Several years ago a friend mentioned he was attending an ugly holiday sweater party and I thought it was the funniest thing ever. I thought of grandmas and aunts and movies from the 80's and the sweaters that were considered festive, even fashionable at one point.
But that was years ago, and now the trend seems to have peaked. Brand new "ugly" sweaters are now sold in storesand online( and not cheap!). You can still find authentically hideous sweaters at second-hand stores, but since just about everyone has one, it's hard to find one that stands out.
So how can you step up your ugly sweater game? By making your own. The DIY ugly sweater is a way to make this tradition fun again.
I invited the very creative Maggie Scivicque from ARC thrift stores to show me some ideas.
"As long as you’ve got a hot glue gun and some twinkle lights, which we found at one of our stores, you can shove those through the holes and have a light up sweater which is always a crowd pleaser at an ugly Christmas sweater party," said Scivicque.
Add some bells, some bows, some ornaments, even a stuffed animal on the shoulder, and now you have something that's truly authentic. Definitely a conversation starter at a party.
Scivicque also brought another great idea for a Christmas craft: tree skirts. You could make your own skirt to go around your tree, or you could buy a plain tree skirt, embellish it, and wear that with your ugly sweater! Now you have a full outfit for that holiday party!
Okay - I don't know if I'll go so far as to wear a tree skirt to a party, but I definitely love the idea of including my kids in these fun craft projects. I'll post pictures of what we come up with, and I would love to see yours! Send me pictures at nicole.brady@kmgh.com.
Happy thrifting!
Nicole Brady covers the First Alert breaking news desk during Denver7 morning news, reports on stories in our community and tries to find great bargains at thrift stores while raising two kids and a husband. You can see more of her thrift store finds on Facebook andTwitter.