National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day is a holiday that falls on the third Friday of December every year and allows participants to put on their favorite ugly sweaters and strut their stuff.

Although ugly sweaters were once regarded as worthless gifts given to a person by certain members of their family, it has grown into a bona fide cultural phenomenon with ugly sweater competitions and events popping up all over the world.

What Is An Ugly Christmas Sweater?

Although we believe that just about everyone knows what an ugly Christmas sweater is, just in case, we’ll explain. These are any sweaters that have a holiday theme that would be deemed by most people to be gaudy, tacky, or in poor taste. For many people, Bill Cosby is considered the Father Of The Ugly Sweater because he wore a lot of those types of sweaters on The Cosby Show.

Facts About Ugly Christmas Sweaters

Now that we’re all acquainted with ugly Christmas sweaters, let’s take a few moments and learn a few facts about them that will help everyone celebrating this holiday to get more enjoyment out of the day.

• Vancouver, Canada, declared itself to be the birthplace of the first ugly sweater party in 2002.
• Each year, the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver holds an ugly sweater party.
• Ugly Christmas sweaters reached their peak popularity during the 1980s.
• The first Ugly Christmas Sweaters were known as Jingle Bell Sweaters.
• In Canada, Ugly Christmas Sweater Party is trademarked by Jordan Birch and Chris Boyd.
• One of the most common animals found on Christmas sweaters is bears, surprisingly enough.
• Every year, sales of Christmas sweaters are increasing—although they still haven’t reached the peak they reached during the 1980s.

The History of National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day

It probably won’t surprise anyone to learn that this holiday was created by an organization dedicated to the love of ugly Christmas sweaters in 2011. This organization is called the Ugly Sweaters Lovers, and they have a website and social media accounts that support this day. Since 2011, more and more people are celebrating this holiday.

Observing National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day

The first rule of National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day is that you have to wear your ugly Christmas sweater no matter what you’re doing. Beyond that, participants can celebrate this day in other ways as well.

This includes having an ugly Christmas sweater party or competition, giving ugly sweaters as gifts, or using the hashtag #UglyChristmasSweaterDay on all of your social media accounts. In Canada and other countries around the world, Ugly Christmas Sweater Day parties are becoming more widespread. And this is a perfect day for such a party.