Casey Recommends: Friendship Bracelets!

A few weeks ago, Joi Katskee of Electric Radio Club asked some of her listeners to share their personal stories about songs that gave them a sense of freedom. And I chose “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” the Taylor Swift track with the now-famous “make the friendship bracelets” line.

That’s not why I chose the song — and you’ll have to listen to the episode to hear the reasons I selected it — but Joi said she might be convinced to become part of the friendship bracelet party after hearing and enjoying the track.

(Yesssss, another one converted!)

This made me so excited I felt inspired to pull out my bracelet-making kit and string a few new ones together for myself and my husband Dan. Because this is what happens. Once you start thinking of phrases you can put on a bracelet, a whole new world opens up.

I knew I would get addicted to making bracelets if I started, which is why I resisted for so long. But when my SoCal Swiftie bestie Lauren busted out her bracelet supplies during our January vacation, I was hooked.

They don’t have to be Taylor Swift-themed. I cannot emphasize this enough.

You can make friendship bracelets themed to whatever hobby, team, event, person, pet, moment, memory, or hilarious in-joke you so desire!

One of my Quiet Job coworkers wears EPCOT-related bracelets that she made and received from her fellow Disney castmembers during her time working in the park.

Another friend (hey Jessica) wears a bunch of UCLA and Dodgers bracelets to rep her favorite teams.

Dan has multiple bracelets with Springsteen lyrics, one for his favorite lighthouse (Pemaquid), one for his favorite artworks (Nighthawks and Starry Night), a few for his favorite ballplayers (The Franchise and Ryan Express), in addition to his own Swiftie selections.

My bracelets are a wide-ranging, colorful mish-mosh of… well, everything, just like me! They include:

• my favorite National Parks (Acadia, Big Bend, Bryce Canyon)
• my favorite Hamilton lyric, “practical tactical brilliance”
• references to some of my favorite moves, like The Oneders from That Thing You Do! and “a good melon” from When Harry Met Sally
• and bracelets to represent all of my cats, as well as a Caturday bracelet for good measure

It really is a creative endeavor.

When I’m building a friendship bracelet, I’m weaving together a bunch of elements: the colors of the beads that spell out the word or phrase — black on white? white on black? multi-colored?; the colors of the bracelet that play into the theme of the word or phrase; and the various textures and shapes of the beads, and how they fit together.

When I made bracelets for my tarot bestie Joy Manning to represent her favorite tarot cards, I chose earthy green flat matte beads for the Eight of Pentacles, since that suit is all about nature and material resources, and a blend of black, yellow, red, metallics, and faceted diamond beads for the lightning-strike imagery of The Tower.

Dan’s Ryan Express bracelet mirrors the colors and patterning of the Houston Astros’ famous Tequila Sunrise jersey.

Once you get skilled in the art and craft of bracelet-making, you can even level up your universe with double-, triple-, and even quadruple-wrapped variations. Practical Tactical Briliance is a triple wrap in blue, white, and red with star accents in honor of America’s favorite fighting Frenchman.

Pages Turned / Bridges Burned is a double wrap with bead colors inspired by the flowers on Taylor’s Eras Tour acoustic set piano. (And that’s a lyric from “You’re On Your Own Kid, which you can watch her play on that piano in the Eras Tour film, because IYKYKYOYOK.)

The fun is in bringing all this together and making what I consider to be a piece of art that says something and feels meaningful.

I love pairing bracelets to make a statement for the day — no surprise when Caturday gets worn, but I also wear LCB🙂 quite often when I know it’s going to be a tough retail Saturday.

A few caveats, which I’m trying not to yuck my yum:

There’s really no getting around this: friendship bracelets involve plastic. This is not the most sustainable of hobbies.

And I really, really hate this, but the best selection of bracelet supplies is on Amazon. I tried to find alternatives, but no local craft stores or other online marketplaces had anywhere near the variety I could find from the Evil Empire.

The only way I can assuage my guilt about this is to remind myself that one box of beads makes an awful lot of bracelets, so I won’t be reordering all the damn time.

But the bracelets are a gift that keeps on giving.

Every time I wear the friendship bracelets that Lauren gifted me (including an orange Karma bracelet she made long before the orange Karma album rumors started making the rounds), I feel connected to her despite being 3000 miles away.

When I put on my Articipant bracelet, I think of all my crazy art museum adventures and get excited to plan another outing. My cat bracelets keep them close to me even when I’m off on a road trip.

And when I gift bracelets to my friends, I hope they get the joke I’m putting out there and find the joy and humor in it too.

So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it. Give the people you love a way to wear a little bit of fun every day.