What better way to celebrate the season than with a time-honored Christmas Tradition: donning the worst sweater you can possibly find and showing it off until your friends and family refuse to associate with you!
Jokes a side, the tradition of ugly Christmas Sweaters is a polarizing one; you either hate them or you love them, and it looks like SeaWorld Orlando loves them, because December 20th is National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day, and SeaWorld is going all in!
Celebrated on the third Friday of December every year, National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day started in 2002 – in Vancouver, Canada of all places! Started by two men looking to raise money for their friend’s cancer treatment, a party was hosted where guests were encouraged to wear the ugliest Christmas sweater they could find, and the rest is history! With similar events popping up all across North America in subsequent years, the Ugly Christmas Sweater was enshrined into Christmas tradition, whether you like them or not!
So, to help celebrate National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day, SeaWorld Orlando is hosting an ugly Christmas sweater contest! For guests visiting the central Florida park, the event is taking place at the Antarctica Plaza from 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM on December 20th, and the cut-off for entry is 4:15 PM – though they have mentioned that capacity is limited, so if you want a shot at the prize and the illustrious title of Ugliest Christmas Sweater, you better get there early!
Most excitingly, this contest actually has cash prizes! Three prizes will be awarded: first place winner will receive 1,000 dollars; second place winner will receive 500 dollars; third place winner will receive 250 dollars. No matter which way you slice it, that’s a fantastic Christmas gift! Entries will be judged by a panel of Sponsor Employees based on factors like originality, creativity, festiveness, and “overall ugliness.”
In order to participate in this ugly sweater showdown, guests can either show up in person and fill out the applicable entry materials, or – by following SeaWorld Orlando’s Instagram page, [here] – can post a picture of their entry to Instagram with the tag @SeaWorldOrlando and hashtags #SWOUglySweater and #contest.
In order to participate in this event, guests must be legal permanent residents of the United States of America and at least eighteen years old at the time of entry; the sweater in question must also be ugly, but tasteful and appropriate for family audiences.
A full rundown on their terms and rules has been provided by SeaWorld Orlando, and can be found [here].
So get out there and be the ugliest you you can be this Christmas! You might just be rewarded for it!
