How to Host an Ugly Sweater Party in 2026

Most of what makes the night work is set on the invite, so guests show up dressed for it.

• The dress code, in so many words: ugly Christmas sweaters, the worse the better.
• That there's a contest and a prize, which is what gets people to try.
• Whether to bring something, and what. A sign-up list beats a group text.
• Whether there's a gift swap, and the price limit, so nobody comes empty-handed.
• Plus-ones and kids, if either is a question in your group.

On Joinue, the bring list sits under the invite with party ideas a tap away, and each item can be claimed once.

Hold the vote about an hour in, once everyone has arrived and had a drink. Before that, people are still taking their coats off.

• Line everyone up, or have them walk a short runway between the couch and the tree.
• Keep the vote secret until the count, on paper ballots in a bowl or on everyone's phone.
• Nobody votes for their own sweater. Ties go to applause.
• Announce the winners from worst to best, and take a group photo right after.

On Joinue, you open the vote from the event page when you're ready. Everyone coming puts themselves on the ballot and taps the sweater they're voting for, link guests included, and nobody sees the count until you close it and the winner shows.

Several categories beat one winner. Five sweaters can win at a party of fifteen, and the people who made an effort all go home with something.

Pick four or five categories, and write them on the ballot so people know what they're voting for. Joinue's vote crowns one overall winner, so run the extra categories on paper or by applause.

• Ugliest overall: the one you'd be embarrassed to be seen in.
• Best homemade: glued, sewn or stapled on the kitchen table.
• Most lights or bells: anything that blinks, jingles or needs batteries.
• Best couple or group: matching, or two halves of one joke.
• Most likely to be worn again next year, for the sweater that's secretly great.

Prizes can be small and silly: a trophy from the dollar store, a gift card, a bottle of wine, or a crown that the winner has to wear for the rest of the night.

Plan on food people eat standing up, one warm drink and one festive one. A sign-up list keeps it from being five bags of chips.

• To eat: appetizers, a cheese board, chips and dip, and Christmas cookies from anyone who bakes.
• To drink: a hot cocoa bar, eggnog, a holiday punch or mulled wine, and plenty of ice.
• Something nobody has to cook: decorated sugar cookies shaped like sweaters always go first.

On Joinue, a party started from our page offers ideas like these for the list, and a row like cookies can take everyone who bakes.

The contest is the main event, but a game or two fills the first hour.

• A White Elephant gift swap, which fits the same kind of crowd.
• Christmas movie trivia, in teams.
• Name that carol, from the first three notes on someone's phone.
• A sweater scavenger hunt: find someone with a reindeer, a snowman, a pom-pom.

On Joinue, a White Elephant is an event of its own with a shuffled pick order and printable rules.

Most sweater parties fall on a Friday or Saturday in the first three weeks of December, before people travel. In 2026 the Saturdays are the 5th, 12th and 19th.

• Four weeks out: settle the date and send the invite. Let guests vote if the group can't agree.
• Two weeks out: check who's coming and what's claimed, and nudge the quiet ones.
• The week of: buy the prizes and print the ballots.
• The night: food out first, vote an hour in, gift swap after, photos all night.

On Joinue, you can put two to six dates to a vote on the invite, and the one you pick becomes the event's date.