The Look for Less: Two Ways to Rock the Same Holiday Party Dress (& Funday Monday Link-Up!)

*I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client. #ThisisStyle #cbias

Night Look: {{Dress: Sears* // {{Shoes: Target // {{Necklace: Stella & Dot // {{Bag: Valentino // {{Watch: Michael Kors // {{Bracelet: GroopDealz

Day Look: {{Dress: Sears* // {{Necklace: The Mighty River Project // {{Boots: Thrifted // {{Jacket: LOFT // {{Diaper Bag: Kate Spade

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This is probably, arguably, my favorite time of year… November through January. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. There’s just so much happy. There’s so much joy. There’s so much celebration. There’s so much fun!

Well, would you judge me if I said that I am already thinking about these holidays and all the  parties that go along with them?! I feel like I am making it sound like I go to 1,000 parties during the holidays. Not the case. BUT, every year I look forward to going to my husband’s company Christmas party at this REALLY fancy restaurant in town… and then every year I look forward to the annual Stillman Christmas extravaganza we host at our house.

Both are equally as fun, but both require a very different dress code.

Every year I struggle with what to wear to my husband’s company Christmas party. It’s at a REALLY nice restaurant and everyone always looks so put together. BUT, it’s also at a place that has this rustic feel – so it’s not what I would call black tie. It’s more of a “dressy rustic” feel. Which is REALLY hard to pull off!

And then for our Christmas party at our house, we always just have friends over, throw on a classic Christmas movie, have a bonfire in the back yard, make smores, and enjoy company with our friends. So, I want to dress nicely, but not SO nicely that I won’t want to hang out in the backyard by the fire.

I’m totally over-analyzing this, I am aware. It’s what I do.

Well, as you know because of my money series, you know that I’m very budget conscious. And this year, especially now that we have Lilly, I’m even more budget conscious than ever. Annnnnnd because nothing in my closet fits me right now, I’ve ALREADY been stressing about what I’m going to wear to each event.

So, I gave myself $50 to spend and my task was to find a dress or an outfit that would not only work for our casual, Christmas party at home, BUT ALSO for the fancy party at my husband’s office.

I also love pieces that I can wear year round… a piece that doesn’t just fall into ONE category. SO, I wanted to find a dress that I could wear outside of the holidays, too.

Not an easy task.

I found out recently about this program called ShopYourWay which is basically a social shopping site that’s built around your social networks. You can read peer reviews, get recommendations on styles, comments from friends, etc. You can find even deals at different stores. AND you can get rewards and points when you shop online or in-store. You get 10 points for every $1 you spend and the more points you rack up the more money you save!

After I checked out ShopYourWay to get an idea of what I was looking for, I hit up Sears to search for a dress that fit the bill.

And, I hit the dress jackpot. I found this ADORABLE blue long-sleeved lace dress on the rack for $80. Adorable, but over my $50 budget. Welp, because Sears is just awesome that way, it was marked down 50% off! So… SCORE! With tax I scored the dress for a little over $44!

I just LOVED the simplicity of it, I loved the lace detailing, and I LOVED the color. Contrary to popular belief, you do NOT have to wear a red or green or gold dress to make it work for the holidays!

So, now came the task of styling the dress for nighttime or the fancy dinner company party. And here’s the result.

By pairing my new, gorgeous blue lace dress with what I already had in my closet – tights, booties, a statement necklace, and a bright bold red lip color – it makes it TOTALLY appropriate for the company Christmas party. And the lace detailing TOTALLY works with my “rustic fancy” vibe I was going for!

 

Now, I was set out with the task of styling it for the daytime and/or my casual, at-home Christmas party:

By pairing my gorgeous dress with, again, what I already had in my closet – a denim jacket, fun necklace, my favorite cowboy boots, and, of course, my diaper bag – it made the outfit PERFECT for everyday wear OR our casual, at-home Christmas party!

SCORE!!

So, what do YOU think? Are you like me and you think MONTHS in advance of what you’re going to wear to a particular event? Have you ever heard of the ShopYourWay program? Have you every found a dress that fit the bill of taking you from day to night to fancy to casual?

 

 

A few of our favs from last week:

/ Favorite Fall Coat / Fall Inspiration: Makeup Tutorial / Printed Sweater Dress / Frustration /

1. Follow your hosts Molly @ still being [molly], Carly @ Lipgloss & Crayons, and your guest hosts for the week Niki from Glossy Blonde and Lauren from Almost Casual! 
2. Grab a button and / or post a link back here in your BLOG POST (NOT your blog’s main page) so your readers know what all the #fundaymonday-ness is about. We love you guys linking up and we do go through and read all your posts… so if you do not give credit, we will have to remove your link. That’s no fun, right? Right. So be nice and share a link! Pretty please?
3. Link your blog post up using the linky tool below! It can be ANYTHING! An outfit post, a giveaway, a story, a recipe, whatever. Why? Cause it’s #fundaymonday!
4. Visit a blog or four that you’ve never been to before and leave a #fundaymonday comment – you never know, you might “meet” someone new that you will lurve!
5. Have fun! Cause it’s Monday!