National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day Fans Celebrate With Horrible Style

The Friday before Christmas is a last-minute scramble for thousands of shoppers and many more are dressing the part in honor of National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day.  While ugly holiday sweaters have been around for decades — either by intention or thanks to misguided gift givers — the actual National Holiday began only eight years ago, in 2011.

Celebrated annually on the third Friday in December, ugly Christmas sweater lovers all break out an overabundance of brash, candy cane-style, striped and Santa-fied sweaters. Want to get yours so you can be ready for next year’s celebration?  Online and in-store shoppers have a myriad of resources including Macy’s, Target, Kohl’s, Amazon, Forever 21, Loft, Asos, Nordstrom Rack and The Christmas Tree Shops, among others. Red and green crewnecks and cardigans can be found at such e-tailers as Tipsy Elves, Zappos, Ragstock. And as the holiday shopping days wind down, many labels have them on sale.

Forever 21 has made ugly sweaters a category unto itself for the past two years. This year there is a charitable component. For the last two months of this year, Forever 21 has been donating $1 to the Boys & Girls Club of America for every ugly sweater sold. The retailer has pledged a minimum donation of $25,000. On the Forever 21 site last Thursday, a hooded, holiday elf, striped sweater was marked down 50 percent to $20, as was a plus-size fireplace Christmas sweater at $17.50. Shoppers could also find red and white Fair Isle minidresses that are half off at $15.

Macy’s also had deep discounts last week for Karen Scott’s ugly sweaters, including one with a sequined tangled reindeer motif and another with a cat appliqué holiday design — both of which are selling for $20, deeply discounted from the original price of $49.50. More imaginative is the 3-D shark plushie ugly Christmas sweater that is selling for $55 at the Ugly Christmas Sweater site. This riff on a wintry sweater includes a shark-inspired pattern and a stuffed animal-like shark fin on the back of the sweater and a shark’s head at the front.

Shoppers at Tipsy Elves’ e-commerce site will find a $75 “gaudy garland ugly Christmas cardigan.” Another option is the women’s drinking game, ugly Christmas game sweater which has a target on the front and comes with six Velcro balls. The pullover is imprinted with “You Miss You Drink!” on the front and various penalties on the back — all of which amount to drinking. Thursday’s flash sale offered shoppers 20 percent off all Christmas apparel.

One exception is Whoopi Goldberg’s ugly holiday sweaters, which were still selling for full price at Zappos last we checked. The range started at $70 for the “No Smoke N Fly” pullover with a motif of a reindeer crashing into a tree and going up to $120 for the “Mr. Nutcracker” or the “Mrs. Nutcracker” sweater.

For the undecided, the National Day Calendar site offers style tips to embrace the unofficial holiday — such as “Over-embellish! Pom-poms, bells, felt, tinsel, or any other glittery, jingly items lying around the house.” and “Electrify it! Put Rudolph to shame and go to the head of the team with bright, flashing lights!”

Other guidance can be found via Instagram and Twitter, thanks to posts of ugly sweater-wearing city employees in Newnan, Ga., and Arizona’s Goodyear Police Department, as well as media types like Fox News Channel’s senior meteorologist Janice Dean, ABC7’s Brandi Hitt in Los Angeles, WDRB’s Candyce Clifft, and staffers at WBTV.

Nonfashion companies also get into the ugliness of the day. This year, Alaska Airlines offered priority boarding to anyone wearing any kind of holiday ugliness on Friday on all Alaska and Horizon Air flights.. Even Baskin-Robbins Canada, a 103-unit operation, got in on the celebration by tweeting: “Nothing says ‘it’s the holiday season’ like an unfashionable knit. So get shopping now and get ready to throw on your ugliest holiday sweater next year to celebrate #NationalUglyChristmasSweaterday.”

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Photo Credit:  lev radin / Shutterstock.com