Your Guide to Hosting a Taylor Swift Themed Party

Entertaining
Written By Jamie Crain

Summer isn’t over yet, fall girlies. Let’s talk Taylor Swift. The Eras Tour is on hiatus right now.  If you’re missing our Queen (Mother), channel that energy into a fun experience before autumn sets in: a Taylor Swift themed party!

It’s September and it’s still a big Taylor Swift month even if she’s taking a well deserved break from performing and the public eye. The Chiefs are back today and their #1 cheerleader might be making some appearances to support her man. The 2024 MTV Video Music Awards are September 11 and Taylor is nominated for 12 awards. Hopefully, she’ll be appearing at the event and having fun like she always does. 

We all love our Taylor content so let’s convert that energy into a real life experience before we grab our fall flannel. Plus, it’s a great excuse to host a little party. 

So, why host a Taylor Swift-themed party? Because it’s fun. Period. Ok, here’s a few more reasons:

  • You can buy lots of pink + hearts.

  • You can discover all of the cool Taylor Swift themed products on Etsy and/or Amazon. 

  • You can bring together your friends for a party where everyone has an excuse to be a little extra (not that you need one).

  • You get to bring in a little of that Eras Tour magic into your life.

For starters, you need a theme. It could just be Taylor Swift, but we went one step further and chose a theme within the Taylor Swift universe. We chose a party based on the absolutely epic music video for You Need to Calm Down. If you’ve never watched it, take a few minutes to because it’s amazing in its own right. 

Planning

First things first, you need to plan. Grab a couple of your girlfriends, order some takeout, put on a Taylor Swift playlist, and get to work (but, fun work). Here’s a checklist for you: 

  • Choose a theme, date, budget, and location

  • Pick out a menu

  • Figure out decorations + fun little giveaways

  • Decide on entertainment

  • Design an invite and build your invitation lists

  • Send out the invitations

You Need to Calm Down Party Plan

Theme, Date, Location + Budget

We had a lot to work with from the You Need to Calm Down music video. It’s rich with content ideas from top to bottom. So, you’ll want to choose something that will give you some flexibility and room for creativity. As for timing, we picked a holiday weekend, but it’s probably best to choose a weekend date before October if you live somewhere with seasons and want to throw a pool party like we did. 

Be mindful of your budget. You don’t have to break the bank. You can make your party Instagram-worthy without a Kardashian budget. Those parties look absolutely amazing, but the cost of the balloons alone is astronomical. You can host a craft night to create some of the decor instead of buying it all. 

You Need to Calm Down Party Menu

Did anyone else notice just how much food was in the You Need to Calm Down music video? It’s a lot–but doable. We went through the video a few (ok, 10 times) to figure out what food we could include. Here’s where we landed for our party menu:

  • Burgers + Fries (because Taylor + Katy!)

  • Corn on the Cob

  • Chicago Cookout Cake with hot dogs, hamburgers, corn, and ice cream decor 

  • Cotton Candy (the machine is surprisingly inexpensive on Amazon)

  • Rainbow Fruit Skewers

  • Gummy Candy Skewers

  • Pink Martinis + a NA Pink Drink

  • We also added in some basics:

    • Veggie Platter

    • Chips + Dips

    • And other random desserts from party attendees (hey, we’re Midwesterners, we can’t come to the house without bringing something)

The possibilities were endless though. There’s a tea party featured in the video that could go over very well too! 

You Need to Calm Down Party Decorations + Goodies

When brainstorming party decoration ideas, think about your space and what opportunities you have to create spaces and moments. We hosted this party in the backyard so we knew we had a lot of space to play with. Ultimately, we decided to have 4 different Instagram-worthy areas: one with the pink heart pool and DIY camper, one with the Lover sign and the loungers, a photobooth, and a white space (the garage!) with giant IG floaties. The rest of the space was created for both functionality and to feel fully Taylor Swift-themed. 

Here’s a list of decorations we either created or purchased:

  • Pink + white inflatable beach balls 

  • Hot pink tablecloths

  • Pink shimmer photo backdrop with You Need to Calm Down friendship bracelet banner

  • Large DIY camper 

  • Lover sign

  • Taylor Swift cut outs

  • Tabletop camper and trailer 

  • Lover Album table confetti scatter

  • Heart inflatable pool 

  • Second inflatable pool 

  • Tiki umbrella 

  • Pink + White stripe towels

  • Pink flamingos

  • Lips + Flamingo floaties

  • Rainbow Inflatable lounger

  • You Need to Calm Down Posters

  • Camper string lights

Here’s a few of the items we had for guests to wear, play with, and/or take home:

  • Heart sunglasses 

  • Gold Crowns

  • Taylor stickers + temporary tattoos

  • Heart straws

  • Friendship bracelet making station

Entertainment

It’s a party so the entertainment is already mostly built in, but we featured a Taylor Swift playlist for background music. Originally, we had planned to set up a projector and play the Eras Tour Movie on repeat, but the weather wasn’t exactly cooperative so we opted to skip it. 

Invitation Design + Party Invites

If you are talented at designing invitations, save a few bucks and head on over to Canva. However, for about $5, we were able to buy a template from Etsy and had this super cute invite ready to go within minutes. 

Let’s talk about that invitation list. Unfortunately, our friend groups weren’t heavy on the Swiftie vibes. We have solid Swiftie friends, but we didn’t exclude anyone else. As long as they were up for a Taylor themed party, they could come. Also, don’t worry if you don’t have a ton of friends to invite. Scale up or down based on the size of your party. Our party clocked in at around 20-25 people (with three hosts inviting friends). But, we’ve hosted parties with 5-6 people and they’re just as fun–maybe even more unhinged. 

Day of the Event Tips

We recommend hosting a craft night to create all of the DIY decor and not leaving it to the day of the event. That pretty much never goes well. Plan to arrive a couple of hours early to decorate and set up the space. Divide and conquer with your co-hosts to make sure everything is taken care of like who’s cooking the food if it’s a cookout. 

Don’t forget to take pictures and video of the food and all the spaces before guests arrive or dig in. And, then remember to take pictures during the event and not just be in hostess mode. Make sure you’re in the pictures too! 

Last, but not least, have fun and enjoy the dopamine. And, buy a lot of ice. You always need ice. 




Jamie Crain
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