With Bells On

A friend calls to invite you to a party. She promises good food, fine wine, live music and jolly company. You tell her that you’ll be there with bells on.

You’ve responded with a classic American idiom telegraphing your enthusiasm for the event. You’re telling your host that not only will you attend, you also aim to enjoy the offerings and want to contribute to the festivities.

Every American English speaker is familiar with the expression to be there with bells on, but here is a phrase in search of itself. Lexicographers cannot concur on its origin. Phrase dictionaries offer diverse theories.

Christine Ammer, editor of The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms writes, “This metaphoric expression alludes to decorating oneself or one’s clothing with little bells for some special performance or occasion. A well-known nursery rhyme [from the 18th century] has, ‘See a fine lady upon a white horse, Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes. And she shall have music wherever she goes.’”

Robert Hendrickson, in his Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, asserts “Early 18th Century conestoga wagons usually arrived at their destination with bronze bells ringing, giving rise to this Americanism.”
Other sources riff on these same themes for the origin of the phrase be there with bells on. So, pick your favorite theory, and use the phrase with glee.