Holiday Looks for Every Occasion

The Christmas season is definitely upon us. And James and I attended our first two parties just yesterday. We have more on the calendar this week, too. And while I’d love to dress up a little more, all of our celebrations are more casual than that. So I didn’t invest in anything too glitzy for the holiday season this year. Instead, I’ve created holiday looks with one or two new items and mostly components from my closet. These can be dressed up or down with just a tweak or two.

So today I’ve gathered all six of those holiday looks into this one post, so we can talk just a bit about dressing them up or down so that they’re perfect for every occasion.

What to Wear to a Holiday Performance

I love the idea of using the wardrobe essentials you have in your closet to create an upscale look for attending a holiday performance. I simply added a silk blouse to my favorite black slacks and pulled out all the glitzy, glittery accessories I wore to my son’s recent wedding.

You could create a similar look by topping your favorite black skirt with a shimmery, glittery sweater or one studded with sequins. The basic concept is simply to buy one new special piece that will work with what you already own and love.

Sweater Dress for Christmas and Beyond

A pretty dress is a great choice to wear during the Christmas season, one that is a lovely Christmas red or green. But if I’m going to invest in a nice dress, I want to be able to wear it more than once or twice.

That’s why I felt good about purchasing this vine green sweater dress. I’ll wear it this Christmas and beyond. I also bought this wine colored sweater dress, as seen in this post, and I think it looks lovely for Christmas events, too.

Blue Christmas Holiday Look

While I love wearing both red and green (and wear a lot of it this time of year!), I do like to shake things up a bit and wear other festive colors, too. That’s why I created this blue Christmas holiday look. I think it’s perfect for most of the casual parties I’ll be attending.

The idea here is simply to add a pop of another bright and beautiful color to a backdrop created with your favorite neutrals. So if you prefer winter white or grey or brown, you could add a similar pop of blue or magenta or even yellow or orange. Just the pop of brilliant color against a neutral palette creates a festive party look. It’s similar to the effect achieved by hanging bright blue (purple, pink, yellow, etc.) Christmas balls on a backdrop of evergreen.

This bright blue crew neck sweater comes in many of those brilliant colors, by the way!

Festive Fun for a Gift Exchange

Sometimes a gal just wants to have fun with her clothing. Am I right or am I right??? That desire to add just a little festive fun in the company of good friends was the inspiration for my next holiday look.

From the gold shoes to the plaid pants to the red puffer vest to the black felt cloche, I added festive touches to this really very simple outfit. I decided this fun, winsome look would be perfect for most any gift exchange party with gal pals. But you could add or take away a few elements to make it work for most any occasion. For instance, I could ditch the black tee and red vest and top the plaid pants with a classic white button shirt for a dressier evening out with another couple.

Easy Black & Gold Holiday Style

Another simple formula for creating easy holiday looks is simply to add the metallic of your choice to the neutral of your choice. That’s all I did when I created this stunning black and gold holiday style.

Again, I chose to work with black wardrobe essentials. But you can copy this look with all brown, grey, white or camel, too. Shoot, you can even duplicate it with all navy or denim. I added a gold shimmery turtleneck, but you could add any other metallic, such as silver, rose gold, black metallic or bronze. And you’re not limited to the shirt, either. Add the metallic in a skirt, a belt or jacket.

I’ve collected a shopping widget full of metallic options:

Casual Christmas Look with Blue Jeans

Finally, I wanted to create a completely casual Christmas look with blue jeans. No black jeans or velvet jeans or pearl studded jeans here. These high rise blue jeans are reminiscent of most any pair of blue jeans you already have in your closet. I think it’s important to add something festive to your closet that you can simply wear with your most basic blue jeans and feel party ready!

This embroidered yoke t-shirt is the kind of purchase that will see plenty of wear for all the casual Christmas gatherings I’ll be attending. Plus, it’s just a sweet outfit for Christmas shopping, meeting a friend for lunch, baking cookies with the grandkids, etc.

I’ll have one more holiday look tomorrow. I’m sharing my ideas about what to wear when you’re the hostess. Then, closer to Christmas, I’ll share a New Year’s Eve look that you’re going to love. But for now, these are all the Christmas looks I have up my sleeve. And I’m especially happy with these this year because each look either utilizes my wardrobe essentials or it adds a versatile piece to my wardrobe that I can continue to wear after the tree is down.

Thanks so much for spending some time with me today. I hope you have a lovely day! I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.

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Blessed for My Day

As we hang the red and gold ornaments on our green trees and wreaths, let’s not forget the real reason we are celebrating this Christmas. Emmanuel, God with us. I’ll be the first to admit, sometimes it’s difficult to keep the focus on Jesus…as I bake cookies and scurry to parties and decorate my home and wrap presents. But the truth is that I’m celebrating the Messiah, the promised One, who has come, lived, died and risen…for me.

Let’s take every opportunity we have this Christmas season to remind those around us that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He is the one and only way to have a relationship with our Maker and to have eternal life with Him. Let’s begin by simply spending a few moments in prayer today, thanking God for making a Way for us to know Him.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ~ John 14:6