I don’t remember how many years that ugly Christmas sweaters have been in vogue. I only know that I have never invested in one. I think every year, that I’ll finally breakdown and purchase one, but then I don’t. This year I was sure I would. My co-workers had decided to have an Ugly Sweater contest during a carry-in lunch they were planning for Friday, December 14. So I faced a dilemma, do I buy a sweater or just attend the lunch? Or…do I make one myself?
Well, I decided to see if I could make one. I already owned a red sweater. But I didn’t want it to be something that I couldn’t undo. I mean I only needed the ugly sweater one day, but I like to wear my red sweater throughout the winter. After a quick search on the internet, I found a couple of ideas and then went to work on creating my own ugly sweater.
I spent a few minutes at Dollar General to pick up some inexpensive decorations. In total I spent $6 on the items that I would put on my sweater. I actually splurged. Before going, I told myself I wouldn’t spend more than $1 per item. But then I saw a necklace of lighted bulbs and decided that it was worth $3 to make my sweater a contender.
Once I had everything purchased it came time to assemble my do-it-yourself ugly sweater.
I added the lighted necklace first, to make sure it would work as I had imagined it. The lights had 3 different levels. At work I decided to keep the lights off until the lunch as I didn’t want the batteries to run out or give people a seizure by looking at the blinking lights.
After that came the stocking. This is the idea I had gleaned from the internet search. I didn’t plan it, but I think the stocking with the lighted necklace complimented each other well.
While the sweater was gaudy, I didn’t think it was ugly enough. So I added the gold garland around the bottom and each wrist. I feel bad for the custodians, as I seemed to drop garland all day around the office. I hope the vacuum cleaner can pick it up!
I had picked up the poinsettia flowers on a whim. I thought I would separate the flowers from the stem. However, when it came to the end, I decided to keep it intact. In fact, I thought that I might not even use it, but then, my husband, Bobby said that the stocking needed something in it, so walla!
After spending so much time pinning everything in place, I was pretty invested in my sweater. I thought it was a kind of “cute” for being an ugly sweater. Plus, because I tend to not be that creative, I was pretty impressed with myself.
Sadly, I didn’t win the contest. But as Bobby reminded me, I didn’t necessarily make the sweater to win, but to participate in the festivities. Which was true. Plus now, I have all the “fixings” for future ugly sweater events.
