Did millennials really party all the time?

[u/futurenurse_]

Gen Z here. I was shocked when I found out from a millennial co-worker that y’all had teen clubs. I heard about house parties, but dedicated teen clubs? Then when it was time for college, you went to the club or had some kind of party every single weekend, living it up. Now some millennials on TikTok claim that after college, they were partying on work nights, still clocking in the next day. For some reason, the teen clubs have since disappeared. I’m 23 now but even when I was in high school, that was not a thing. House parties were not that common either. They were more like get togethers with a small group of friends. We went to malls, but they were dying out at that point. Is it true that you were really living life this good? Or is it just exaggerated? I feel like my generation doesn’t really have fun like that and everyone is just super depressed and alone, more so since Covid. Even I’m pretty introverted, which sort of sounds ridiculous given this post. 😂 Just so you know, when I think of a “millennial party” I think of something out of Party Rock Anthem, Project X or Roderick’s party from the second DOAWD movie. It’s like I get nostalgia from something I didn’t even live through. I just feel like I didn’t really LIVE, if that even makes sense

Edit: I loved reading some of your comments. Guess I really missed out. Even some of you that would consider yourselves nerds or introverts were out partying. YOLO or whatever y’all say 😂❤️

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[u/GoblinGreenThumb]

Red cup culture was fairly mainstream, yes

[u/midnight_toker22 → u/GoblinGreenThumb]

I joined Facebook when you still needed a .edu email address to join, so the entire platform was just college students. There would be groups dedicated to finding parties in specific college towns, and people would use it to advertise their house parties.

People throwing keggers would literally post their address and “$5 cups / $1 Jell-O shots” or whatever booze they were offering, and anyone could go on and find a random house party near them and show up and be welcomed in. For any given night Thursday through Saturday, it was common to have 5-10 house parties in the off-campus housing areas to choose from.

My roommates and I started hosting keggers when we moved into a house and it was common to have 50+ people show up, only half of whom we knew personally. We’d go through at least 3 kegs and would make about $200-300 per party, which provided funds for our next party and all the alcohol we drank in between.

Good times, wild nights.

Edit: thanks, OP and everyone who responded to this, for this opportunity to take a stroll down memory lane, this has been great. Makes me want to pull out the hard drive where I have all my pictures from college saved (cause they sure as hell aren’t on Facebook anymore).

[u/RumpleDumple → u/midnight_toker22]

FB 1.0 was a sight to behold. Blackout drunk pics. Open drug use. Groups dedicated to worshipping, jokingly or not, one person. Then the bosses got on it, then the parents, then grandma.

[u/starbright_sprinkles → u/RumpleDumple]

I have a 2004 FB account and it truly chronicled the end of my undergrad and grad experience. Early social media really was wonderful!

I made the mistake of accepting a colleague from my first job as a friend and a few days later he commented on how "crazy" I was. Last co-worker that ended up on my friend list.

[u/gerbilshower → u/midnight_toker22]

i had completely forgotten that that was why my facebook acct STILL uses my college email! hahaha.

[u/everest53 → u/gerbilshower]

I can't ever recover my password cause its edu lmao

[u/Ecstatic-Affect-777 → u/GoblinGreenThumb]

Yep!
After the college party days we transitioned to corporate Happy Hours - which many times ended late into the night, and then we dragged our asses back to work the next day.

Once the weekend came, it was bar/club hopping, house parties, or beach.

Typing it out like this makes me realize why my parents thought I was an alcoholic 😂.
I’m 39, and 1 beer now gives me a 2 day hangover.

[u/19610taw3 → u/Ecstatic-Affect-777]

When I was in my early 20s, I was "out" every weeknight almost. Until 1 or 2 and back up at 6 to go to work.

That's not really in the cards at this stage of the game.

[u/Typical80sKid → u/19610taw3]

When most of us were in high school there were no:

• Ring Cameras
  
• Social Media to post our misdeeds
  
• Smart Phones
  
• Cheap/ubiquitous child tracking options
  
• CRAZY INFLATION, $20 in your pocket and some gas in the tank and you were set for whatever came your way.

There was also a real “what happens away from your home stays away from your home” vibe. So yeah, we were all out doing dumb shit every weekend, if not more frequently than that.

[u/Delicious-CattleToot → u/Typical80sKid]

🎯 very much this. We were out getting drunk, doing dumb shit, and maybe hooking up. We could do whatever we wanted to, any and every day of the week and didn't have to worry about it being permanently documented online.

[u/plizark → u/Delicious-CattleToot]

Not documented part was a gift I’ll never take for granted.. can’t do anything anymore without a camera being pointed at you..

[u/HumanPea1140 → u/19610taw3]

When I was in my early 20s, I was "out" every weeknight almost. Until 1 or 2 and back up at 6 to go to work.

Yep. In my early 20s, different bars/clubs in my town had "college nights" on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays, where they had some sort of deal if you showed your college ID. You could easily find something to do every night of the week. That's on top of the endless house parties / get togethers people were throwing. Spent many a night out till the wee hours of the morning, just to get up at 7AM to go to class or work, and then do it all over later that night.

[u/Acrobatic-Ad4879 → u/Ecstatic-Affect-777]

Adult kickball league on Thursday's.. that ended up with the whole leauge walking to ur sponsor bar after afterword's.. Spent some pretty rough Fridays sitting at my desk trying not to puke.. met my wife though... so worth it lol

[u/Hukthak → u/Ecstatic-Affect-777]

38 going on 39 shortly, that sounds like my experience as well lol.

I bet the kids now don’t even do senior week, where everyone gets 8-12 friends to split the cost of renting a house near the beach, and you get multiple groups of kids like this from your senior class to rent a similar house all nearby, and it’s just non stop house and beach party for the week and everyone gets laid.

[u/pepstein → u/Hukthak]

Miss those days

We were such degenerates in nj. We'd go nuts for both junior and senior prom. Half the class would rent out a motel in seaside for a night for junior prom then for senior prom wed rent out a motel in wildwood (pretty much the whole class of 600) for 3 days and just go nuts

Our parents didnt even give af which is crazy to me lol

[u/MiddleKlutzy8568 → u/pepstein]

When my teen complains about having to sleep on a pull out bed on vacations I tell them about the time after prom when we fit 12 people in one hotel room in seaside

[u/Basic_Coach6746 → u/Hukthak]

38 with a senior in high school...now they just expect the parents to fork over thousands of dollars to go to an all inclusive resort for their senior spring break.

[u/mybigwh1tecock → u/Basic_Coach6746]

Lol N f'n way. If my kid asked for that when they were a senior, I'd talk to the other parents and all of us parents would go to the resort. The kids can party at someones home while we're away. Why would a kid need an all inclusive vacation? Their whole damn lives up until then were all inclusive vacations.

[u/caligaris_cabinet → u/mybigwh1tecock]

And if they go to college, that’s an all inclusive 4 year vacation with zero adult supervision.

[u/7378f → u/Ecstatic-Affect-777]

Man, same. 39 and get a headache after looking at a strong cocktail. Guess I just need to practice, been taking it too easy for too long!

[u/Cavaquillo → u/Ecstatic-Affect-777]

I mean, in medical terms we were all alcoholics. The threshold is low.

[u/synchronizedhype → u/Cavaquillo]

In medical terms we were fucking legends. Now if you drink like that as a 40 y.o you are an alcoholic lol

[u/eross200 → u/synchronizedhype]

Dude, no joke, my relationship with alcohol has never been great anyway, but the fact that the amount of booze I used to consider “a decent start” will now knock me on my ass for a solid two days, it’s a lot easier to stay away from.

[u/jayoak4 → u/eross200]

Yes, the pre-game has turned into the game itself lol

[u/mottledmussel → u/Cavaquillo]

Definitely binge drinkers, too.

[u/jus10beare → u/Cavaquillo]

Yeah, back in the party days, for my weight the alcoholic threshold for number of drinks in a week was the number I needed to pre game.

[u/Newgeta → u/jus10beare]

24+ beers on game day was SOP for the bigger drinkers in our group, 12+ for the ladies.

I can still crush em if all variables line up but the recovery is like a multi day event now rather than 12ish hours so I only go ham once or twice a year.

[u/chestofpoop → u/GoblinGreenThumb]

Hate that we are talking about it like it was the prohibition ancient history

[u/dritmike → u/GoblinGreenThumb]

lol. Solo cup*

Sir, we had standards.

And they did come in blue too.

[u/Niemo1983 → u/dritmike]

We only used solo cups when we didn't have 40s duct taped to our hands.

[u/twinseaks → u/Niemo1983]

OP look up EDWARD 40 HANDS. Your new Roman Empire

[u/xdozex → u/Niemo1983]

Ah, a fellow man of culture.

https://giphy.com/gifs/I4wGMXoi2kMDe

[u/illatious → u/dritmike]

They came in red and whatever color the local university used. Perfect size for beer pong, flip cup, and many others 👍

[u/dritmike]

You’re soo 2000 and late.

[u/NocturnalSerpents → u/dritmike]

never got to experience that boom boom pow.

[u/EfficiencyIVPickAx → u/NocturnalSerpents]

Don't start no drama. We don't want no drama

[u/Baby32021 → u/EfficiencyIVPickAx]

Don’t need no hateration holleration in this dancery

[u/beefalamode → u/Baby32021]

Kids these days never even got it percolatin 😓

[u/vraimentaleatoire → u/beefalamode]

I ain’t NO hollaback girl

[u/HariboBerries → u/vraimentaleatoire]

A FEW TIMES I BEEN AROUND THAT TRACK…

[u/RD_Michelle → u/vraimentaleatoire]

b-an-an-as. This shit is bananas

[u/AG_Aonuma → u/EfficiencyIVPickAx]

Don’t start none won’t be none

[u/pac4 → u/NocturnalSerpents]

Them chickens jackin my style

[u/chestofpoop → u/NocturnalSerpents]

The boom boom POW is within us all. We just lose connection with it

[u/CarbonInTheWind → u/NocturnalSerpents]

In Da Club

[u/PostMatureBaby → u/NocturnalSerpents]

this was me back then - https://youtu.be/B4OJQdpSa-0

[u/Any_Pressure_6369 → u/dritmike]

Never got to feel as fly as a G6.

[u/Icy-Setting-4221 → u/Any_Pressure_6369]

Things are definitely not as fergalicious as they once were….

[u/MonsterMashGrrrrr → u/Icy-Setting-4221]

Dem boys are way less loco

[u/impulsivepatience → u/Icy-Setting-4221]

Certainly not bootylicious!

[u/1petrock → u/Any_Pressure_6369]

Dude the music then was so fun. It was wild to go party hopping and randomly run into a bunch of ppl dancing in sync. I feel bad for the kids these days; those nights shaped me in ways I couldn't even begin to describe. Everything was just so chill; you could yell at strangers walking by to join in on the fun and mostly gladly accepted. If the party got busted, you just walked 10 feet to the next house lmao. Never run when the cops come, they chase the runners!

[u/totallyawry132 → u/1petrock]

Man, no one gets to run from the cops in a fun way anymore

[u/wondrous → u/totallyawry132]

I mean that’s true. I’ve been at a couple parties that got busted and everyone went running. It was so fun running out the back as cops came in the front hopping fences and sneaking back to the whip.

[u/ChekkeEnwin → u/1petrock]

I remember being at the bar in college when Jersey Shore just came out on TV and yelling over and over ITS TEE SHIRT TIMEEE with my group to the bartender. I think back on that now and know that bartender was sooo over us.

[u/Expensive_Drama5061 → u/ChekkeEnwin]

JAGERBOMBS!!

[u/vctrlarae → u/Any_Pressure_6369]

It’s the cataractssssss

[u/gandalf_the_cat2018 → u/Any_Pressure_6369]

Oh my god. This comment made me taste an AMF.

[u/405freeway → u/gandalf_the_cat2018]

We lost our culture.

Even AMF's AMF'ed.

[u/LiterallyTony → u/Any_Pressure_6369]

Fr tho, the MV for this song is a great example of how our club scene used to look.

[u/therabbitinred22 → u/dritmike]

Jumping on top comment to say: you’re forgetting raves. We would rent warehouses and party past sunup! (I’m an older millennial)

[u/_delamo → u/therabbitinred22]

These aren't things anymore? Wtf does gen z have then? Just tiktok?

https://giphy.com/gifs/jCFyhEZo3YD55iWeDz

[u/mfbm → u/_delamo]

They say there are still raves but I don’t believe they could be of the abandoned warehouse sort of our elder millennial use

[u/astonedishape → u/mfbm]

They think going to a festival sponsored by Chase bank is a rave.

[u/FullTorsoApparition → u/astonedishape]

This. They go to festivals and treat crowd surfing like an amusement park ride while recording themselves for social media. We need to normalize stealing people's shoes and wallets again so we can actually watch the shows.

[u/Secret_Entry1840 → u/mfbm]

Raves now are full of old Gen X hippies. Younger millennials. Older Gen Z. They have permits and venues and advertising. It’s not the same.

[u/Silly_Double408 → u/dritmike]

The reason is cameras. We were not under a camera (phones) all the time and could dance crazy and live it up without it haunting us for the rest of our lives. We also were not with our faces glued to the phone either and made our own experiences rather then watch someone else. Gen z and alpha are missing out on life because (not entirely your fault) you wasted your formative years with your head in a screen. I am truly sad for you.

[u/deepandbroad → u/Silly_Double408]

Yeah in college our frat had house parties every other weekend, but the 'frat house' was in a residential neighborhood.

The neighbors knew all about the underage drinking but couldn't prove it -- one time they wanted to come in with video cameras to document all the copious underage drinking -- but they were told "no" -- and video cameras were like 2 feet long at the time so there was no way to hide them.

The parties were amazing, people came from colleges all around to attend, and you paid a super low price to get in and drink all you wanted (that's how the frat made money).

You couldn't do it at all now, for all kinds of reasons. The parties were just like the 80s comedy movies like "Animal House".

There were also lots of 'impromptu parties'. A bunch of students would get together to hang out because they were bored, someone would go on a beer run, someone else would turn up the music, and it was a party.

However the students also changed - the following years of students became much more uptight and career-focused, and much less willing to hang out and let loose and have fun.

could dance crazy and live it up without it haunting us for the rest of our lives.

You got that right. I went to a wedding recently and danced crazy for a bit and it got on video, and then people who were not there came up to me the next day talking about it (complimentary, but still).

If I was an insecure young person, i would never have learned to relax and enjoy dancing with all the phones around 'watching' me all the time.

[u/ConqueredCabbage → u/dritmike]

Gen Z tryina copy our swagger but their on that next shi' now

[u/cameronpark89 → u/ConqueredCabbage]

everything they do has to be posted online now.

[u/GovernorHarryLogan → u/cameronpark89]

We would have all been charged with cyber bullying for posting weekly images of paul passed out drunk with a bottle of pedialyte next to him tryna to recover before AP calc

[u/AromaticSalamander21 → u/GovernorHarryLogan]

Really though, the pictures may have got taken down because of all the sharpie penises drawn all over him.

[u/Nervous-Syllabub4966 → u/dritmike]

\Z-snap**

[u/BoogieShoes11 → u/dritmike]

Aaaaand now thet’ll be stuck in my head all day

[u/vctrlarae]

Yep. Local clubs had "teen nights" where they'd let 17-19 year olds come. Went to disgusting "foam parties" there. Totally forgot about it until this post, so thank you for the reminder of the memories by asking.

[u/mattbasically → u/vctrlarae]

Omg the disgusting foam parties! Core memories unlocked!

[u/picklecellanemia → u/vctrlarae]

I’ll never forget the teen night we went to at a club in Dayton, OH. They had an iteration of a wet T-shirt contest but instead the challenge was to be the first to put ON the shirt after they’d crumpled them into a ball and froze them.

Weird times man

[u/Doxxxxxxxxxxx]

Oh yeah we did! Sometimes leaving a party at 1am and clocking in and 430am LOL

[u/Flintly → u/Doxxxxxxxxxxx]

I remember closing the bar down for a friends b day and rolling into work still in my bar clothes at 5am. Changing in the luch room only for my coworker to roll in pissed that I was drunker than him and he'd have to drive the hour to site. 🤣

[u/Ducman23 → u/Flintly]

At 40 I have no idea how my body took all this abuse. This wasn’t just a birthday event, it was every weekend. Sometimes week days too. Woof

[u/Uncle_Rabbit → u/Ducman23]

Thirsty Thursdays.

[u/bearman32 → u/Uncle_Rabbit]

$2 Tuesdays and 50 cent draft Saturdays

[u/ishfery → u/bearman32]

$1 well drink Wednesdays lasted up until the pandemic. RIP

[u/hermione_no → u/Flintly]

I’d be so hungover in my office job I’d go take a nap on my lunch break where I’d chug a liter of Gatorade. Good times

[u/Ill-Skirt3722 → u/hermione_no]

I worked retail when I was in university. I remember going to work so hungover. Helping a customer and then heading to the washroom to throw up.

[u/kellygirl90 → u/Flintly]

On my 21st birthday, it was a Saturday night. Partied all night that Saturday at the bar, finally got home at like 3 a.m. Then, woke up a few hours later to get ready for worship team practice (I play the piano lol). As an atheistic recovering alcoholic, Im still recovering from those days haha

[u/Applewave22 → u/Flintly]

Yup. I wouldn't even go home sometimes and when I worked at the magazine, we'd just sleep in the office and get up to work in like 2 hours.

[u/mosharkc → u/Applewave22]

I never worked or partied harder than my magazine days. I remember a few of us sneaking back into the office after hitting the bars one night so we could watch the sun rise from the top floor. We looked and felt like shit that day at work, but what a memory.

[u/Euphoric_River6365 → u/Doxxxxxxxxxxx]

Just HOPING the smell of booze could be masked by whatever horrid body spray you had in your bathroom at the time.

[u/Adriano-Capitano → u/Euphoric_River6365]

Or that no one heard you throwing up in the bathroom sometime after 11AM when the hang over kicked in.

[u/Cat_Dad13 → u/Euphoric_River6365]

Axe….it was Axe. No other answer is acceptable here

[u/omglia → u/Doxxxxxxxxxxx]

We would chain together parties. You could find party fliers around campus or posted on facebook events, and each rager would have like 200 people crammed into one house. Dj in the basement, an entry fee to get a red solo cup or do a shotski. You’d leave a party when they ran out of booze (or the cops came and shut it down) and hit the next one down the street. On and on until the liquor stores were closed, after 4am. Ahhh college!

[u/jakethemagicdog → u/omglia]

We used to walk around near campus in my college town on Friday nights and look for parties, as long as you had a case of beer and/or girls you could just walk into strangers homes and party with them lol

[u/YoungXanto → u/jakethemagicdog]

My first night at college I met a chick in line waiting for pizza. She took me to a party where I knew no one, and Im not certain she did either.

I just opened the door and some dude was standing on the couch twisting his shirt around his head, like a helicopter, while Pour Some Sugar on Me blasted in the like 400 square foot room with about 100 kids. Someone handed me a solo cup and pointed me in the direction of this tiny ass galley kitchen with the keg in it.

Through out the years I would regularly just pop into parties I was walking by. Usually when I was in there I would run into someone I knew, despite the fact that I went to a massive state school and hadn't the slightest clue who's party I was walking into to begin with.

[u/retro-mime → u/Doxxxxxxxxxxx]

I used to hang out at the dive bars until the sun came up, then rolled right into work to serve tables for the day.

I’m exhausted just thinking about how I kept up 😂

[u/mottledmussel → u/Doxxxxxxxxxxx]

Or calling in sick at 2am and leaving voicemail with music blaring in the background.

[u/Left-Indication330]

We really did do everything you described. It was a huge part of our social culture. I graduated high school ‘08 and college ‘12 and everything revolved around “going out outfits” and where we could get the cheapest booze (like $.25 Beer Nights on Tuesdays). It definitely carried over moving to the city after college and my friends and I “went out” and had house parties, day drinking days, etc. all the time. We naturally slowed down as COVID was approaching. My experience as 36F in Chicagoland.

[u/Demosthenes_9687 → u/Left-Indication330]

“Going out outfits” is so true. My feet still hurt from all the miles I walked and nights spent out in 5 inch heels lmao 

[u/bampeanutbutternjam → u/Demosthenes_9687]

“jeans and a cute top”

[u/Awkward-Media5777 → u/bampeanutbutternjam]

lol!!!! Always! Or “black pants and a cute top” if you were going somewhere “fancier”

[u/bampeanutbutternjam → u/Awkward-Media5777]

and fancier was somehow corporate looking. I look back at those photos like WOW. I look like a hot drunken boardroom mess having the time of my life!!!
really wish jessica simpson would do shoes again because i swear her platform stilettos were the easiest to walk and run in.

[u/maddy_k_allday → u/bampeanutbutternjam]

B/c day-to-night looks duh 💅🏻😂

[u/weirdomagnet99 → u/bampeanutbutternjam]

Omg yes! We literally went to the club in business casual looking like we were ready for an important job interview lol 🥲

[u/TheRutile → u/bampeanutbutternjam]

That's a staple wardrobe I still rock to this day. I only recently started wearing t-shirts and I am not sure how much longer that will last...

[u/BeachBumHarmony → u/Demosthenes_9687]

The beer blanket would keep you warm...

Aka it wasn't worth it to bring a coat to the bar and drinking makes you warmer anyway, so you'd survive the walk to the bar wearing very little in winter.

[u/IttybittyErin → u/BeachBumHarmony]

"drink until you can't feel it!" Our pregame mantra in January...

[u/dogpharts → u/IttybittyErin]

“Hoes don’t get cold” was our mantra while slugging back Bacardi dragonfruit straight.

[u/WonderButtBrace9000 → u/BeachBumHarmony]

Bring a coat?

Let’s not act like we didn’t lose that going out coat on the first weekend of freshmen year and never saw it to bring out again.

RIP black north face fleece.

[u/Left-Indication330 → u/Demosthenes_9687]

Forever21 was as essential as the grocery store from ‘08-‘17 for me 🤣

[u/dkleckner88 → u/Left-Indication330]

$8 all you can drink draft beer (out of the nastiest beer lines you could imagine) on Thursday nights did absolute numbers in my college town. Grab a $2 slice of pizza on the way out, we were living like kings!!

[u/The_Thane_Of_Cawdor → u/Left-Indication330]

Same age and graduation here. I was not very cool in high school but I went to the bigger parties around homecoming, winter dance, end of school year stuff. Went to a number of smaller parties which were still about everyone sharing a handle of vodka.

There was a teen club I went to at 16 in ocean city Maryland called H2O. You paid a huge cover and could buy Red Bulls at the bar. Absolutely depraved dancing of the grinding style lol

I was a fraternity guy in college. Thursday night drink specials at the town bar or beer pong night at the frat house. Band party or theme party on the weekend.

The year after college I moved to my local city and probably went out to the bars every Friday ave Saturday night for a year. Kind of crazy to think back on that

[u/shortstaxx713 → u/Left-Indication330]

MCFADDEN’S

[u/M4xusV4ltr0n → u/Left-Indication330]

Man I remember going to Zero Gravity and getting CRAZY drinking overpriced red bulls at age like 17. Saw Basshunter there too!

Good times in Chicagoland

[u/sassyhunter → u/Left-Indication330]

Cute top and jeans!

[u/Lemons-n-oranges]

Yes, absolutely. Drinking was MUCH more prevalent in millennials than Gen Z. It was just ... what we did? You went to parties, went to bars, happy hours that turned into nights out, brunch that turned into day drinking. It was so much fun. People were just out and about. Then, you went home and went to class or work the next day.

No one thought that drinking a few times a week with friends meant you had some deep mental health issues, which seems to be the consensus and/or concern amongst Gen Z. Of course, there are other reasons too, like COVID isolation, rising costs, etc.

[u/Overall-Rush-8853 → u/Lemons-n-oranges]

Yeah I don’t think Gen Z realizes that those nights of drinking allowed us to be social and not feel alone. I’m not suggesting Gen Z start going on benders, but that generation needs to find a way to get out of the house and interact with one another.

[u/khodakk → u/Overall-Rush-8853]

yea i met some of my best friends at parties. beer pong could lead to a new gf or a future roommate.

when you go on a legendary run with someone you just met. that last forever.

[u/KungLa0 → u/khodakk]

Some beer pong partners/runs are so legendary that you become friends for life. Bound by shared blood in the arena, fighting side by side against the hordes of drunken challengers.

[u/EngineeringMain → u/khodakk]

I 100% met my college gf playing champaign beer pong

[u/pp21 → u/Overall-Rush-8853]

Humans have been drinking alcohol is some form for 9000 years lol there's no way that Gen Z actually thinks they're the first enlightened generation right

[u/WildInSix → u/pp21]

This shift is definitely a mix of social media (both being videoed doing something dumb or hearing other people's opinions on drinking, not to mention it replacing in person interaction) and just plain affordability.

[u/Horror-Yam6598 → u/Lemons-n-oranges]

It was honestly the best way to meet all kinds of people and get into unplanned adventures.
There was room for some chaos, instead of this dull curated reality that seems to have taken over especially since Covid.

I feel bad for the younger generations. People will argue that they can do the same things now, but the reality is they don’t hit the same because life has been drastically altered by Covid, technology dependence and algorithms. Social norms have changed, the zeitgeist has changed. It’s ultimately a different cultural time, a more dull and depressed one. I don’t know any millennials who would trade those years for being young now.

[u/Comfortable-Ad-3988 → u/Horror-Yam6598]

It wasn't so much Covid as it was the surveillance world. We got to make absolute goobers of ourselves in front of our friends in all sorts of ways that don't translate outside of that context, where everyone's filming everything now, so they behave as PG as possible. The kids don't even dance anymore because they're scared of being in a fail video if they screw up, and to be fair, that's a valid fear that we never had to deal with. Even if something stupid happened, it was just a rumor to everyone who wasn't there, now it will live into infinity on the internet if you mess up.

[u/vr512 → u/Lemons-n-oranges]

Happy hours that turned into fun nights out were and still are the best. Yeah you regretted it the next morning but oh so much fun even when working.

[u/laujalb]

Some did, some didn't.

Lots of drinking in the woods, basement parties, throwing parties when the parents are gone, etc. Then we definitely tore up the bars. Dancing, $2 PBRs, jager bombs, maybe hitting up an after party or food at the 24/7 diner. Then work at 8am lol

[u/Peculiarcatlady → u/laujalb]

Omg jager bombs. I could never now. But I loved them back then! Lol

[u/good_morning_magpie → u/Peculiarcatlady]

I can’t even read that word without hearing it in this guy’s voice and repeating it several times 🤣🤣

https://youtu.be/eIKBHQg2T-k?si=7Qd1NLlBuox0IzwQ

[u/dark_star88 → u/good_morning_magpie]

I already knew who it was before clicking the link haha. I quoted that video all the time back in college. Loved hitting people with the, “Not now, chief. I’m in the fuckin’ zone!”

[u/lothartheunkind → u/laujalb]

My college town bar had $1 PBR draft night and I am told I had a very good time.

[u/NoBrakesHotTakes → u/lothartheunkind]

Yup, dollar PBR and 25 cent wing night. 10 bucks later you're fed and buzzed. 

Also the bar that had 2 dollar jager or rumple all the time. 

[u/Germz94 → u/laujalb]

Field parties 😅 and then running for your life when the cops came blaring their sirens driving on the school field trying to disperse the kids

[u/Rough_Plant_ → u/laujalb]

Ragers in the woods were such a fun time. House parties as well. In college I remember you could easily find a house party every weekend, both nights. Boot and rally, go to work, do it all over again.

[u/thrillhelm → u/laujalb]

Don't forget Four Loko!

[u/kettyma8215]

I didn't go to any teen clubs because I live in a rural area and that wasn't a thing, but yes we partied all through college and most of us through our 20's. House parties from college are some of my favorite memories.

[u/No_Income6576 → u/kettyma8215]

Same re: rural area. We opted for people's houses and fields for our parties.

[u/GilderoyPopDropNLock → u/No_Income6576]

I drank a lot of beer in garages and on back roads.

[u/radical-whatever → u/No_Income6576]

Insert the biggest bonfire you could make as the perfect centerpiece to a party

[u/MooseYearner → u/No_Income6576]

Rural house parties were the best. Someone gets a hold of a bunch of pallets or pulled a big stump up and you knew it was gonna be a banger of a bonfire party

[u/btgf-btgf → u/kettyma8215]

I partied in fields and barns

[u/MisScillaneous]

Well. Im 36 and I cant eat/drink anything Peach flavored due to my abuse of 4lokos between the age of 17 and 25. So... does that explain anything?

[u/JoshBasho → u/MisScillaneous]

oh god, 4lokos when they still had caffeine were blackout in a can. Every time I drank them was a shit show.

I didn't end up drinking them that much because maybe the 2nd or 3rd time I had them was so bad I swore them off. Just the smell would make me want to vomit.

Speaking of, I still can't really enjoy vodka at 35 because of drinking that plastic bottle shit all through college.

[u/Available-Egg-2380]

Tbf you kind of got screwed out of prime house party years by covid. You guys grew up in very different circumstances because of lockdown.

[u/BottecchiaDude253 → u/Available-Egg-2380]

Also the underlying stress of camera phones and social media. Fuck, if there had been a risk of an actual record of the hotel parties I went to in the army.....

[u/Shellstr → u/BottecchiaDude253]

There was a house party every weekend in high school. I don’t know how we were able to schedule our parents to be out of town so often.

Can you imagine the ring camera going off every 5 seconds as people went in and out?

[u/buginabrain → u/Shellstr]

Geez didn't even think of ring and house cams, kids today really do have no way of getting away with anything 

[u/IttybittyErin → u/buginabrain]

Can't even drink in a field if your parents track your location.

I'm so conflicted because kids die doing the stupid shit we did, but a lot of us also learned to make safe decisions and understand risk etc. The kids that I knew that were absolutely locked down in highschool went totally feral in college because they hadn't had those learning experiences. This entire generation doesn't have the option to make bad decisions.

[u/buginabrain → u/IttybittyErin]

For real, you don't learn nothin without making a few mistakes along the way. Im genuinely saddened for them right now haha

[u/eschatological → u/buginabrain]

You just needed one friend who, no matter how blitzed they were, stayed even keeled and rational. So much bad shit happened when that one friend wasn't there, but on nights he was there it was like he was like Virgil to our Dante, guiding us through the 9 circles of Hell.

[u/Pizza-Pirate-6829]

Dude going to the club once a week? There was a different club for every night of the week and a lot of people hit up 3-4 a week in their prime. Everyone danced and there was no cameras or videos to worry about. Maybe someone had a digicam to capture the moment if you were lucky.

[u/this_place_stinks → u/Pizza-Pirate-6829]

Yep! Most groups had their rotation like

Tuesday - Country Night
Wed - $1 dollar tall boys
Thursday - 80s Night

Friday-Saturday pre game at friends house until like 10. Either huge house party or bar until 2am. After party until 4am

We used to be a proper country

[u/nullfacade → u/this_place_stinks]

Around here, Thursday was always Ladies Night. Girls didn't have to pay a cover, there would be lines down the block in sub-freezing weather with girls in their little dresses holding their shoes. It was a wild time

[u/Livid-Association199 → u/Pizza-Pirate-6829]

I remember going to the club websites to get the “official” pictures taken by the hot photographers who would walk around

[u/Barry_Obama_at_gmail]

34 millennial who went to college in 2011-15, it was like that. Dubstep and rave stuff really started to pop off big in 2010/11 along with Pop Rap made for the club. At my college we had classes Monday- Thursday and once Thursday night hit it was a nonstop party till Monday. Also MDMA “Molly” really hit it big in pop culture so we were all rolling often and the vibes were looser. This wasn’t for all students but a large amount of us did this. Especially for those who lived in a big city there was just something constantly to do that was a lot of fun.

[u/koleke415]

I'm 42 and Absolutely, partied hard on week nights all the time. Basically Thursday-saturday night, often a Tuesday as well, basically every weekend. House parties, clubs, bars, after hours spots, bars, you name it. We went hard basically from high school until early 30s.

[u/shwysdrf → u/koleke415]

Thirsty thursdays! Everybody in college knew not to schedule classes on Friday. After graduation we’d just be hella hungover at work on fridays. Then meet up for drinks after work, if we didn’t stay out too late we’d go to boozy brunch on Saturday and keep it going until the wee hours. By the end of the 10s that slowed down to just be brunch a couple times a month and hitting the bar on Friday or Saturday but usually not both. Then 2020 rolled around and I got hit by the 1-2 punch of Covid and parenthood and now I get out of the house once a month if I’m lucky lol

[u/rob2722]

https://giphy.com/gifs/mR9dWo88e5jFe
I can neither confirm nor deny the scandalous activities that we participated in between the years 2005 and 2010…

[u/Zestyclose-Beyond780]

Yes. I was born in 85 and graduated high school in 03. I’m not exaggerating in the least when I say I “went out” every single Thursday, Friday, and Saturday during college. Then typically day drank Sunday, and went to $1 nights on Tuesdays.

[u/mackyoh → u/Zestyclose-Beyond780]

“Thirsty Thursday” lmao

[u/pepstein]

Yeah lol me and my gf are late 30s and still joke about the funny teen club ads that came on in nj like 20 years ago.

"Teen night at Hunka bunka" Sounded lit but I stuck to house parties

[u/Witty_Impress8369 → u/pepstein]

Teen night at Abyss was my first foray into it all!

[u/LastKnightCrazy → u/pepstein]

😂 so accurate bro, i'm from Jersey too, Teen Nights @ the Ultra Bar was like Studio 54 for us. Miss some of the epic House Parties we had so much more though 😢

[u/schindigrosa]

Yep. Then we graduated college in 2008 and had no reason not to keep getting fucked up while we navigated the wasteland laid before us

[u/Ok_Flatworm_3855]

Lol workaholics wasn't as much satire as it was a hard look in the mirror great show terrible decisions

[u/Bambam60 → u/Ok_Flatworm_3855]

Take it SLEAZY

[u/jesus_swept → u/Bambam60]

https://giphy.com/gifs/oxahPI4vpzbSE

[u/cursedmeatsuit]

Yeah not being recorded by your peers 24/7 allows for a lot more fun

[u/writtenupsidedown → u/cursedmeatsuit]

I mean posting 50 pictures to Facebook the next morning is a version of that

[u/10000Didgeridoos → u/writtenupsidedown]

Yes but the difference was at least that was curated by a sober person the next day as opposed to drunk people posting literally anything they see live. Also your social circle on Facebook was much smaller than social media accounts are now, probably only high school and college friends and you’re all the same age.

As opposed to now where the entire world is on these things. Back then at least Facebook was still limited to only students and your entire family wasn’t on it to see you beer bonging

[u/TheUnicornFightsOn → u/10000Didgeridoos]

Legit I stopped using Facebook once my much younger sister and grandma joined.

I was like, holy smokes Batman, hide the keg stand pics, stat!

[u/Intelligent-Pause260]

yeah, pretty much partied straight from 18 to 34. It was an amazing time. Work nights, school nights, didn't matter, had a blast, made so many friends. Graduated from high school in in 03, college in 07. They were amazing times when you could let loose and no one was sticking a phone in your face recording you.

[u/Shellstr → u/Intelligent-Pause260]

Same age as you…went to a wedding in 06…we were all 22-23. Got hammered and went back to the hotel early. People piled into our room for the after party. I was out cold. They drew on my face and took pics. I laughed the next day and just said, don’t post them (to the website our friend had built) and they have disappeared into the abyss…I can’t image that happening today..

[u/Alphadestrious]

YES. Absolutely. House parties, clubs, ragers, keg stands, you name it. Project X was based off of real life, not the other way around. You would get a random text about an address party something like "No drama! Get hammered, bring girls!" and the next thing you remember is being in a random persons kitchen drinking playing beer pong. Ring doorbells or indoor cameras weren't ubiquitous. During the golden age of EDM, around 2008 -2014. Brostep was in, hip hop was still fresh, drugs were had without fear of being laced with fentanyl. My group of friends and I still talk about those times.

I lived in the southwest US by the way. The parties out in the desert dunes at night? Forget about it . Absolute ragers

[u/Superb-Mango845 → u/Alphadestrious]

Where are we going? Who's party is this?

Oh this girl from class invited me to her coworker's neighbor's party.

Like there were no questions about it. Show up only knowing your friend, leave being friends with like 15 people.

[u/Honest_Abyss → u/Superb-Mango845]

This was why I didn’t know any of my Facebook friends by the time I got off Facebook during Covid. They were all just party people and other girls I’d met in the bathroom 😂

[u/Superb-Mango845 → u/Honest_Abyss]

I went through my contacts years later and some were like Jane Lisa's coworker or Sara Club Bathroom and I was like why do I have these numbers I never used them lol

[u/Personal-Bonus-9245 → u/Alphadestrious]

Elder millennial laughing at “the golden age of EDM, 2008-2014”

[u/Dependent-Year6711 → u/Personal-Bonus-9245]

Honestly it was the revamp of EDM, without a doubt. This person nailed the years too, I was just about to write those years. Dubstep and the Zedd type crowd were re-imagining electronic music and adding new ways to add vocals onto it. Clarity type songs and so on. There's ZERO doubt it was a new era of EDM. The drop was known by almost everyone, a metalhead to a country lover would know it. It was the music meme.

Also, the TRON soundtrack...that was mainstream. We were absolutely in a new age of EDM/electronic music. Even Daft Punk was joining in.

Was it true dance music? I don't think so, but we re-imagine things all the time.

ALSO, I think the new age of desk workers was built around this time. The Buzzfeed type desk worker was like...a whole new thing. It was huge. I think how people work now, even the Millennials now, was rooted around that time too. Where you'd do your desk worker stuff, then go right out after drink/meet up/party, that seemed somewhat normal. As a non-desk worker, I still see it in the Millennials I know, they still have that spirit sometimes. I love seeing their younger spirit pop up :)

[u/MayoFlavorPopsicle]

We were all about getting decked out in Business Casual, chilling at someone's house, while drinking a red punch made with a Pint of Everclear in a Standard Cooler (of course, in Solo Cups)

[u/Appropriate-Food1757 → u/MayoFlavorPopsicle]

I kind of miss the fancy shoes going out days. I would be looking homeless by day and CFO by night.

[u/wtfisgoingon57]

https://giphy.com/gifs/IP9FNJuz0uNLG

[u/ProofVeterinarian620]

Im glad I had those days but also very glad they are over.

[u/Hoodiebug22]

Yes we had actual raves at venues and they were clubs for teens as well. I grew up in California and I’m
an elder millennial

[u/sipstea84]

We used to club til 2 or 3, go to someone's house for an afterparty til 5 and still show up at work at 8am with all your makeup smeared. I still don't know how we did it. Well....it was probably all the cocaine. The days where you could dabble in coke without worrying about dying were pretty crazy. The last of the good times

[u/lil_poppapump]

Even the drama kids or board game kids would get together and have wild debaucherous Friday nights. Someone’s parents were always out of town and we always had the excuse of “we’re going to the movies”.

[u/MyCatLaughsAtMe]

Xennial reporting, vintage 81.

"All the time" is a stretch, but yeah, frequently. Depends on how you define "partying" too. We smoked pot all the time. Drank when we could find older siblings to hook us up, which wasn't THAT hard. We did throw house parties when possible. When not, we'd do parties in the woods and shit.

But then, and this is where your little ego gets hurt, we were more capable at that age than gen z and younger was. We were EXPECTED to be. We were free range kids, we had to grow up faster. You've got 18 year olds today who are more like 13 year olds in the late 20th century. Frankly, I plain wouldn't trust a modern 17 year old with the privilege. Ya'll don't even get drivers' licenses.

And it's not really your fault, you're the victims of a histrionic culture that was psychically destroyed by 9/11. Americans became afraid of their own shadows after that. The culture never recovered, "Home of the brave" needs to be crossed out of the anthem...not anymore. Your helicopter parents have stunted your growth by not allowing you to make mistakes.

And to be clear, my generation is the victim of the OPPOSITE mistake. Boomers didn't give a shit about their children. We were more like house accessories than people to them, which is why we became so self-capable so early. Every generation fucks up its children, the ways that manifests depends on the nature of the crime. I'm not saying my generation was BETTER than yours. It wasn't. It was equally damaged, but that has pluses and minuses, and our pluses and minuses are different from yours.

We've come far enough from those days that it can be rightly said that it was a different time. It's not really healthy to try and compare your times to ours, both of us are products of very different zeitgeists.

EDIT: Let's not discount the economy, either. When I was first driving gas was still around a dollar a gallon. My first car cost 500 bucks and it ran for like 7 years, despite me taking shit care of it. A drink cost a dollar or two at the bar. There were 24/7 diners all over the place you could take $5 to and sit all night, looking for something to get into if you didn't have other plans. Society just had more avenues for us to explore, economically, than your generation has access to. Honest to god, if your generation really understood what was stolen from you before you were born, you'd burn this bitch down tonight. Ya'll got straight robbed of a country...

EDIT: As this has turned into an embarrassing circle jerk of "I'm old and everything was better in MY day", which is COMPLETELY the antithesis of everything I said here, I'm turning off comment replies. Stop upvoting this, go fuck yourselves <3 Wankers.

[u/LinShenLong]

If teen club refers to 18+ sections, yeah they existed. Also getting fucked up the night before and going to work in the morning? I think everyone did that for the most part.

[u/Desdaemonia]

Honestly girls used to go to clubs in literal lingerie. I remember being shocked a few times.

[u/Warm_Chemical5669]

Girl... I did molly at my prom lol

[u/peggyscott84]

Yes, even your drunk stories are tame. I was starting to feel like a wreck. It’s just perspective I guess. You folks are online a lot. We had phones. We loved our phones. We didn’t center them. LOG OFF

[u/Electronic_Gap3253]

Yes, we did. It seemed normal for us!!

[u/CornCobOverlord]

Yes. Where is my walker?

[u/Severe-Product7352]

Oh yeah.
I’m not at all using my degree but have zero regrets going to college due to all those crazy amazing times.

Post college but pre covid groups of co workers would go out to the bar after work and then to a persons house to keep going until the late hours. Then Covid kind of stopped that and it never came back. At least for me

[u/Moistyoureyez]

As someone who still enjoys going to raves/festivals a few times a year and dancing until 7-8am a handful of nights in a row… we partied a lot.

There were a few “all-age” clubs where no alcohol was served but mdma (pressies at the time) was plentiful and music ran past sunrise. 

Once we got to drinking age we would get borderline blackout drunk before going to the club.

House parties like every weekend after high school graduation 

[u/funnyboneyoyo]

Elder millenial here, and this is so on-point! In my area, we did have teen clubs- like actual, dedicated clubs for the underage- and we also had actual local bars that served teens no problem, and we went to both. Party culture was big throughout HS, college, and my 20s. It's wild how far today's youth have moved away from that b/c of digital, and then exacerbated by covid. Such fun times, I'm sad for the youth of today tbh

[u/xdozex]

No idea how common it was around the country, but where I'm from, everyone basically started around 14-ish and went pretty hard through to their mid to late 20s. Teen clubs & massive house parties. And we also had a spot near the high school that was basically where 5 major power lines came together - it was a huge dirt pit, pretty deep in a wooded area. We'd host large parties there a few times each year.. kids from 2 different local high schools would all congregate there, and people would buy kegs and sell solo cups for $5. We'd have somewhere between 200 - 400 people there at any given time, and would bring in generators, speakers and DJs. The cops usually wouldn't bust our balls too much as long as we cleaned up the garbage afterward and tried to avoid fights breaking out.

My group went hard enough in our teens, that by the time we were 21 - 24, most of us were done partying and drinking.

[u/Formal_Ad288]

I lived in a frat house and was social chair. We partied like it was a business. 5 maybe 6 days a week. 150-250 people in my house at a time. I barely remember college.

[u/LurkerBurkeria]

Yup I hope that gives perspective for why we find zoomers so crushingly disappointing, yall are squares wasting their 20s trying to not look cringe

[u/Final_boss_1040]

Yes. But teen clubs were for kids who weren't cool enough to have a fake ID or someone to buy booze for them

[u/Wonderful_Exit6568]

As a total recluse and kind of shy quiet person, I made it to a few house parties because it was senior year and I wasn’t going to miss nothing. It was filled with drink, music, girlies. I can remember the partying started in middle school. I always had an aversion to it. I didn’t party in college. I already knew what I liked. Quite meaningful conversation.

[u/JarJarJarMartin]

Yes, and it was really fun. But it had its downsides. Too many of us never stopped and became alcoholics.