Ugly Sweater Party Ideas and How to Run the Voting Fairly
An ugly sweater party is an easy party to host. The dress code is the entertainment, and nobody has to be good at anything. The one part that can go wrong is the contest. Without a little structure, the winner ends up being whoever the loudest person points at, and the shy guest who spent three evenings gluing pompoms to a jumper goes home with nothing.
Here are some ideas for the party itself, then a simple, fair way to run the voting.
Party ideas
Set the dress code clearly. Say on the invitation whether it's "wear your worst sweater" or "decorate your own". DIY sweaters make the contest more fun, but some guests won't have time, so make both welcome. If you can, keep a couple of spare festive jumpers or a box of tinsel, felt and safety pins at the door for anyone who arrives without one.
Give each sweater a number. As guests arrive, write their name on a sign-in sheet next to a number, and give them a sticky label with that number to wear. This is the single most useful thing you can do for the voting, because people don't always know each other's names, especially at work parties.
Have a sweater "runway". Halfway through the evening, ask everyone to walk across the room one at a time while the host reads out their number. It takes a few minutes, it's funny, and it means everyone has actually seen every sweater before they vote.
Add a spotting game. Hand out a list of things to find on other people's sweaters: a reindeer, something that lights up, a pun, a pompom, a sweater that's clearly been homemade. It gets guests talking to people they don't know.
Keep food simple. Finger food, a slow-cooker dish or a potluck works better than anything that needs carving, because people will be standing and moving around. If you're splitting costs or asking guests to bring something, decide that on the invitation. My holiday meal cost-per-guest guide shows a simple way to work out what each person's share comes to.
Play a game or two. Ugly sweater parties pair well with low-effort group games. Christmas bingo works with any number of people and needs only one person to run it.
How to run the voting
1. Pick your categories
One "ugliest sweater" prize is fine for a small party. With a bigger group, more categories means more winners and fewer disappointed guests. Some that work well:
- Ugliest overall
- Most creative
- Best DIY sweater
- Funniest
- Best use of lights or sound
- Most festive
Six categories is plenty. More than that and the ballots take too long to fill in.
2. Print enough ballots
Give every guest one ballot that lists all the categories, with a blank next to each one for a sweater number. If your ballots print 8 to a page, divide the number of guests by 8 and round up: 12 guests need 2 pages, 23 guests need 3 pages, and 40 guests need 5 pages. Print one extra page for late arrivals and spoiled ballots.
3. Set the rules before anyone votes
- One ballot per guest, one sweater number per category.
- No voting for yourself. Most people won't, but saying it out loud saves an argument.
- The same sweater can be voted for in more than one category, but decide whether one sweater can win more than one. Spreading the prizes around is usually more fun: if a sweater tops two categories, it takes the one it won by more, and the runner-up gets the other.
- Set a deadline: "Ballots in the box by 9 pm."
4. Count the votes
Collect ballots in a box or bowl, then have two people count together, one reading and one tallying. A tally sheet with sweater numbers down the side and categories across the top makes this quick: for each ballot, make one mark in each category's column next to the chosen number. When you're done, check that each column's marks add up to the number of ballots that voted in that category.
5. Break ties
Ties happen more often than you'd expect at small parties. Here's an example tally for "Most creative" with 21 votes:
| Sweater | Votes |
|---|---|
| #3 | 7 |
| #7 | 7 |
| #11 | 4 |
| #2 | 3 |
The four rows add up to 21, so nothing's been missed, but #3 and #7 are tied. Decide your tie-breaker in advance. Options: a show of hands between the two sweaters only, a 10-second "runway walk-off" judged by applause, or simply giving both an award. Avoid having the host decide, because it looks like favouritism.
6. Announce the winners
Read out each category, starting with the smaller awards and finishing with "ugliest overall". Hand over an award card (or a small prize) and get a photo of each winner. If anyone didn't win, a few blank award cards let you make up a category on the spot, such as "Most committed to the theme" or "Best accessories".
Office party tips
At work, keep categories light and avoid anything that could be read as a comment on the person rather than the sweater. Paper ballots work fine, but if the team is partly remote, a simple online form with the same categories gives everyone a vote. Post the sweater numbers and photos in the team chat first.
A ready-made kit
If you'd like this printed and ready, my Ugly Sweater Party Kit has 9 printable pages: a party plan with budget and timeline, 4 fill-in invitations, a sweater sign-in sheet for 20 sweaters, voting ballots (8 per page, 6 categories), a vote tally sheet (20 sweaters × 6 categories), 12 award cards (10 categories plus 2 blank), a sweater spotting game and DIY sweater ideas. It comes as US Letter and A4 PDFs.
For the rest of the season, see my Christmas planning timeline.
Disclosure: the Ugly Sweater Party Kit is my own product on Payhip, priced at $1. It's also included in my Holiday Season Bundle ($3 for 10 holiday items). The vote tally above is a made-up example to show the method.