DePaul celebrates another year of engaging holiday events for students

Students pose for pictures following the annual tree-lighting ceremony. Photo by Varun Khushalani, 14 East.

Every year, DePaul University hosts a slew of events to celebrate the holiday season. This year’s main activities included the cookie stroll through the Loop, the Ugly Sweater Party in the Quad, the Tree-Lighting Ceremony and the Finals Breakfast. 

These events are traditions that thousands of DePaul students participate in each year. They’re also unique, considering how they’re planned around the urban environment and how early in the season they’re held. 

This year’s festivities kicked off on Tuesday, November 7, with the Cookie Stroll in the Loop. It’s DePaul’s newest holiday tradition and offers students living in the Loop an easier way to join in on the festive fun. This time around, students were invited to visit different buildings on the Loop campus and enjoy free cookies and drinks from each. Festive mugs were even given out as souvenirs for attendees. 

Despite this only being the second year the Cookie Stroll was held, it still brought in approximately 1,500 student registrations, showing just how warmly it was welcomed by the DePaul community.

The next day, Wednesday, November 8, DePaul held its most popular holiday event and one of the largest attended student events – The 5th Annual Ugly Sweater Party.

For the uninitiated, the Ugly Sweater Party sees the heart of DePaul’s Lincoln Park Campus, the Quad, transformed into a winter wonderland of sorts. This year, there was a snow globe for students to take pictures in, a carnival ride and even a giant inflatable snowman. 

Students were also able to get different holiday treats at the event, but more notably, the coveted DePaul-brand ugly sweater.

Each year students line up ahead of the event for their chance at getting their hands on a free sweatshirt. This year, there were 1,700 up for grabs, with students lining up as early as 9:40 a.m. for the 2 p.m. kickoff. 

Hundreds of students line up for their chance at a sweater. The line wrapped around the block. Photo by Alex Reading, 14 East.

Despite the line, students still turned out in droves to participate in the activities. There were approximately 2,500 students who registered for the event, which excludes any students who walked through without registering. 

It’s worth noting that before creating events like this, DePaul didn’t have many holiday traditions. Office of Student Involvement Director Courtney James shared how they came to be. 

“DePaul and the students were asking for traditions and things that they could do that were uniquely for them. And we didn’t have a lot,” James said.

James also emphasized how important the event has become as a DePaul tradition.

“It truly is an event that people just enjoy. They just have fun, you know, and I think right before finals that’s really important.”

Traditionally the Ugly Sweater Party is immediately followed by the Tree-Lighting Ceremony. However, due to bad weather this year, it was pushed back a week to Tuesday, November 14. 

The Tree-Lighting Ceremony is meant to mark the beginning of the holiday season. It brings DePaul students together, and the lights on the tree will remain lit until they return again in January.

Besides the tree-lighting itself, there is, of course, much more to the event. Similar to the Ugly Sweater Party, students are able to line up for a chance to get their hands on DePaul merch, specifically a DePaul-brand winter hat.

Unlike the Ugly Sweater Party, there was a much shorter line ahead of the event, meaning students didn’t have to wait nearly as long. The ceremony was also held in St. Vincent’s Circle, a much smaller area compared to the Quad. 

Students gather in St. Vincent’s Circle before the tree lighting. Photo by Alex Reading, 14 East.

Along with free hats, students were also able to enjoy more free cookies and hot drinks while they waited for the ceremony. 

When the ceremony began, multiple speakers came on stage to talk about the event and its importance. Notably, there was an acknowledgment of the different religious holidays held throughout the season, including Diwali, Hanukkah and Christmas. The acknowledgments show that DePaul students celebrate the holidays in a multitude of different ways and that regardless of how students celebrate, they’re all brought together by the tree lighting. 

One of the speakers, Student Government Association President Parveen Mundi, drove home the importance of uniting the DePaul community before Winter break. 

“Without events like the tree lighting and without, you know, the Office of Student Involvement, putting these things together, there isn’t much of an opportunity for students to get on campus and get together before we all go for a break.”

As the event came to a head, the crowd of approximately 900 students excitedly watched the tree come to life once again. 

Just a few short hours later, students gathered once again for the final large event of the season. 

Finals Breakfast: a concluding feast for students right before Finals Week kicks off. Students gathered in the Student Center and were able to get plates of pancakes, eggs, sausage and tater tots in the late hours of the night. 

This year’s breakfast drew a massive crowd, packing both floors of the Student Center with hungry students. 

Students pack into the dining hall of the Student Center for Finals Breakfast. Photo by Alex Reading, 14 East.

Besides the breakfast, the Student Center also hosted a multitude of activities. From roller skating to video games, there was no shortage of things for students to do as finals neared.

Student Government Association Vice President Avery Schoenhals captured the sentiment around this final event and all of DePaul’s Christmas traditions. 

“It provides a great way for students to, one, kind of have a relief from the stress of finals week or before we all leave, and two, just to kind of bring students together as a community.”

Header by Mei Harter