The inspiration for Parisa Morris’ one-of-a-kind party celebrating both singer Taylor Swift’s 35th birthday and the Christmas holidays came from her 8-year-old daughter Souvie.
“She’s a big Swiftie,” Morris said. “She can sing every single song. She knows all the dance moves. She knows all the trivia.”
Most importantly, Swift gives Souvi “this idea that she can also do big, amazing things,” she said. “It’s that female empowerment that I try to honor and help her recognize she’s capable of something just as big.”
The result was an event called “Swiftmas,” which she held over the weekend at Larkin Floral, Morris’s West Dundee flower shop. It drew about 250 Swift fans ready to get festive.
“It was cute to see so many young girls come together like that,” Morris said of the Friday night party.
The shop was packed with fans, mostly young girls accompanied by their moms and a few Swiftie dads who patiently held the freebies, including cupcakes, mini baby’s breath bouquets, and, of course, friendship bracelets, handed out at the event.
Morris set up stations featuring all things Swift. There was a photo op with a poster board cutout of the songstress, a craft station to make bracelets and a spot where fans could try on various shades of lipstick, one of things for which Swift is known.
Mix in glitter, hair accessories and cupcake and hot cocoa stations, and it was one exciting event.
“We may have gone overboard,” said Kimberly Foehringer, the floral shop’s creative director.
It didn’t feel like that to fans like Cecilia Novak, 8, and Lily Owen, 9, of Sleepy Hollow. The two girls started singing while waiting in line for “permanent” jewelry, a type of custom-fit adornment that’s welded shut so it can’t be removed.
While the two weren’t able to attend one of the Eras tour shows, they did watch it on TV, singing along and making costume changes like their idol, they said.
Their moms, Kasi Novak and Marie Owen, like the fact Swift is a good role model, promoting kindness and supporting good causes. Swift is someone her daughter to look up to, Novak said.
Like so many Swiftie parents, the women have learned a lot of Swift trivia.
“She grew up on a Christmas farm,” Owen said.
“She has three cats,” Novak said, providing the names of two of the three animals: Meredith Gray and Olivia Benson.
The shop’s celebration was way to host a community event while introducing the shop to new customers, Foehringer said.
Morris opened the shop a year ago, continuing in the same profession as her parents, Pari and Mike Keissami, who owned Keissami’s floral shop in Elgin for many years.
Morris’ business background is varied. She worked in hair and makeup in Los Angeles and founded her own skin care company, Town & Anchor, before opening her flower shop. While she has since sold the skin care company, she carries its products in her store.
She decided to go into the same business as her parents because of the happiness she witnessed growing up around the floral industry. “There’s a special joy that I don’t think many other careers offer,” Morris said.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
