Ugly Sweater Party

A friend and I co-hosted an Ugly Sweater Party on New Year's Day. It was the perfect fun ending to the holidays before we all got back to real life.

It was also the perfect excuse to hit the thrifts, since I had to search for appropriately horrible sweaters for us to wear. I found mine the week before Christmas but didn't snag the Mister's until a last-minute Goodwill run two hours before the party. Mine was bad, but his truly took the prize for Worst Crime Against Fashion Perpetrated By Acrylic Yarn. The ugliness even spilled over onto the back of his sweater. It made my eyes bleed a little bit.

One of the best parts about the party (besides collapsing with laughter each time a new couple arrived in their hideous sweaters) was our photo booth! My co-host Becca is a photographer and I whipped up some Etsy-hipster-style mustaches-on-sticks and other silly props, so we were able to capture our awesomely bad outfits and post them on Facebook and for possible use as 2011 Christmas cards.

Here's my favorite--we were going for an Awkward Family Photos vibe:

I think the Mister really nailed it.

For party food we had appetizers. I made three recipes from my favorite food blog, Our Best Bites:

• Holiday Cheeseball Unfortunately, not a repeater. It was the size of a bowling ball and I came home with 7/8 of it, so it wasn't a hit.
• 7-Layer Greek Dip Yum! I think people liked this one. I'm still eating it a week later and it's still good and fresh. It's a healthier alternative to the traditional Mexican 7-Layer dip: I made my own hummus (no preservatives, only a little salt) and used fat-free cream cheese and feta cheese. Fresh parsley, cucumbers and tomatoes and kalamata olives are good for you too, and I served it with pita chips. I'd definitely make this again.
• Sweet Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips This one was a winner. I used blackberries, mango, kiwi, fresh pineapple, and a few frozen raspberries. Mine didn't look nearly as pretty as the photo for a few reasons: I ignored the warning about adding berries last, and the raspberries indeed dyed the salsa and gave all the fruit a reddish tinge (I was smart enough to add the blackberries last). Also, I should have chopped my fruit much smaller to begin with. I didn't and at the last minute decided it looked more like fruit salad than salsa, and gave it a quick whirl in the food processor. The result tasted fine and the consistency was more salsa-like, but because of the red tinge, looked a lot more like vomit than I was comfortable with. The cinnamon chips were yummy.

The party was such fun we may need to make it a yearly tradition! I may start my hunt for next year's sweater right now.