National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day: Date, History & DIY Ideas

Reindeer with flashing noses, snowmen with pom-poms, tinsel, bells and glitter — the tackier, the better! National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day is celebrated on the third Friday of December, when offices, schools and friends compete to wear the most gloriously over-the-top holiday knitwear. It is pure festive fun, and often raises money for charity too.

Quick facts
Date	Third Friday of December
Also called	Ugly Sweater Day; in the UK and Ireland, “Christmas Jumper Day”
Started	Early 2010s, growing out of ugly sweater parties of the 2000s
Charity link	Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day (UK) since 2012
Hashtags	#UglySweaterDay #UglyChristmasSweaterDay #ChristmasJumperDay

From Grandma’s Gift to a Global Trend

Holiday-themed sweaters first became popular in the 1950s, when knitted “jingle bell sweaters” were sold as festive novelty clothing. In the 1980s, bold patterns and bright colours made them a staple of family photos and TV holiday specials.

By the 1990s, they had become a joke — the sweater nobody wanted from a well-meaning relative. Then the joke turned into a party. In the early 2000s, “ugly Christmas sweater parties” started popping up in North America; a famous one in Vancouver, Canada helped spread the idea. The 2001 film Bridget Jones’s Diary, where Mark Darcy wears a reindeer jumper, made them iconic. Retailers soon began selling purpose-made “ugly” sweaters, and an official national day followed in the early 2010s.

The only rule of Ugly Christmas Sweater Day: there is no such thing as too much tinsel.

Upcoming Dates

Year	Ugly Christmas Sweater Day
2026	Friday, December 18
2027	Friday, December 17
2028	Friday, December 15
2029	Friday, December 21

Christmas Jumper Day in the UK

In the United Kingdom, the charity Save the Children launched Christmas Jumper Day in 2012. Schools and workplaces ask people to wear a festive jumper and donate a small amount. It has raised tens of millions of pounds for children’s health and education projects, and usually takes place on a Thursday in early or mid-December.

How to Make Your Own Ugly Christmas Sweater

1. Start with a plain sweater — a thrift-store find in red, green or white works best.
2. Add tinsel and garlands with a hot glue gun or safety pins.
3. Stick on felt shapes: trees, presents, snowflakes, gingerbread men.
4. Hang mini ornaments or jingle bells (sew them on so they don’t fall off).
5. Go 3D — attach a plush reindeer head or a pom-pom Rudolph nose.
6. Light it up with battery-powered LED fairy lights.
7. Finish with glitter or puff paint for a message like “Sleigh All Day”.

Fun Ways to Celebrate

Idea	How it works
Office contest	Categories like Ugliest, Most Creative, Best Lights and Best Pun
Family photo	Everyone in matching (or clashing!) sweaters
Charity day	Wear a sweater and donate to a children’s charity
Pet edition	Dogs and cats join in with tiny festive jumpers
Sweater party	Hot cocoa, Christmas movies and a sweater runway
Video call challenge	Remote teams show off their outfits on camera

Fun Facts

• Ugly Christmas sweaters are now a multi-million-dollar seasonal business, with brands designing them to look deliberately awful.
• The fashion trend helped revive interest in knitting and thrift shopping among younger people.
• Some companies sell sweaters with built-in pockets for drinks, speakers or “sweaters for two”.

Funny Ugly Sweater Captions

• “Sleigh my name, sleigh my name.”
• “I put the ‘ugh’ in ugly sweater.”
• “Fa-la-la-la-fabulous.”
• “Dressed to chill.”
• “This sweater is my Christmas spirit animal.”

👉 More festive fun: National Christmas Card Day — December 9

👉 Plan ahead: Every December holiday and observance

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