Homeowner Amy Scott is wishing neighbors a “Merry Swiftmas” in a way a true Taylor Swift fan would recognize: “For the last time.”
Friday marked the first day Scott's Taylor Swift-themed holiday home decorations were lit, and the final year of the popular attraction that the Scott family began in 2023.
Her Naperville, Illinois, home has gained a reputation as a local landmark, being dubbed the “Swiftmas House” on Google Maps, making national headlines and drawing in crowds. But, Scott admits, celebrating Swiftmas this way has become too time-consuming.
Swift’s song “Daylight” could be heard Friday in the background of a yard stuffed with odes to the pop star’s discography and life: A cut-out of Swift herself singing center stage on the front lawn and posters with lyrics such as “Best believe I’m still bejeweled, I can still make the whole place shimmer.”
“With much debate, we decided, one more year. … We wanted to make sure that we went out with a bang,” Amy Scott, a teacher who designs the house with her husband, Brian Scott, and two daughters, told Homes.com in an interview.
On the roof, a large print of Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s engagement is topped with rings handmade from plastic salad bowls, garland and tinsel. A lit-up pyramid of cubes displays moments from Swift's "The Fate of Ophelia" music video.
The Scotts — as Swift puts it in "Lover" — plan to “leave the Christmas lights up ’til January,” dependent on the weather.
View the "Swiftmas House" for yourself on Homes.com's YouTube channel
It’s a popular destination for the superfans known as Swifties, some of whom travel from hours away. They take in the house for just as long, said next-door neighbor Grant Wehrli.
“It’s fun to see people come here and just see all the joy,” he told Homes.com. And while the house lights up the typically dark street, the Wehrlis notice no light coming in from next door’s display.
The Scotts use the attention to raise funds for a local nonprofit called Little Friends that supports people with autism and other intellectual or emotional disabilities. Visitors can make donations using a QR code displayed on signs out front. The Scotts hope to raise $10,000 for the final Swiftmas year.
Planning the Swiftmas House
Between the brainstorming, setting up and hand-making the custom decor, the Swiftmas House becomes “a part-time job in November,” said Amy Scott.
The planning this year began the first week of November, the usual way: with careful listening and note-taking of Swift’s albums during a road trip, but including her newest release, “The Life of a Showgirl.”
Many of the decorations this year are based on “Showgirl” plus the albums “Midnights” and “Lover,” with pieces connecting to songs such as “Wood” and “Eldest Daughter,” the latter being a personal connection and favorite for Amy, an eldest daughter herself.
Owning a printing company helps the Scotts achieve their custom ornamentations, such as mega posters of Swift’s album art draped down the front of the house. Much of the other work comes from being resourceful. Last year, a giant typewriter was constructed in the yard from two-by-fours with letters affixed to jar lids to form the keyboard.
One of Amy’s favorite features this year was recreating the “Lover House” set piece from Swift’s blockbuster The Eras Tour, where fans dropped thousands of dollars for tickets. The movie based on the tour became the highest-grossing concert film of all time and the source of inspiration for the Swiftmas House in 2023.
“I went to the Eras … and I’m like, ‘I think we could do this for our Christmas lights,’ because my brain was on fire,” she said. "That first year, we honestly had no idea what would happen. We needed help from the community because the road was gridlocked. You couldn’t get onto our street.”
A two-generation family tradition
The Scotts have been known for their annual holiday displays since 2008, when they moved into their Naperville home built by Brian's grandparents. Decorating big was a yearly family tradition during his childhood.
"That's the background of our 'why.' That's how he grew up, and we wanted to continue that tradition in our family home," said Amy.
In the past, the Scotts have decorated with a giant blue “W” to mark the Chicago Cubs’ World Series win in 2016, as well as other decorations themed for "Toy Story," the Candyland board game, and Dr. Seuss's "The Grinch.” Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, hope became the theme with a two-story rainbow built from pipes and lights, finished with ice skating gingerbread men wearing masks.
In the early days, the family used incandescent lights, and “we couldn’t run the dishwasher at night, we couldn’t use the microwave — I couldn’t blow dry my hair because we were constantly blowing circuits,” said Amy.
And despite the bright lights turned on throughout the evening, the Scotts estimate the LEDs they use will raise their energy bill by just $300 for the season.
So, despite bidding farewell to the Merry Swiftmas theme, the Scotts assure that they will ... begin again.
“This is their family tradition, and it’s just full of love, and it brings a lot of joy to a lot of people,” said neighbor Wehrli. “It’s just a true sign of a loving family that’s awesome.”