Fans are trading spooky friendship bracelets at Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights

Taylor Swift said “make the friendship bracelets,” and Swifties and horror fans ran with it.

During Taylor Swift’s recent blockbuster Eras Tour, thousands of fans filled stadiums across the country dressed according to the songstress’s different eras of musical storytelling. They also filled their arms with stacks of colorful beaded friendship bracelets featuring song titles, lyrics and other Swiftie fandom mottos.

The making and trading of friendship bracelets has since transcended Swift concerts and made its way to Halloween Horror Nights right here in Orlando.

That’s right — avid fans of the fright fest, horror and Halloween in general are crafting spooky beaded bracelets to give out at Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights this year.

Nikki and Allie, of Haunt Girls Podcast fame, said they were inspired by Swift’s song “You’re On Your Own, Kid” where the songstress commands us to “make the friendship bracelets.”

“When we started seeing people on social media say they were making them for HHN, we completely hopped on board,” they wrote in an email to OW. “We decided to participate in the trend since we are both Swifties, so (we) love any aspect of tying our love for Taylor Swift and HHN together.”

“Also, because we think it is such a good way of spreading the love at HHN.”

Demi, who operates as Demi Siriusly on TikTok and Instagram, said she started making bracelets for Horror Nights before she even went to a Taylor Swift concert.

“HHN is my most anticipated event,” she said. “I just wanted to make bracelets for every event I was going to and for all my friends.”

Demi made bracelets for HHN houses like “Hellfire Club” (with a matching Eddie bracelet and a guitar charm) and “Eleven” (with a waffle charm). She also crafted a green and black “The Exorcist” bracelet with a cross charm, Death Eater bracelets and simple ones that said “HHN” and “Lil Boo.”

Cece W. said she started making and selling themed bracelets as a side hustle back in June. She made horror and pop culture ones as well as ones themed after HHN.

She’s got a little bit of everything in her shop, from “Barbie” and “Just Ken” to “Mels Die In” and “M3GAN.”

“It goes back to the raver days with ‘kandi’ bracelets and giving them out,” Cece said, noting that Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has brought back the trend of sharing bracelets with fellow fans at themed events.

Rave culture’s “Kandi bracelets” have a long history, but the gist is simple and similar to the Swiftie and HHN trends — colorfully beaded stretchy bracelets sporting names, slogans and inside jokes created to be worn stacked high and traded with fellow fans.

“We believe the friendship bracelets have brought the community even more together,” Haunt Girls Nikki and Allie said. “We have made so many new friends because of these bracelets.”

During opening night of Halloween Horror Nights on Sept. 1, dozens of beaded bracelet-clad fans were seen strolling scare zones, snacking on cordyceps corn dogs and sipping liquid courage from HHN’s iconic blinky cups.

Two of those people were Kayla Pareti (StuckinNeverlandCo) and Melissa Emery (DisneyIsta) — two Orlando-based theme park content creators who spent hours making HHN bracelets before the event.

“I love the spook; I love the horror,” Pareti said. “We’re going to be running through the scare zones throwing bracelets at each other trying not to get scared.”

The two crafted HHN food-themed bracelets like “pizza fries” and “twisted tater,” and punny ones for houses like “are you yeti for this.” They also crafted “Death Eater” and “pumpkin juice” bracelets and ones with some of Swift’s spookier lyrics.

On opening night, Pareti and Emery didn’t let the torrential downpour of rain put a damper on their bracelet-sharing plans. Pareti said they mostly traded while walking around during the daylight hours of the event, handing out bracelets in scare zones, in line for food and the restroom; they even gave a few to Universal team members not in costume. Pareti said she made about six trades throughout the first night and gave half of her bracelets to team members.

One of the coolest things about Swift’s Eras Tour was the “huge safe space” created at the tour stops, Pereti said.

“Everyone was trading bracelets. How cool is that? It’s such a safe space,” she said. “People you go up to and talk to, creating common bonds with.”

Based on posts in various HHN social media groups, many are creating spooky friendship bracelets for similar reasons.

“It’s cool that it’s graduated … it was a Taylor Swift thing, now it’s seeping into other areas like Horror Nights,” Pareti said. “You’re sharing a little bit of yourself with someone else.”

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This article appears in Sep 6-12, 2023.