Who among us hasn’t had a little too much to drink out of a cooler full of mysterious boozy red liquid at some random person’s house before the police arrive to tell everyone it’s time to go home (or else)? Devastatingly, it sounds like the answer to that question is: Gen Z. Recently, Zoomer Embarrassed_Knee1919 asked the r/askGenX subreddit, “Were parties like this ever a thing?” while also posting the image below from the movie Clueless.
The Gen X’ers responded by telling some of their favorite house party stories as well as expressing their surprise that kids today don’t seem to be doing this anymore. Here’s what they had to say:
“What do you mean, ‘parties like this’? It’s just a normal teenage party!? I feel so ancient and also so confused by this question.”
“Absolutely. Every weekend growing up, there was a massive party at someone’s house.”
“Yes! I grew up in Colorado, so whenever there wasn’t a convenient parent-free house available — or even if there was, but the weather was nice — we’d just have the parties out in the woods. There were a few likely spots: Up by the reservoir, or that one spot on the road up toward the waterfalls, or out at the hot springs… So great.”
“We had huge parties, but with less beautiful people, and the cops always eventually showed up.”
“Massive farm field keggers. Hundreds of kids. Always on some grandpa’s farm in the middle of nowhere. Always a bonfire, sometimes a band.”
“I had a small one once — maybe 15-20 people, and when my mother figured it out, I got grounded for two fucking months. How did she figure it out after we cleaned for hours the next day? People tossed a bunch of cigarette butts over the wall in the backyard, and the neighbor asked her if we could come clean them up. D’oh!”
“It was always more adventurous, I think, pre-cell phones, as you never knew who you might see there, as news of the parties was just passed on by word of mouth. No (or very little) risk of any video taken to incriminate anyone later, and social media didn’t exist. If you weren’t there, you missed the whole experience — no video to capture the moment.”
“My brother is a cop who patrols the same area he used to party in back in high school. He knows all the spots for outdoor keg parties and what suburban ranch subdivisions are perfect for large gatherings. He said it’s been at least a dozen years since he’s broken up a raging, ’80s-style keg party full of kids. Kids just don’t party anymore. Now, a big bust is finding three teens splitting a six-pack of White Claw in a park.”
The original poster, Embarrassed_Knee1919, replied, “I swear, hearing people’s stories just bums me out. Like, all my lame-ass friends wanna do is sit in a circle on our phones and vape. Is some weed and kegs too much to ask?”
The discourse made its way over to Twitter (X) as well, with many users saying they felt bad for the younger generation missing out. “I’m sad the youths are not having these experiences,” said one person.
“omg im so sorry to the young we have failed”
“[We] were the last ones to host parties when covid hit my highschool. … Feel bad for the younger end of Gen Z.”
Let’s give Gen Z some inspiration: If you’re a Millennial or Gen X, what’s the wildest house party you’ve ever been to, and what happened? Let us know in the comments. And if you’d like to remain anonymous (understandable when it comes to THOSE party stories), you can use the form below.