The Cost of an Ugly Christmas Sweater

“There’s quite a bit of tinsel!” I said.

“It also lights up!”

“There’s a battery?”

“It’s sewn into the sweater.”

“Can I ask how much this cost?”

“Somewhere around $80? Partly homemade.”

I was at an ugly Christmas sweater party this week and, since I don’t own any ugly sweaters (well, I hope), ran out and bought the ugliest sweater I could find for $20.

Many of the guests who arrived didn’t own ugly sweaters either, and, rather than spend any money on one, wore the ugliest sweater they could find in their wardrobes. Those who really wanted to get in the spirit, ran out and bought the kinds of sweaters our mothers would wear around the holidays when we were kids.

“Where did you get your sweater?” I asked another.

“Didn’t you get the email? There’s this place uptown that specializes in ugly sweaters, and a bunch of us went there earlier today.”

“Can I ask how much?”

“Forty-five dollars! It cost more than the one I had last year.”

“Wait, where is the one you bought last year?”

“I think I donated it or threw it away. It was ugly!”

I considered, for a moment, whether it was worth it to keep and store a $20 ugly sweater that I would wear for just once a year. Perhaps mine would also be gone by this time next year, too, and I would repeat this process over again.

“Did you know that you could rent an ugly sweater off of Rent the Runway for $15?” someone else mentioned.

“I didn’t! That’s interesting,” I said. “Maybe I’ll blog about this.”

“It makes me think that I could start an ugly Christmas sweater business. Make a bunch of ugly sweaters; rent them out to people.”

“You’d probably make a lot of money!”

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