What to Wear to a Casual Holiday Party

What to wear to a casual holiday party is harder to decipher than James Brown lyrics. Women's magazines don't help. Most of us don't get invited to full-on galas or swanky cocktail parties in trendy restaurants. For most of us, it's shrimp cocktail, egg nog, and holiday cookies and punch at a friend or neighbor's house.

My formula for such occaisions is as follows: sparkle + something casual + heels = holiday magic. Here are some examples:

It has the sparkle a woman needs for holiday events, jeans to stay comfortable and a pop of color to keep the outfit interesting. You could always substitute the heels for jeweled or jewel-toned flats if the notion of wearing stilettos for an entire evening is unbearable.

This is outfit is trickier and a little harder to pull off. But the pants are slouchy, giving you enough room for an extra piece of pie.  The t-shirt and blazer are casual enough to offset the sparkliness of the pants. The shoe-booties are just plain adorable. If the pants are too much, you could always swap them out for jeans and include a sparkly necklace. May I suggest....

So that's it. That's my advice for what to wear to a casual holiday gathering. Happy Holidays!