Style by Joules

DRESS – Forever 21 (old, similar)
TIGHTS – Hue
PUMPS – Ivanka Trump
WRISTLET – Kate Spade
RING – Kate Spade (pave version)
BRACELET – Kate Spade Saturday

After a random series of events involving some groupon-type deals, several of my fiance’s friends at work ended up winning a holiday party sponsored by Mike’s Hard lemonade. At first we were super excited about this, but then we discovered that it was a whole lot less exciting that it seemed. We got a $25 gift card, a free pack of Mike’s Hard lemonade (yuck), and a box of cheap party decorations. We decided to use this as catalyst to throw a holiday party, and so last Friday I made egg nog, punch (basically just sangria), grinch fruit skewers (thank you, Pinterest), a double batch of Chex mix, deviled eggs, and a whole roast duck (the Good Eats recipe–amazing). Also, I wore this festive outfit. Not pictured: the santa hat.

It was a fun night of general holiday merriment. We hooked up two different TVs to play Christmas movies and watched the gamut–National Lampoon, Elf, Die Hard, It’s a Wonderful Life, Grinch, Charlie Brown, Rudolph, and Mickey’s Christmas Carol. We frosted cookies. We toasted marshmallows. It was great.

I’ve always loved themed outfits, and the holidays offers a wonderful opportunity for themed outfits of all kinds. This is definitely a party with friends type of outfit. I’ll be showing you another one of this type of holiday outfit this week–a slightly classier version. Last week I featured a family-friendly holiday party outfit. I’ve got one more of those up my sleeve, as well as at least one work friendly holiday look. Basically I’m saying that if you’re into holiday looks, be sure to follow my blog to see many more! :)

PS- Since this is an open back dress a normal bra won’t quite work. For dresses and tops like this, I generally wear stick on bra pads. My preferred variety are these. They last all night, they provide just enough support, and they’re reusable. I generally get 3 or so wears out of them before they need replacing. I prefer them vastly to more harness-like options like I’ve seen on Extra Petite (for example). I’d love to know what you ladies do for backless tops.