PULTEVENT
Ugly sweater party ideas: 8 games, a contest and a vote the room can trust
A brewery taproom in Denver, early December, five minutes before the contest. Somebody has glued a whole string of battery lights to a cardigan and the battery pack is taped to his lower back. There's a sweater with a 3D reindeer head sticking out of the chest, antlers and all. And there is Carol from accounts, who knitted hers in October, won last year, and is watching the reindeer guy with open suspicion.
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Every ugly sweater party has the same weak spot: the contest. Somebody's partner judges, or the loudest table cheers loudest, and the woman who spent six weeks on her sweater loses to a store-bought one with a flashing nose. Nobody says anything. Everybody notices.
The fix is to let the whole room vote, anonymously, with the result on a screen. I run it from a laptop connected to a TV or projector. Guests scan a QR code on the screen and vote on their phones, no app and no account, as long as their phones are online. Around the contest, the party needs a few more things to do, so below are eight ideas that work in a living room, a bar or an office floor, and a few notes on planning the night.
8 ugly sweater party ideas, from the arrival to the awards
1 The sweater runway
Contestants walk one at a time from the door to the TV while their name and photo fill the screen. You play their walk-on music from the built-in DJ deck and read one line about the sweater: where it came from, how long it took, what it cost.
How to run it. Take a quick photo of each contestant as they arrive and load it into a splash screen with their name in the caption. It takes a minute per guest while they're getting drinks.
Even the guest who only wore a sweater because the invitation said so gets a moment on the catwalk.
2 The category vote
After the runway, phones vote in four categories: ugliest overall, best handmade, most lights and gadgets, best couple or group. Bars grow on the screen, you close each vote, and the winner lights up.
How to run it. Shortlist up to six finalists per category first, by applause or by your own call. A vote with thirty names is unreadable on the screen.
Handmade and store-bought sweaters stop competing against each other, which is where most contest arguments come from.
3 Whose sweater is it
Before the party, ask guests to send a close-up photo of one detail of their sweater: a sequined pudding, a cat's face, an upside-down snowman. On the night, each detail goes on the TV and the room guesses the owner on their phones.
How to run it. Crop the photos tight. If the whole sweater is visible, the round lasts four seconds.
People start inspecting each other's sweaters properly, which gets strangers talking before anyone has had a second drink.
4 Sweater charades
Guests act out a Christmas tradition, food or object for their own team. The secret word stays on your laptop and phone remote, while the big screen shows the timer and the team scores. Wearing a sweater with a light-up reindeer on it does not make miming 'mince pie' any easier.
How to run it. Show the actor the word on your phone, quietly, then start the timer. Keep the words short and festive.
A loud, physical game in the middle of the party, right when people start drifting to the kitchen.
5 The ugly sweater dance-off
Two contestants, or two teams in matching sweaters, dance while the screen shows who's on and keeps time. When the music stops, the room votes for the winner from their phones.
How to run it. Pick the first pair yourself from the most confident dancers. After that, volunteers turn up on their own.
Sweaters with bells, pompoms and loose tinsel look even better moving, and it gives the costumes a second outing after the runway.
6 The DIY sweater station
A table by the door with plain secondhand sweaters, felt, tinsel, safety pins, pompoms and a glue gun. Guests who came in a plain top make their own in twenty minutes and join the contest in a separate category.
How to run it. Put a countdown on the screen for the build, so the station closes in time for the runway.
Nobody is left out of the contest because they didn't own something ugly enough.
7 The holiday karaoke battle
Contestants in their sweaters sing festive songs, one pair at a time. The room votes after each duel and the team scoreboard keeps the points. For extra chaos, fake karaoke records one singer's voice alone and plays it back without the music.
How to run it. Warn the fake karaoke volunteer in advance, or at least pick someone who will laugh.
It fills the half hour after the contest when people are warm, full and ready to be a bit silly.
8 The awards ceremony
Votes and game points feed the scoreboard, and the night ends on the big screen: fun awards first (most tangled in their own lights, most likely to be wearing it in July), then third, second and the overall winner with confetti on screen.
How to run it. Have a small prize for every award. A candy cane, a tiny trophy, a plastic crown. The overall winner gets the one everyone wants, usually the last bottle of the good stuff.
It closes the evening properly, and the photo of the winner holding the crown is the one that ends up in the group chat.
Categories, not one winner
Ugliest, most handmade, most lights, best couple. More awards, fewer sulks.
Anonymous phone vote
Everyone votes on their own phone. Nobody sees who voted for whom.
A runway on the big screen
Each contestant's name and photo come up as they walk. The room cheers on cue.
An awards finish
Fun awards first, then the podium, with confetti on the screen.
Planning the night
Send the invitation at least three weeks ahead. Thrift stores run out of ugly sweaters in the second week of December, and people who want to make their own need a weekend or two. Say the dress code plainly: a sweater is required, ugly is encouraged, handmade gets its own category.
Plan the contest for about an hour in, after everyone has arrived and before anyone leaves early. The runway and the category vote together take about twenty-five minutes for fifteen contestants. Games go around it.
Contest categories that work
Ugliest overall. Best handmade. Most lights and gadgets (anything that needs a battery). Best couple or group, for the matching family or the team from the warehouse. Worst pun on a sweater. Most likely to set off the smoke alarm.
Five is plenty. More than that and the awards drag. Tell people the categories in the invitation, because it changes what they make.
"Can I enter two categories?"
"You can enter every category. You can only wear one sweater."
In the UK it's a Christmas jumper
In Britain the same party is a Christmas jumper party, and many offices hold a jumper day in December, often raising money for charity. Everything on this page works just the same. Just change the word on the invitation and expect more knitted puddings and fewer 3D reindeer heads.
At the office
At work, keep the sweaters safe for a meeting with a client who drops by, and keep the contest short. Run the category vote at lunchtime or at the start of the afternoon party, with a photo slideshow of all the entries on a loop on the screen. People who work remotely can join by video call, show their sweater on camera, and vote from their phones through the shared stage window.
What you'll need, and the honest limits
A laptop, an HDMI cable, a TV or projector, and Wi-Fi or mobile signal strong enough for everyone's phone. Voting and the photo-guessing game need internet on each phone, so test the signal before the party, especially in basements and taprooms. The runway, charades, the DJ deck and the splash screens run from the laptop alone.
You can try all of it with the free 3-day demo, no card required. The full version is a one-time license with no subscription; the price is listed at pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to run an ugly sweater contest with phone voting
- 1
Send the invitation three weeks out with the dress code and the contest categories.
- 2
Collect close-up detail photos from guests for the guessing game.
- 3
Build a splash screen for each contestant with their name and a photo taken at the door.
- 4
Connect the laptop to the TV and check the phones get internet in the room.
- 5
Run the runway, then the category votes with a shortlist of up to six per category.
- 6
Play the games in between, and close the night with the awards ceremony on screen.
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