‘Tis the season of ugly sweater parties, white elephant gift exchanges and other ridiculous holiday traditions.  It can be a little bit overwhelming.  I don’t know about you but sometimes I’m racking my brain to prepare for all these gatherings.

I’ve been to 4 parties in the last week.  So let me share a thing or two with you before the holiday season is over.

1.  How to Conquer the Ugly Sweater Party.

I heard on the news that there’s a guy who sells ugly sweaters online for $50 bucks a pop.  That’s just plain nuts (but super smart of him).  In real life, you shouldn’t spend more than $2 on an ugly sweater.  After all, it’s an ugly sweater.  If I’m going to spend $50 on a sweater it better be amazing (in a good way). So don’t do that.  Instead… The first idea is to go to a thrift store (Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc).

That’s one option:

Can yield a good sweater, especially if you live in Central NY.  If you live in Southern California, life’s more complicated…

So your other option is to make your own.  That’s what I went with this year.

Find a sweater you have at home (why yes my mother likes to give me sparkly sweaters.  Perfect. ).  Go to Michael’s and spend $2 on Christmas foam stickers and put them all over your sweater.

It works.

You’ll also want to take an ugly dessert to your ugly sweater party.  That’s where Avocado Pie comes in.

Done deal, and you’ll probably only spend about $5 total.

2.  How to Conquer the White Elephant Gift Exchange

1 route is to find something old laying around the house.  A fine option.  If you want to have a more coveted gift, go with food.

Yesterday, I received a box of 48 moon pies.  Amazing.

My contribution was Pies in Jars

Decorated with the same foam stickers from the ugly sweater party (…recycle, reduce, reuse?)

Throw them in a bag with some tissue paper and ta-da! I put some chopsticks from China in the bag, just for good measure.

I (and I think most people in the world) hate getting pieces of crap at white elephant gift exchanges.  I figure with this gift at least they can eat it and when they’re done they have a great receptacle for salad dressing.

Just saying.

3.  How to Conquer the Daunting Task of Choosing What to Wear

Make it simple.  Pick two outfits.  1 casual and 1 fancy.   Rinse and repeat   (or in my case, steam and repeat… is that gross?)

Obviously be sure to take crappy pictures of yourself in front of the mirror and get them approved by your friends via text message.

Casual Outfit

Fancy Outfit

After all, these will be the outfits of Holiday Season 2012.

You can’t mess around with that.

With these tips, you should be able to make it through the new year.

Happy Holidays from Foodologie!!