Bianca Bodde plans a Swiftie twist to her Super Bowl party decorations this weekend.
Fans of Taylor Swift — Swifties for short — are prepared to show up in full force with themed gatherings to watch the Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers this Super Bowl Sunday.
They’ll be on the lookout for Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, Swift’s boyfriend, and glimpses of Swift on camera if she shows up in Las Vegas for the game. She plans to jet from her Tokyo concert to Vegas in time for kickoff. Of course, fans plan to track the flight as well.
Will she make it in time? Oh, the drama.
Swiftie Bowl, indeed.
Bodde, 35, of Greensburg said she’s been a Swiftie from the very beginning.
“Since I first heard ‘Tim McGraw’ in the car in high school,” she said of the Taylor Swift hit song. “It’s really amped up since the Eras Tour and stuff.”
She’s been decorating with red and yellow streamers and Taylor and Travis-themed cakes.
“I have beads, so we can make friendship bracelets,” Bodde said, which will be a way to pass time during the big game.
Laura Petagno is also planning on making friendship bracelets during her Super Bowl watch party. Friendship bracelets made a comeback during Swift’s Eras Tour. Swifties continue to swap them during the concerts.
Her party will include Swift-themed food items that reference her popular tunes, such as “Now That We Don’t Guac” for guacamole, “The Way I Buffaloved You” for buffalo chicken dip and “My Beers Ricochet” for the beer station.
There will also be chicken strips with “seemingly ranch,” a nod to Swift’s first appearance at a Chiefs game this season, a trend that went viral on social media.
Petagno, 31, of Greensburg, said she plans on making a “Lavender Haze” lemonade drink, referencing Swift’s hit from her album “Midnights,” and her friends will bring other themed drinks.
A plate of raisins will be on display as well, she said, offering a more niche reference to when Jack Antonoff, a producer for Swift, posted a photo of her eating raisins after finishing the song “You’re Losing Me,” saying she wrote the song after eating the raisins.
Petagno confessed she’s been watching the games this season “only to see Taylor.”
“Of course, I always watch the Steelers,” she said. “But this (is) definitely the first time I’ve watched anything other than the Steelers.”
Bodde said her husband’s a Green Bay Packers fan, and she’s a Steelers fan.
“It’s nice to have someone to cheer for in the Super Bowl,” she said, referencing Swift. “I, for sure, became obsessed when Taylor went to the first game.”
She said she ran around the house screaming when her husband said Swift appeared on TV.
However, some have criticized the NFL and broadcasts for displaying Swift too much during the games and on social media.
“I’m just going to go for it and have a Swift party and not care what anyone thinks,” Bodde said.
Though Chelsea Rager has only been a Swiftie for around a year, she emphasized that it’s not Swift’s fault that she’s so popular.
Her son, who is 17, got her into Swift, she said.
“I just hope everyone ends up having fun,” said Rager, 39, of Jeannette. “Whether (the Chiefs) win or lose, it’s a cool memory (Swift and Kelce will) have … I feel like it’s making it more fun … for everybody.”
Rager will have a cake and themed Swift and Kelce cookies along with “lots of sparkly things” — sequins, glitter and confetti.
She plans to concoct a signature drink, hopefully something that’s red with edible glitter.
Rager said her fiancé doesn’t know about the Swift theme yet. She doesn’t expect him to kick up much of a fuss.
Petagno’s friends are attending, and her husband’s “forcibly” attending, she said, laughing. She said they will be wearing themed merchandise relating to Swift and the NFL, which has become increasingly popular.
Bodde said her son, who is in kindergarten, is even excited for the Swift-themed bash.
“My son — even he knows how much I love Taylor Swift,” she said. “He knows the songs. … I showed him the cake, and he was, like, so excited.”
Rager said she believes the popularity Swift brought to football is positive.
“I feel like a lot more girls are talking about football and getting into sports,” Petagno said. “It’s just been really fun.”
Megan Swift is a TribLive reporter covering trending news in Western Pennsylvania. A Murrysville native, she joined the Trib full time in 2023 after serving as editor-in-chief of The Daily Collegian at Penn State. She previously worked as a Jim Borden Scholarship intern at the Trib for three summers. She can be reached at mswift@triblive.com.
