Tacky Christmas Sweater Party - help!

[BigB08822]

We are throwing our annual Christmas Party in a few weeks and this year we decided to do a Tacky Sweater theme. It has been done to death but since we have never done it we thought it would be fun enough. The problem is that I don't own a sweater at all and I don't have the money to go out and buy one. Besides getting lucky and finding a cheap one at a thrift store, does anyone have any good ideas? Mainly I am wondering if anyone has ever made one? Perhaps buying a very cheap sweater and then decorating it yourself. Has anyone ever been to a similarly themed party and seen any good ideas? Help me out! As the host I have to have one of the best.

[milanessa]

We are throwing our annual Christmas Party in a few weeks and this year we decided to do a Tacky Sweater theme. It has been done to death but since we have never done it we thought it would be fun enough. The problem is that I don't own a sweater at all and I don't have the money to go out and buy one. Besides getting lucky and finding a cheap one at a thrift store, does anyone have any good ideas? Mainly I am wondering if anyone has ever made one? Perhaps buying a very cheap sweater and then decorating it yourself. Has anyone ever been to a similarly themed party and seen any good ideas? Help me out! As the host I have to have one of the best.

Buy a cheap red, green or white sweater (or even sweatshirt) and head to the Dollar store. You can usually find a lot of small felt ornaments there - then just sew them on. The more garish the better. Heck, add tinsel to be really tacky.

[PrincessLeppard]

Goodwill has never let me down.

[genegri]

I wore a Bill Crosby type sweater to my office's ugly Christmas sweater competition and lost.

The girl who won wore a plain red sweater with lots of BIG and bright glass ball ornaments pinned on all over with safe pins. There must have been 30 to 40 on her.

[orbitz]

Get two large sheets of felt paper, cut out a front and a back and then use safety pins to hold the two pieces together to form your "sweater". Go crazy with the glue gun and bedazzle it

[michiruwater]

I will be absolutely shocked if you can't find one in a thrift store somewhere. We have ugly sweater Tuesday on the last Tuesday of each semester, and there are always hoards and hoards of them to choose from. I found this fantastic one with bunnies and alligators on it one year. I've yet to understand the combination.

[BigB08822]

The girl who won wore a plain red sweater with lots of BIG and bright glass ball ornaments pinned on all over with safe pins. There must have been 30 to 40 on her.

That's not such a bad idea! I just would hate to fall down,

[Nomad]

That's not such a bad idea! I just would hate to fall down,

You could also add tinsel garland to the collar, cuffs, and hem.

[RockTheTassel]

I've already seen some tacky Christmas sweaters at Walmart for about five bucks.

[BigB08822]

I've already seen some tacky Christmas sweaters at Walmart for about five bucks.

Really? I assumed any new sweaters would be expensive just because sweaters tend to be expensive, even plain ones. I will have to look if they are that cheap!

[Marge_Simpson]

We had one of these at work several years ago. The guy that won the prize bought a stuffed reindeer at the dollar store, severed it off at the neck, and sewed it to the front of a sweatshirt.
I bought a ton of jingle bells and sewed them onto a sweater, I was voted "most annoying" because my sweater was so noisy.
Everyone received a pair of reindeer antlers to wear. I kept mine and wear them to work whenever I get stuck working on Christmas.

[zaphyre14]

Goodwill, The Salvation Army, and just about every church thrift store I've ever seen has tons of Really Tacky Sweaters and Sweatshirts for $5 or less. Check out the Plus Size sections - Really Tacky and Really Large seem to go hand-in-hand a lot.

[GarrAarghHrumph]

I'd have to believe that someone you know owns a tacky Christmas sweater. Ask around.

[Aceon6]

We have a contest here and I always decorate a plain sweatshirt with stuff we already have around the house. Last year, I used a bunch of red bows (the flat kind) and just basted them on to the sweater. This year, I'm going to wear red cords and a red sweatshirt. I'm making a green "ruff" for it. As I'm fairly tall and not too wide, I hope to look like one of those gift bags that you use for wine.

[Rob]

When is your party and what size are you? Maybe we all could start mailing you our tacky Xmas sweaters. Unfortunately, I just gave away some particularly fetching beadazzled ones my mother gave me, but she immediately replaced them with a black sweatshirt with beads and poetry about a cat and felt white cat appliqued on it. It would be purrfect for you!

[BigB08822]

We had one of these at work several years ago. The guy that won the prize bought a stuffed reindeer at the dollar store, severed it off at the neck, and sewed it to the front of a sweatshirt.

I think this is what I am doing. I saw a picture online and the person did what you described but they also cut off the arms and legs and sewed them on as well. It was really funny looking. The hard part may be finding a stuffed reindeer but I will have to keep my eyes peeled.

[skatemommy]

We got my DD's entire Halloween costume at Salvation Army. They usually batch together the seasonal stuff. She also won a spirit award at school courtesy of Dollar General Christmas stuff. Keep us posted!

[SceneIt]

I am very hesitant about going into a Salvation Army store. My friend's father volunteered there and brought home a bad case of the bedbugs to the point of having to rip out all curtains, carpeting, bedding and replacing all of it. The little buggers just were relentless despite fumigation, steam cleaning, etc. This happened although supposedly he didn't purchase anything there. He figure they must have jumped on his pantleg or coat or whatever and that's how they were carried into the household.

Nasty.

[BigB08822]

I am very hesitant about going into a Salvation Army store. My friend's father volunteered there and brought home a bad case of the bedbugs to the point of having to rip out all curtains, carpeting, bedding and replacing all of it. The little buggers just were relentless despite fumigation, steam cleaning, etc. This happened although supposedly he didn't purchase anything there. He figure they must have jumped on his pantleg or coat or whatever and that's how they were carried into the household.

Nasty.

Well if they were so relentless then it is possible that The Salvation Army cleaned all of the donations they got but the bedbugs still lived. Not sure what else they could do expect stop taking donations. There was a severe bedbug infestation this past year in many parts of the U.S. and maybe other parts of the world.

[Kasey]

Our family's "Fakesgiving" (this Friday) has the rule of ugly sweaters. He/She of the least ugly sweater has to wash the dishes; second least ugly has to walk the dog during football viewing....etc.

(Goodwill has never let me down)