What to Wear: Low Key Christmas Party in the Sun

Today's "What to Wear" post is all about those relaxing Christmas get togethers - totally different direction than our corporate parties and cocktail parties (see here, here, here, and here).  Not every event requires a brand new outfit and tons of glitter. Actually, I take back that second part - everything requires tons of glitter.

My church hosts a cookie swap this time of year, and I think it is the perfect example of today's theme. You still want to look festive but also work with what you already own. Also, we all want to be in comfortable clothing for eating tons of cookies (or wrapping gifts, brunching with friends, etc). Just to give non Floridians an idea of our typical December weather, yesterday was in the mid 70s with a slight breeze. I wore jeans, a top with 3/4 length sleeves, and flip flops. Most likely there is no need for a heavy sweater for our low key event in the Florida balm.

I love velvet so much. I don't recommend it for an outside event during the day unless your goal is to sweat, but as long as you have an evening breeze or readily available air conditioning I am fully in support of these H&M velvet leggings. They are perfect for a casual holiday event and are totally comfortable as well. As we all know, leggings are not pants. Therefore, you must put a longer top on over these leggings. My suggestion is something like the black H&M sweater above. It is a light knit and the 3/4 length sleeves will hold up to a cool breeze but won't cause overheating.

Adding something like this J. Crew statement necklace full of bright jewel tones will Christmas up the plain black sweater. Of course, the bright velvet leggings will draw a huge amount of attention. You don't want your accessories to compete too much, so throw on a pair of stud earrings and skip the bracelets if you go with the flashy necklace. Keep the shoes simple - yes, I just said that. These perforated black flats are not distracting at all but are still interesting.

Did you enjoy this post? You can read the full What to Wear series, or check out the links below for similar posts.

Florida business party attire
Corporate Christmas party attire