Since 2011, National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day has grown to be an international event. Now occurring on the third Friday of December, the celebration gives holiday lovers worldwide a chance to wear their ugly Christmas sweaters.

However, we believe this fun little holiday can be celebrated on any day – and in any way – that you’d like!

National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day, or as it’s also known more commonly and simply, Ugly Sweater Day, is a fun holiday-inspired occasion where people of all ages wear old, unstylish sweaters (or retro-inspired new sweaters) in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. The day is meant to be an informal, humorous, and fun alternative way to celebrate the holiday season and isn’t confined just to those who celebrate Christmas. There are plenty of ugly Hanukkah sweaters, ugly Kwanzaa sweaters, and ugly winter sweaters you can buy from major department stores, specialty sellers, or crafter sites like Etsy. In fact, most ugly sweater designs don’t have much to do with Christmas at all – some even have dragons, classic cartoon characters, or motorcycling Santas.

You can wear your ugly sweater for laughs at work, to family events, or throw a seasonal celebration of your own. Ugly sweater parties have been embraced in a big way (especially by Millennials) as a more casual alternative to the formal holiday parties of the past. Ugly sweater parties are known for being extremely casual and are much more about having fun with friends and making each other laugh than the sometimes stuffy, traditional parties of the past.

When Did The Ugly Sweater Tradition Start?

Well, that all depends on what you mean by the word ‘start.’ Ugly sweaters as we view them today really weren’t considered ugly at all back in the day. In the 1950s, ‘Jingle Bell Sweaters’ were sold in mail-order magazines and major stores like Macy’s. These modest, long-sleeved sweaters were meant to be adorable or even fashionable celebrations of the winter season and often featured reindeers, snowflakes, and a lot of the classic scenes and motifs we see in holiday sweaters (ugly or not) today.

In the late 1980s, holiday-themed comedies started to show Christmas attire and seasonal sweaters in a humorous light. Movies like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and television shows like Saturday Night Live amped up familiar and classic designs until they were over the top and garish – think ill-fitting vests with real jingling bells, silly cartoon Rudolph faces with puffball red noses, and loud red and green patterns. Social media really helped the Ugly Sweater holiday catch on when people of all ages started posting photos of themselves in their silly thrift shop finds – and the rest is history!

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