Official news update… Ugly Christmas Sweater Parties are sweeping the nation! From New York to Los Angeles, Milwaukee to Tampa, Seattle to San Antonio, people across the country are throwing outrageously funny Ugly Christmas Sweater Parties!
Great Ugly Sweaters Ladies!
Everyone is joining in on the fun and you should too!
But why you ask?
Simple, we all need a little laughter in our lives and a change up from the normal boring get together is always appreciated… The ultimate ugly Christmas sweater party is an enjoyable escape from the economic climate, world violence, and daily grind we all are subject to.
That’s exactly why I’m proposing you host an over-the-top inane ugly Christmas sweater party next month. It’s still early in November which means Now is the perfect time to get the ugly Christmas sweater party – 2009 started!
Here are some tips on how to organize the perfect tacky Christmas sweater party…
Step 1: Decide on the location, date, and time. The space should be large enough for 20 – 30 people or more to move around comfortably. A normal sized house works great for these parties because they add a homey / holidays feel. I recommend planning the party 2 weeks before Christmas (to ensure a large # of people are in town still) and on a Saturday. Start the party no later than 5 p.m. to get the most out of the special day.
Step 2: Send out the invitations at least 3 – 4 weeks prior to the party. Make sure to clearly state that you’re hosting an “Ugly Christmas Sweater Party”. Tell your invitees, “The uglier the sweater, the better the party.” Make it clear that Ugly Christmas sweaters are mandatory in order to attend the party! Also, be sure to include photos of last year’s party in the invitations to get them excited.
Finally, in addition to mailing hard copy invitations, you should use social media sites such as Facebook, Meetup, Twitter, and Myspace to send out the invites / party details.
Step 3: Find yourself a hideous Christmas sweater to wear at the party… The host should always have on one of the best sweaters to set the tone!
Some places to find ugly Christmas Sweaters include: Goodwill, Ebay, parents / grandparents closets, uglychristmassweaterparty.com, buyuglysweaters.com.
Step 4: Decorate the party location appropriately. Proper ugly Christmas sweater party décor includes:
- Christmas lights
- Christmas tree
- Christmas plates / trays / table cloths / napkins
- Santa beer bong
- Mistletoe (this is a must!)
Side Note: make sure to turn down the Heat. Sweaters are hot and no one likes to be covered in sweat at a party.
Step 5: Prepare the food, booze, beer, soda, mixers, and Christmas cookies. The larger the food and booze spread the better…
Some Food staples include:
- Summer sausage
- Venison hot sticks
- Cheese (lots of cheese)
- Ham sandwiches
- Hot beef sandwiches
- Cheesy potatoes
- Chili
- Grilled buffalo chicken wings
Liqueur and Beer staples include:
- Hot Cider w/ rum
- Tom and Jerry mixed w/ Brandy
- Red and Green Jell-O shots
- ½ Barrel of beer
Step 6: Set the mood with great Christmas music playing at a medium volume. Also, make sure to have a copy of “The Band” on DVD to play later in the night… Trust me, it will be a huge hit!
Step 7: Have an ugly Christmas sweater contest. Make sure to make the prize strong enough to motivate people to wear great ugly sweaters.
Step 8: Have a gift exchange (optional).
Step 9: Make sure to document the evening with plenty of pictures and videos. We’d love for you to share them with us!
Step 10: Catch a buzz and enjoy the night!
Final thoughts:
This party is about more than just the ugly Christmas sweaters… It’s about spending time with people you love and making fantastic memories that last a lifetime.
Hosting an ugly Christmas sweater party is guaranteed to produce an entertaining night that you will talk about for years to come!
CBS recently aired a segment on their Sunday morning show featuring the popularity of ugly Christmas sweater parties. I can assure you that UglyChristmasSweaters.info will be ready for the 2010 holiday season with a large selection of ugly xmas sweaters! Check it out…
The Christmas season and all its activities are geared to the big day,
Dec. 25, which is Christmas Day. The word Christmas is derived from Middle
English ‘Christemasse’ and Old English ‘Cristes maesse,’ both of which means
‘Christ’s Mass.’ The day is celebrated by Christians as the day that Jesus
Christ was born, although the true date of Jesus’ birth isn’t really known.
Given the religious significance of Christmas Day, it therefore follows
that attending church is a big tradition on that day. It is seen as mandatory
for devout Christians and for others who are concerned about retaining the
sacred meaning of the day. Many people fear that the sacred aspects of Christmas
are being lost and overshadowed amid the bustle of commercial activity now
associated with the entire season.
Church services therefore take place early on Christmas morning. Attending
those services is the first official activity that many people do on Christmas
Day. Unlike the Midnight Mass and other earlier church services on Christmas
Eve, Christmas Day services do not usually include the dramatization of the
birth of Jesus. They may be more subdued with a sermon that recounts the birth
of Jesus and his purpose to save mankind. The congregation is then exalted to be
as giving as Jesus and to help out those who are in need.
Consequently, many people will take some time on Christmas Day to
volunteer in a charitable activity such as serving dinner to the poor and hungry
at a church, charitable organization or other social services center. Others
will also work with charitable organizations to distribute toys to needy
children at shelters, hospitals and other places.
As part of the religious aspect of Christmas Day, groups that sing Christmas
carols will also be out very early on Christmas morning.
Although Christmas Dinner is the most significant meal of the day, a large
breakfast will also be served in most households that will be shared by all
family members. The occasion of all family members having a meal together is a
disappearing tradition in many American households and so Christmas is seen as a
perfect time to return to the tradition. Christmas Day after all, is all about
family, sharing and togetherness.
Throughout the day, greetings of ‘Merry Christmas’ will be exchanged by
telephone calls with family, friends, acquaintances, and loved ones who are
located elsewhere in the country and overseas. It is a common occurrence for so
many people to be trying to make international calls to loved ones and friends
on Christmas Day that telephone communication systems to some countries often
are overwhelmed. The availability of technology and the Internet eases that
somewhat nowadays however, as emails and instant messaging can also be used as
other communication channels to exchange greetings on Christmas Day.
Christmas Day Dinner is undoubtedly the central activity of the day. Family and
friends gathered for dinner take pleasure in enjoying and sharing a delicious
meal and also are mindful and thankful for the opportunity to be able to share
the meal, to have each other and for the material things that make their lives
comfortable and give them happiness.
Some of those material things are then shared in absolute delight as everyone
will gather around or near to the Christmas tree after dinner to exchange and
open Christmas presents. It’s an activity that is relished and which is filled
with much laughter, happy chatter and merriment, especially by children who are
usually much delighted to get a toy that they had wished for.
After dinner and the exchange of presents, adults may have light conversations,
play games or even watch a movie. Children are often taken up with experimenting
or playing with their new toys. It has also become a tradition on Christmas Day
for members of some families, such as teenagers and young adults, to end
Christmas Day by attending the movie theater on Christmas evening or Christmas
night to see a recently released film.
We all know that Christmas is all about traditions. Of course the Christmas trees, the holiday HID Light Kits, the presents, Santa. But just because some traditions have lasted this long, doesn’t mean they should continue on. I mean some of them are plain out ridiculous and annoying to say the least. Here is a list of overzealous Christmas traditions that should be banned after this year’s celebration.
1. Radio Stations who play Christmas music all day long, all the time. I am sorry but most humans cannot stand to hear “Jingle Bell Rock” more than once a day, if even that. This is killing our ear buds one jingle at a time. Please stop and don’t continue this tradition next year.
2. Secret Santa in the workplace. Okay so how this works is easy. Everyone brings fifteen bucks and puts it into a hat. Then, everyone picks out of the hat only to receive, gee how nice, fifteen bucks. This is tradition is getting old fast and nobody is creative enough to take part in it anymore. The element of surprise is wasted.
3. Mistletoe. I have honestly never seen a nerd and a milf go at it just because a leaf told them too. This tradition is sweet but should really go out the door. It has sexual harassment written all over it, not a good idea for the office.
4. A turkey dinner. Didn’t we just have Thanksgiving for heaven’s sake? Not only is there still leftovers in the fridge, but there is still turkey residue in everyone’s belly. Break out and try something new this year. And a holiday ham doesn’t count. Be creative and perhaps follow some new recipes.
5. Leaving cookies and milk for Santa. Okay, so this one is a little more geared toward children. But who wants to waste some perfectly good milk to let it spoil over night? Look out for your kids and your wallets and try to keep the milk in the fridge this year. As for the cookies, indulge yourself!
6. Cheesy Hallmark décor. Just because the new Avatar movie just came out doesn’t mean it’s fitting to put a holiday character from the movie on your tree. Who wants a space ship with tinsel on it? It’s just plain tacky and a little over the top.
7. Pet stockings. Okay, okay, if you want to get your dogs a little holiday treat, go right ahead. But do you really have to hang them a stocking. I mean really, what kind of dog appreciates this. Just give him his snacks, the tree indoors is torture enough.
8. Mall Santa Clauses. Are they really charging 20 bucks for a Polaroid of your child and a not so convincing Santa? Give it a rest, malls should call it quits on this pricey tradition.
9. Politically charged greeters. “It’s not Merry Christmas, It’s Happy Holidays, I’m not Christian!” Oh big deal. It is and always has been Merry Christmas. There are some things that just shouldn’t change and it’s not like you’re saying “God I Love You” by participating in Christmas cheer. Politically correct season’s greetings are a bore.
To bid you adieu, I’d like to say Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
Are you throwing a Christmas party at your house this year? Never had one before? That’s okay. Just keep this list handy and all your guests will be singing “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas” atop your bar stools come midnight. Here is the ultimate list when it comes to Christmas party and décor must haves.
You definitely need a Christmas tree.
Along with that you need some tinsel, a sufficient amount of holiday ornaments, and the beautiful star or angel up top to seal the deal.
You need candy canes, Hershey’s kisses, cookies, and nuts stashed all around your house.
You need at least one mistletoe hanging overhead.
Decorate with reds, greens, golds and silvers, that means your napkins, cups, and plates.
You need some sort of trinkets like small Santa Claus figurines or perhaps the complete Nativity set to fix the mood.
You need champagne and pumpkin and apple pies with whipped cream.
You definitely want to loop some classic Christmas music on your record player.
Wreathes, candles, and faux plants such as Pointsettas are perfect for this time of year.
You need to hang your holiday cards in a unique way to demonstrate the idea of togetherness.
You need some holiday lights on the inside and outside of your home.
You may think about having some holiday movies ready for all the young kids to watch in the backroom.
You should have a lot of blankets around for people to snuggle in.
It would be great if you had a fireplace to keep everyone warm and roasting chestbuts.
You need snow to seal the deal but this is totally out of your control.
After that, use your imagination and throw the best, most unique Christmas themed party you can think of. Happy Holidays!
The idea of celebrating Jesus’ birth was done to counteract pagan holidays
celebrated in Rome during the Winter Solstice. Church leaders thought Christmas
celebrations were more likely to be popular if they coincided with the
traditional festivals and merrymaking during the Winter Solstice.
Although some Christmas celebrations are secular, the religious aspect of
Christmas remains central to celebrations. This is evident in church services
such as Midnight Mass and primarily in the many forms of the Nativity, or
Christmas Story, presented wherever people celebrate Christmas.
That story started in Nazareth in Galilee about two thousand years ago.
Mary, a young woman, was engaged to a carpenter named Joseph. An angel appeared
to her one day and told her she was with child. She couldn’t understand how that
could happen because due to her circumspect nature, she had not laid in bed with
Joseph. The angel explained however, that the child would be special as he would
be the Son of God and his name was to be Jesus. Mary and Joseph then got married
soon after the angel’s appearance.. But about the time when Mary was to have the
baby, the couple had to travel far away to Bethlehem, Joseph’s birthplace, to
pay a special tax.
It was difficult for them to find a place to stay because many other
people were in Bethlehem to pay their taxes. After many rejections, one
innkeeper offered a room in his stable where they could spend the night. That’s
where Jesus, the Holy Child and Son of God was born and then wrapped in bundles
of cloth and placed in a manger for a cradle.
In the same hours that Mary was giving birth, shepherds who were in a
field that overlooked Bethlehem saw an extremely bright star over the sky in
Bethlehem. They had never seen anything like it and had feelings of curiosity
and scariness. An angel appeared and told them the ‘good news’ that the Son of
God had been born in Bethlehem.
The shepherds left their flocks to go to Bethlehem to find the baby. When
they reached the stable, they were filled with immense joy at seeing Jesus. They
fell to their knees and worshiped Him. They also told Mary and Joseph about the
bright star and the angel appearing to say Jesus would be the Savior of the
world.
The bright star was also seen by Wise Men in the east. The Wise Men, who
studied the stars, learned that a new and great ruler would appear whenever an
extraordinarily bright star appeared in the sky. Three of them therefore set out
to find the new ruler. They first visited King Herod in Jerusalem because they
thought the child would be born in the palace. But when they asked to see the
child who would be the new ruler, King Herod was very worried as he thought he
would be removed from the throne. King Herod told the Wise Men that when they
found the baby, they should return and tell him so that he could also worship
the baby.
The Wise Men used the star as a guide to go to Bethlehem where they found Mary,
Joseph and Baby Jesus who they worshipped and offered gifts of gold,
frankincense and myrrh. The Wise Men are celebrated in some Christmas
celebrations on Jan. 6, known as the Epiphany to mark the date when they found
Jesus. Later in the night the three Wise Men had a dream in which an angel told
them that King Herod wanted to kill Baby Jesus. They left Bethlehem to return to
the East but didn’t return to Jerusalem to tell King Herod where they had found
the child. Joseph also had a dream soon after the Wise Men left in which an
angel appeared and told him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt because Herod had
ordered that Jesus be killed. In an effort to kill Jesus after the Wise Men did
not return to inform him of the baby’s whereabouts, Herod later ordered that all
baby boys in Bethlehem should be killed. But by then Mary and Joseph had left
with Baby Jesus.
Christmas party is a must to hold for any company. A company party at grand Christmas, saying thanks to your hardworking staff, sharing delicious food and activities, and encouraging higher team spirit in the coming New Year, is but a wise way to knot every part of the company with further communication.
Casual as it is, your corporate Christmas party, traditionally filled with festive food, drink and music, can be integrated with a not so casual PowerPoint DVD presentation/album – a digital slideshow of reflection and reconciliation for the company in the past year. As a boss or manager, you are not to make a party merely to please the employees. You should make a corporate presentation to pilot them to your company culture, the core power that combines everyone in the company. Meanwhile, diligent employees want to hear your comments on the annual operation of the company, as well as compliments on their work performance, which requires you an extra presentation to explain. A compelling PowerPoint presentation, burned in DVD and played at the beginning of the party, will effectively enhance your office gathering at Christmas. With Moyea PowerPoint to DVD Burner, you can easily make a DVD slideshow for your company Christmas Party.
The next question is,
How to Make a DVD Slideshow for Your Office Christmas Party?
In a nutshell, it is how to make a PowerPoint presentation on company celebration and convert it to DVD for TV playback. You may be PowerPoint savvy to make that. Even if you have never made such a DVD slideshow for Christmas party before, you can get started quickly with these tips – 2 on PowerPoint authoring and 2 on DVD producing.
For Christmas PowerPoint presentation
It goes with the same as any other presentation creation. You create different styles of slides, choose a PowerPoint template, insert pictures, enter text, adjust transitions, arrange all the elements according to rehearsal, and etc. In addition, you can pay an extra attention to the following 2 tips:
Tip 1 Combine Christmas symbols with your company.
It is a Christmas party, and your company’s! It is necessary to weave the two into each other. For example, you can make a unique “Christmas tree” writing on each light a name and an avatar of a colleague, an Honor Tree stringing the company’s top contributors, or a Christmas Wish Tree for every department of your company. Activate the Christmas tree with funny animations, wipes in PowerPoint. You staff will be glad to watch a DVD slideshow with their act. Just free your imagination for it!
Tip 2 Add in mood music, flash or movie montage.
You don’t want the Christmas DVD a silent show? Then consider some dynamic ingredients – merry Christmas music, crisp flash or movie montage of the company. If you have a confident voice, record your own narration for the party slideshow.
For Converting Xmas PowerPoint to DVD
With Moyea PPT to DVD Converter, it becomes a one-go job to create a polish Xmas party DVD from your company PowerPoint. Refer to related tutorial on how to burn your Christmas PowerPoint onto a DVD. When using in the program, before a click on Start, you can also make advanced settings for your party DVD slideshow. Here are another 2 tips.
Tip 3 Logo the DVD slideshow with your company trademark
Take full use of the Logo feature in the converter. Add in your company trademark, adjust it to a corner, and apply it to all slides. A subtle logo is excellent to indicate the copyright of your party DVD and brand you company.
Tip 4 Frame the party DVD with Xmas-themed menu
Also, never forget to single out a Christmas menu for your party DVD. In the PPT to DVD burner, under the Menu tab, from the Holiday theme, choose a Christmas template as outskirt of your party DVD slideshow. Later, you and your party staff can watch the Office Christmas DVD via a remote control.
Not only does PowerPoint bring ease to your office business, but also it adds extra fun to your Christmas party with the help of PPT to DVD technology. Take Christmas party as a big chance to get closer to your staff, and give them a unique Christmas gift – a stunning DVD slideshow of your company!
If you’re planning a Christmas party for all your friends and family this year, you’ll want to make sure that it’s an extra special evening. The best way for you to ensure this is by taking the time to add plenty of festive Christmas decorations to your home. It will add to the Christmas cheer and your guests will really appreciate your effort. Follow my tips and you’ll be on your way to the best Christmas party in years.
Have more than one Christmas tree. If space doesn’t allow for two or more large trees, then compromise with several small trees placed strategically around your home. You can place presents under each and add some Christmas spirit to every room.
String Christmas lights around the inside of your home. Around your fireplace is a great place to start. Also around windows and doors.
Have lots of bright, delicious smelling candles around your home. Gingerbread and peppermint are always great. Scents can remind people of memories they haven’t thought about in years, so why not remind all of your guests of their favorite Christmas past.
Hang stockings along your fireplace. Make sure that each of your guests has one and make sure they’re stocked full with presents. Anything and everything from car accessories to DVDs will make your guests happy. Just make sure to personalize each gift.
Wrap garland around your staircase for a lush, festive look. And don’t forget to carefully place mistletoes around your home. Doorways are always a great and place to start.
Decorate with candy. You can hang candy from your tree, but also make sure there are plenty of colorful candy dishes overfilling with chocolaty confections throughout your home. It will be both visually appealing and absolutely delicious.
Just have fun with your decorations and you’re home will look great this year!
Are you in the market for new Christmas decorations? If so, where do you plan on shopping? With the increase in popularity of online shopping, there is a good chance that you may be best off in buying your Christmas decorations from an online store. The popularity of shopping online has skyrocketed over the past 24 months. Many people around the country now do more than 50% of their holiday shopping via the Internet. So, why not buy your Christmas decorations online as well? Lets take a look at just a few of the many advantages to purchasing your holiday decorations online…
Perhaps, the biggest advantage to buying your Christmas decorations online is the selection of products that you will have to choose form. By shopping online you can literally find an unlimited number of retailers and individuals who specialize in selling Christmas decorations. You’ll find any type of Christmas decorations you may need including Christmas trees, Christmas tree ornaments, Christmas lights, Christmas figurines, and much more. In addition to the large selection, you will also find a wide variety of affordable prices.
Whether you are shopping for Christmas decorations that are affordable or Christmas decorations that are the best out there, you can easily find what you are looking for online. Simply do a Google search for “Christmas Decorations” or “Christmas Decorations for Sale” and you’ll find plenty of E-commerce websites selling a wide variety of Christmas decorations.
Another advantage to purchasing your Christmas decorations online is that it is much more efficient and cost effective. You will eliminate the time you would have wasted driving to and walking around a busy mall or store. By shopping online for your Christmas decorations you can shop at way more stores and place your order quickly from the comfort of your own home. You will save yourself a large amount of time and money by purchasing your Christmas decorations online… Good luck and Merry Christmas!
It is an accepted fact that the Christmas tree tradition is one that was brought to the shores of America by German immigrants who continued a practice that was popular in their former homeland. Today, a Christmas tree is present in just about every home at Christmas time. It is therefore interesting to note some little-know facts about the Christmas Tree and other traditions related to Christmas.
The first interesting fact is the source of real Christmas Trees for some Americans. Trees can be bought at Christmas tree farms, local stores and other places of business in just about every town and city across the country. However, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, in 2008 Americans bought about 330,000 real Christmas trees online and had them shipped to their homes.
During the 1950s Christmas trees were not always green. It was very popular to have artificial trees with other colors such as silver, pink and aqua. The appeal in having these colored Christmas trees may have been due to the fact that they looked shiny and bright and appeared like tinsel instead of green foliage.
An important ceremony related to the Christmas tree that gains national attention during the Christmas season is the lighting of the National Christmas Tree at the White House. This tradition can be credited to President Calvin Coolidge who lit the first decorated Christmas tree outside at the White House in 1923.
The lighting of the National Christmas Tree has also been used to convey some symbolic meaning not related to Christmas. It was not lighted until Dec. 22 in 1963 because of a national mourning period of 30 days for the assassination of President Kennedy. Speaking of Presidents, while Teddy Roosevelt was President he gave an order that banned the Christmas tree from the White House, not for the assassination of President McKinley in 1901, which caused him to become president, but for reasons related to the environment.
Christmas has been celebrated in the United States since the 1600s although it wasn’t always very popular. It took more than two centuries into the mid-late 1860s for Christmas to become a popular holiday season all across America. So maybe the rest of the country owes the holiday of Christmas Day to the state of Alabama, which in 1836 became the first state to declare Dec. 25 a legal holiday. It is interesting to note that on Christmas Day of 1789 Congress was in session. And to show how far ahead of the game Alabama was, it wasn’t until June 26, 1870 that the federal government declared Christmas as a federal holiday.
For many people, much time and effort is put into selecting the perfect Christmas tree. Therefore, similar consideration should be given to giving the tree the best possible care. Proper care will protect against the disappointment of needles turning brown or branches breaking before the season is over. Safety is also an important reason to take proper care of your Christmas tree because a drying Christmas tree also presents a grave danger as a fire hazard. The average Christmas tree should last for about five to six weeks if the proper care is given to it.
After selecting a Christmas tree and getting it home, the first thing that should be done is to make a fresh cut and place it into a stand with water. A Christmas tree shouldn’t be mounted dry and the water in its stand should be replenished regularly. A fresh cut is made by cutting about an inch off the bottom in a slight diagonal shape to help the absorption of water. If a fresh cut isn’t going to be made immediately after getting the tree home, it should be placed in a container with water and left to stand in a shaded area that is away from the wind. If a fresh cut isn’t made and the Christmas tree is left exposed to air, the vessels for transporting water can become blocked. If this happens, another fresh cut can correct the problem and the tree would need to be immediately put in a container with water.
Your Christmas tree should be secure in its stand and it should be placed away from sources of heat such as furnaces, fireplaces and air vents, all of which may dry it out. Decoration of the tree should also begin after it has been mounted in its stand. Several decoration precautions should be taken to lessen or avoid the Christmas tree being a fire hazard.
Ornaments that have an open flame or candles should never be used for decoration. Christmas tree lights should be checked to make sure the bulbs are working properly, the connections are intact and that no part of the cord is damaged. If there appears to be any exposed wiring or bulbs that are not working or which are working intermittently, that string of Christmas tree lights shouldn’t be used.
According to the National Christmas Tree Association, the average Christmas tree may absorb up to one gallon of water each day. It is therefore important to check the water everyday and replenish it accordingly. To make sure your Christmas tree gets enough water, the Association recommends that one quart of water is required for each inch of the diameter of the tree’s trunk.
When Christmas is over and your wonderfully decorated Christmas tree has provided much joy, it is important to remove it before it dries out. Options to discard your Christmas will likely depend on the services offered by your municipality. Some municipalities will pick up Christmas trees on particular days, with a cut-off date. Some towns may require that residents take their trees to specific locations, while in others Christmas trees will be picked up with the garbage, again up to a certain date. But Christmas trees should never be burned in the fireplace as it can cause the build up of creosote, a colorless, oily substance. There’s also the choice that you can continue to get a different use from your Christmas tree by cutting it to pieces yourself and be environmentally sensitive by using it for mulch.
Step 6: Set the mood with great Christmas music playing at a medium volume. Also, make sure to have a copy of “The Band” on DVD to play later in the night… Trust me, it will be a huge hit!
It is an accepted fact that the Christmas tree tradition is one that was brought to the shores of America by German immigrants who continued a practice that was popular in their former homeland. Today, a Christmas tree is present in just about every home at Christmas time. It is therefore interesting to note some little-know facts about the Christmas Tree and other traditions related to Christmas.
