When throwing a tacky sweater party, the best way to dress up your home is to stick with a festive yet unexpected color scheme — rich golds, cool grays or sparkling blacks, to name a few. Let’s call them holiday neutrals. Sticking to one color scheme will provide a modern, elegant and wonderfully ironic backdrop for your wacky knitwear, which should be the focus of the festivities. You can make the decor interesting by playing with texture: cable knit and canvas pillowcases, faux-fur stockings, beaded twinkling lights, matte hanging decorations.

Rather than put out the usual soft drink mixers, go the extra mile with a special menu of holiday beverages. Delight your guests with Jamie Oliver’s Christmas spirit cocktail. Made with just tequila and pomegranate jewels, it’s super easy to prepare and low calorie. Check out the recipe here: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fruit-recipes/christmas-spirit-cocktail.

Finally, the most important part: the sweater. The widest scope of tacky sweaters is online. Urban Outfitters has an excellent selection, where sassy phrases and fair isle abound. If you’re looking for something more chic than hideous, check out Wildfox’s super soft holiday pullovers, which feature mistletoe, baby reindeer and Christmas lights, available on sites like Bloomingdales.com and Revolveclothing.com. However, the best kind of tacky holiday sweater is vintage. Try ASOS.com for vintage ugly holiday sweaters, which are the best kind. And of course you can always check out your local Goodwill.