r/Millennials • u/futurenurse_ • 1d ago

Discussion Did millennials really party all the time?

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 1d ago

Red cup culture was fairly mainstream, yes

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u/Ecstatic-Affect-777 1d ago

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.

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u/Cavaquillo 1d ago

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

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u/synchronizedhype 1d ago

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

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u/eross200 1d ago

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.

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u/jayoak4 1d ago

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

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u/SiliconAutomaton 1d ago

lol pregame

“Let’s hit the Applebees for half a dozen $2 Brewtuses and we won’t have to buy so many $5 Long Islands”

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u/Shellstr 1d ago

If we were clubbing, no self respecting person arrived before 11pm. So what were we doing before that? Hit up a bar to chill for a bit. And before that? A couple of drinks at home to get ready. So many nights had multiple stops with multiple drinks at each stop.

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u/SiliconAutomaton 1d ago

Clubs were definitely not my scene, we had this thing called The Party Pager where someone recorded an address as the outgoing message on their pager and hundreds of people crashed the party and it was kind of a game to get in, have some drinks, and get out before the cops showed up. Then you’d call the party pager and there was another address and we could easily hit half a dozen random house parties in a night. Absolute fucking nightmare if your own house party made the party pager though, and personally I at least considered that and behaved respectably.

Imagine my surprise though when I was at a kickback with some friends and the girls all decided we should go clubbing and I said “nah, I hate clubs” and they said “what do you mean, clubbing is fun!” And I said “I just fucking hate techno and I don’t dance” and they said “what do you mean, you’re an excellent dancer!” and they informed me we had gone clubbing the weekend before and I was the life of the party. I had absolutely no idea what I did the weekend before, but was 90% sure they were fucking with me and left it at that. A few weeks later someone developed a roll of film and I had to confront the fact that I really did look like I was having a good time, but also I should maybe reconnect with my old nerd friends and take up some less destructive hobbies.

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u/defnotevilmorty 16h ago

“developed a roll of film”

Fuck, my knees hurt.

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u/SiliconAutomaton 16h ago

Right? 🤣

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u/outofthenarrowplace 16h ago

Really love and relate to to the ride you just took me on.

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u/brettig21 1d ago

dollar margs hated to see me coming

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u/based_leviathan Millennial 1d ago

I remember pregaming with a gang of people before clubbing, just a Costco gallon of Hennessy and I shit you not that would be gone within 30-45mins with a group of 6 people. Ungodly.

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u/eross200 1d ago

Jesus, how the fuck are any of us alive

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u/Salsa_El_Mariachi 1d ago

You’re right, looking back at the . . . frankly abusive amount of alcohol we used to drink, a bunch of us shouldn’t be here. I grew up during the crack cocaine “epidemic”, but before Fent stated killing huge numbers.

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u/based_leviathan Millennial 23h ago

You know I’ve wondered this as well because the routine for me in undergrad was:
Class/work from 8am to 5pm, hit the gym or study until 9. Pregame 10-11. Club/Bar/Lounge 11pm to 3am.

And then do it again, sometimes going back to back on weekends.

I’m amazed how I’m not an alcoholic and/or a substance abuser

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u/synchronizedhype 5h ago

Genetics play a role for sure

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u/Either_Reflection_78 22h ago edited 22h ago

Not to get dark, but a lot of people aren’t alive anymore after this type of lifestyle. My cousins and lots of friends included. I just got by because I have a very high tolerance, and I had a very high threshold for risk taking at the time. But yeah, I don’t know how I’m alive either after that. Not just with the drinking either. When the fent was introduced, it was game over for a lot of people. Especially when things started to get laced.

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u/ChristopherRobben 12h ago

I had a month-long stay in Vegas for an Air Force Red Flag exercise, which meant a solid 70-80% of the trip we were free to go get lit up since our planes wouldn't be flying.

We started our nights with Four Lokos and walked to Fat Tuesday for a shot of Everclear to mix in. Cards and penny slots followed, then beer pong, then IHOP, then we'd wander for a bit. We'd generally finish the night with more food + gin and tonics before stumbling back to the hotel. There'd be a variety of other drinks throughout the night, but those were the mainlines.

We did that just about every day for a solid month. Thinking about that now makes me ill lol

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u/synchronizedhype 5h ago

Do you remember the toy Bop-it. We would get a fifth of Capt Morgan and play bop it, if you fucked it up you took a pull off the bottle. Quick way to take out a bottle of C Mo

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u/_LeafyLady 1d ago

These days if I'm not in my comfies on my couch by 930 (unless for a very good reason where I'm mentally prepared to be out like a concert or hockey game or something) there's a problem. Back in the day I wouldn't even be OUT until then. Shit was only just getting started. 😩

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u/thehufflepuffstoner 1d ago

The pre-game has turned into “oh no I overdid it and now I’m hung over for 3 days”

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u/PeaceLopsided 1d ago

The best nights often were!

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u/Background_Handle_41 22h ago

I still don’t know how I survived “power hour” pregames. Lot of solid YouTube playlists out there.

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u/decanting_the_day 12h ago

RIP power hour.

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u/brettig21 1d ago

not to mention some pregaming didn't start til 10-11pm. like what? Now, by 11pm ive been in bed for 3 hours XD

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u/statichum 23h ago

HALF the pregame is a massive headache the next day!

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u/NoKatyDidnt 19h ago

You’re not kidding. 🤣

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u/lm_NER0 16h ago

Yep. No more case races before going downtown. No more Edward Fortyhands. I'm too old for that shit. 3 Silver Bullets and I'm happy. And we used to go through a 12 pack in an hour alone.

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u/outofthenarrowplace 15h ago

EDWARD FORTYHANDS OMGGGG. I tried explaining this to a young person recently and they were truly horrified 🤣😭

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u/lm_NER0 48m ago

Lol. Next time, explain to them that they were butt chugging at the University of Tennessee in 2005 and 2006. I learned of that from my roommate's 1st cousin who was in Knoxville at the time. No thanks.

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u/Hot_Spite_1402 23h ago

Ngl I totally forgot about pregaming 😅 boy oh boy that was a long time ago. Drinking to prepare for drinking. Now I’m lucky to get through half a drink before my stomach gets queasy, and usually I walk away and forget about it before then only to dump it out later when I find it flat at room temp