a holiday game show for about 60 minutes while your team stays in their sweaters: on Zoom by default (Teams, Google Meet or Webex on request), or at your office in 17 US cities. Book about 2 weeks ahead. See every option on our virtual holiday party page.
Three games on video, one at your office, with today’s prices.
Want more than sweaters? Our office holiday party ideas cover the rest of the season, or get a free quote with your date and headcount.
