Ugly Whaaa??

That's right! Ugly Christmas Sweater Party!

In November I decided that I should

throw a party, because I wanted to make sure that this December I got to spend

time with my friends and have some fun. This is what came about :)

At first with the roads being bad I was thinking we were going to have a

pretty small group (which would have been fine too), but people just kept

coming and coming! To the point of I was thinking "What have I done!! I hope

nobody gets claustrophobic!!" But it worked out just fine.

Almost 40 people were there too!!Some people were a little uncomfortable about wearing such

lovely apparel...

And some weren't :P

I thought the broken reindeer antlers were a nice touch!

:D There were lots of um, wonderful sweaters!

Josh's is one of the best though!

Originally Crystal had bought it for herself, but ended up deciding on

a different one last minute.

We ever so kindly gave Josh the sweater then and dubbed it "the rug".

It reminded us of a floor mat and even included the tassels on the ends!
He was a great sport about it :)

Our front yard, a.k.a. "the parking lot..."

Jamie parked horizontally in our yard, and since they were the first ones there

everyone else followed suit. So this and the fact that we parked our vehicles

at T's along with their vehicles, and our other neighbors had theirs out, and

then someone parked at Uncle Ron's... It looked like we took up the whole block!

I gave everyone a slip of paper as they came in, and it had the name

of the game that I signed them up to play...

I wanted to make sure that people were interacting with each other

especially since most people hadn't met one another, and figured games

would be good ice-breakers.

In the first game I had candy canes strung to the ceiling. And you couldn't

use your hands but whoever ate theirs first won!
Next time we definitely need prizes for these semi-uncomfortable games.

I know for next time!

What's that look for? :D

You did this on purpose didn't you!?!?!

Yep! :D

If you got a little too vigorous in trying to eat your candy cane they would start

swinging back and forth... The key was to get it in your mouth and start chewing.

And with the 'chewing while laughing', since it is how shall we say this, uh,

less than stellar for lung safety... We did our best not to choke!

But never fear! I know the Heimlich maneuver!

Thankfully nobody had any problems.

And it was hilarious to watch!

I signed myself up for this game too, because I didn't want my guests

to think I'd made them do something that I wouldn't do myself.

Josh was the winner of this game.

It was close between 4 people but Josh swallowed all of his candy cane

first, bleh, we know because he showed us...

Lol, he's too crazy!

Mr. Green was one of the top competitors.
Dad's looks like it is a pacifier. Duct taped instead of clipped to his shirt :DEw, can I get this taste out of my mouth now??

Then Shaunna (one of Crystals co-workers) convinced quite a few

of us to go Christmas Caroling to some neighbors...

Man, was it cold out!Half of the bunch going up to the door.

The other half of us stayed in the driveway.
We figured they'd get "surround sound!"

Unfortunately, nobody answered the door... So we sang to

the door. I hope it enjoyed us!

For I think it was 5 people, it was the first time they had ever been

Christmas caroling ever!

Including Sawyer :D

After we got back and warmed up sufficiently we played

the next "organized" game. I was going to blindfold everyone but didn't

want to ruin the Moms' hair (I know that can be an issue) so we just went

on the honor system. We've got some pretty honest people!

I had asked Jasey G. if she'd go look through the house and decided who was wearing

the ugliest sweater... She did and was pretty sure it was a tie between her dad

and one of her brothers. So I let her award the "ugliest sweater gift".
She chose her dad.

He won a dinosaur excavation kit :D

Congrats Mr. G!

Sawyer "getting" me.The Candy Bar game...
This was a non organized game. I'd gotten the supplies

but just had them sitting out so that people could play whenever.

Didn't want the party to be too structured, otherwise it wouldn't

feel like fun...

In the candy bar game, there is a candy bar wrapped up in paper.

And everyone playing goes in a circle and rolls a dice, if they roll the designated

number they have to bundle up in all the winter gear and try to unwrap

the candy and get it in their mouth before somebody else rolls that number.
Even if they are super close to getting to eat the candy, if someone rolls the

number than they have to give the other person the candy and snow gear

for them to try and get it all on before the next person rolls the number!

And on and on and on...

A flying scarf!

Ahh, Ahh, Ahhhhh!!!!

Big gloves for such a little hand.

Sorry Michael!

Breaking out the teeth to rip the wrapping paper!
Oops, I guess I forgot to explain that that was against the rules!

Good job for using survival instinct though!

The last organized game was the snowflake making contest!

I must not have been thinking because I put poor ("cousin Mendoza"

as we nicknamed him,) Amando in this group. He was visiting from

Peru and had never seen snow... Oops!

With a little instruction he did just fine though!

And I didn't make anyone close their eyes for this one...

Scissors and all...

They only got 1 minute to make them.

They did a stellar job. What wonderful snowflake makers they all are :)

Some leftover snacks... Puppy Chow.

And gingerbread cookies...

Well, that was fun, but I think it's time for this party to end... I'm getting tired!

Anyway, we kind of flunked on pictures... We forgot to get a group shot!! :*( How often do you get this many people in the same place all dressed ugly, and we forgot to take a group picture!!!

Oh well, next time!