Yes. My wife also puts Sharpies next to the stack of Solo cups so everyone at the party can write their name on their cup.
Sometimes they’re blue
That is most definitely a well established thing in the US going back decades: I can’t count how many house parties I went to in college, birthday parties when I became a parent, etc. where they had red Solo cups. I would describe them as ubiquitous.
its a common thing for parties, not just for beer, but for birthday parties, barbeques, holding even solid food.
Red cups are like yellow school buses. Both are real.
And largely used by children.
how else are they supposed to sneak booze?
They use cups? Do they put a nipple on it too?
only if they’re Irish.
Theyre also handy for mixing expoxy or paint.
We use red Solo cups everywhere, not just at parties.
Yes, if you’re at the sort of party where there is a keg of beer, or at a large family picnic especially. They’re the standard disposable cup for situations where the hosts wouldn’t have enough cups for everyone and don’t want to deal with potential loss and breakage.
Also the Solo brand is popular for its structural integrity and perceived measurement lines. Now, the company claims that the distinct cup width changes aren’t for helping measure liquids for various alcoholic drinks so one can measure a shot versus a glass of wine or a glass of beer. However, I think that’s a bit of a legal cover.
And even if it truly isn’t for measuring a perfect shot for making a cocktail, it STILL IS a perfect equal measure if you want to hand out shots to a group of people. May not be a full shot but no one gets less or more than others.
Yeah, they aren’t good because they’re some specific unit of measure. They’re good because they’re consistent and fit the need. That’s how measures are crested in the first place. They aren’t magical things that exist in nature that we found. We just needed to measure something, so we used something convenient on hand that fit the task.
Naw. Not exclusively. They come in lots of colors now.
Yes
Yes, but not just parties. Parties using red cups are historically going to be drinking parties for younger people like “keggers.” Red cups are fairly ubiquitous for lots of events like picnics, cookouts, birthday events and the like.
I can’t say they’re used at all parties, but they’re pretty common.
It’s a real thing we do…is that weird?
I think everywhere else in the world, the go-to plastic disposable cup is transparent, I don’t really see the red ones unless someone has gone out of their way to get them from an American importer for some reason (usually beer pong, funnily enough)
Those transparent cups are also significantly smaller than these lol
How big are they? The ones I have in mind are usually either 500ml or a UK pint (568ml)
I thought the solo cups were American pint size (473ml)
The ones I have in mind, the non-american transparent plastic disposable cups, most commonly seem to be 200ml.
You can probably get a 200ml (7oz) cup in the US pretty easily still but the most popular search results for “disposable plastic cup” in US sites seem to be 12-18 oz cups (340-511ml) where as the same search query in, say, German sites return the transparent 200ml cups very consistently.
Oh right, I think I basically only remember seeing that size in the UK in those cup dispensers on the side of those office water coolers, which now I think of it are something I’m also seeing less of these days.
One advantage of red cups is that you can more easily see names written on them with a Sharpie.
I mean I don’t really go to that many parties (shocking news, Lemmy user doesn’t like parties, also the Sun is hot and water is wet), but when my parents throw parties, usually they get whatever the cheapest disposable cups are.
I think the clear cups are becoming more common in the US. They are far flmisier though. This isn’t a huge deal, but I guess it makes sense why solo cups are preferred for beer pong.
White power in the Netherlands
Very occasionally transparent but yeah 99% of disposable cups you get here are white (and too small imo)
The adherence to one type of cup is the weird thing. Most other places it seems there are many different types of cups, so there wouldn’t really be any trope about a particular cup, because it would different from party to party depending on what they bought.
Most people don’t care about the color. For whatever reason the factory started making them in red so that is what people bought. Other colors exist if you look for them, but there is rarely reason to look. People just grab something cheap and move on without thinking. If the red was sold out they would grab the blue.
For a long time they were the cheap but reliable type of disposable cup. Also very common, like qtips and Kleenex.
No idea if that is still the case, but they were common for a good reason.
Yes. The rest of the world uses glasses because we’re adults and we don’t hide the glassware from our friends.
The only time I ever see disposable cups used is at kids parties, or to play beer pong.
You all really have enough glasses for 30+ people?
No joke one of the things that caught me most off guard moving to Germany is that when you go to a party it’s normal to bring your own cup. I’m sure there are exceptions, but most I’ve been to are like that
wait that’s a great idea. if it’s a unique cup you don’t have to worry about writing your name on it
Of course i do my family has eaten more than 30 glasses of mustard in my lifetime
We hire glasses for parties.
https://eventhireuk.com/product-category/tableware-hire/glassware-hire/
Your parties are much fancier than mine if you’re doing that
You never go to parties where there are more people than storage space for cups? Americans often do this. Often at a park. We can get this in a 100 pack for the cost of of 4 real glass cups.
One thing that gets me is someone i know has real cups, but they always use disposable plates and cups for parties with lots of people because they work in a restaurant and don’t want to do the dishes on their day off. So i sort of judge but also i get it.
It’s not just the work of washing them, it’s the logistics! You can fill up a dishwasher or sink really fast.
Kind of weird to be simultaneously so aggressive and so wrong.
I’ve been served drinks in disposable plastic cups at bars and parties across Europe and Asia.
Yes of course, my hundreds of personal parties attended are invalid evidence compares to your personal experience of several commercial venues (which is not even what was being discussed).
I don’t care about downvotes. Parties full of red plastic cups is a very American phenomenon - and also in countries that have low environmental concerns and use a lot of single-use plastics. All through Europe, Australia, NZ, Japan, its far more common to use glassware or bring your own cups. I’ve only been to a few keg parties because it’s no cheaper than buying cans/bottles unless you’re running a really big event like a wedding - and even then, proper glassware or washable plastic schooners are included in the hire contract (kegs are hired and must be returned).
You’ll note I did not only specify bars and other commercial establishments, but also private parties at homes and in outdoor spaces.
It’s also extremely presumptive (and flat-out wrong) to assume I also don’t have hundreds of examples of this.
Finally, I’d draw your attention to the fact that I never said “red plastic” in reference to usage outside North America.
All in, you really suck at reading bud. You should also take a look at the way you process people disagreeing with you and your anger issues.
Have a nice day and maybe try to be better than you were yesterday.
Haha… OK pal. Have a great one.
I appreciate the fire
, but in my parents’ house we invite more people than we have glassware, plus it’s less dishes to wash (which yeah, we should just wash the goddamn dishes and not create more single-user waste, but I don’t throw parties myself).Re-reading my comment it was way more aggressive than it meant to be. I think I laid on the sarcasm too thick after reading the latest Trump bullshitery. Anyway, appreciate your comment.
We culturally usually bring our glasses to parties if we are drinking something that needs a glass (eg Guiness, Kilkenny) if the gathering is over a dozen people. Keg parties require hiring the keg - and glassware (or washable plastic schooners) are included in the hire price. Kegs aren’t any cheaper than buying by carton/case here unless you’re doing bulk kegs for a wedding or something (Australia - we have a significant alcohol tax).
Upvoted, but it’s “fewer” in this case (countable)
So … in a situation like the OPs picture, you’re using glassware? I’m a backyard bbq/party, you’re using glassware?
When we sit down to dinner with friends/family, we use normal glasses, but when we’re having large get togethers we use the disposable cups. In my house, we’ve switched to aluminum ones though as they can be reused and when they get too difficult to clean, they can be recycled, but they’re basically the same thing as the red solo cups.
Yeah generally. Or everyone is drinking from cans / beer bottles. Keg parties are not a common thing for your average BBQ or your average student party.
It’s not like there aren’t other disposable cups used, but yeah, very common
They’re the first hit for “plastic cup”. They’re cheaper than the clear version. You can get store brand, or Solo brand if you want to go posh.
Solo brand if you want to go posh.
You have a VERY different definition of “posh” than any I’m used to…
And now I’m imagining Victoria Beckham drinking $10000/bottle champagne out of name brand disposable cups 😁
Reminds me of when my brother and I were 18-20 and asked our upstairs neighbors, Wanda and Lou from Austin, to help with buying us a case of beer for New Years Eve. They asked what kind we wanted and we said Budweiser. Wanda said “oh, splurgin!”. I guess standard was Natural Light or Busch or something and she saw Budweiser as somewhat elite.
Did you consider she might have been being sarcastic?
No, because the way she said it made it clear that was not the case. Also, they did typically drink cheaper beer like Schlitz.
It’s not like you suggested something really classy, like Coors Banquet.
Ever read the text on the Budweiser label?
“This is the famous Budweiser beer. We know of no brand produced by any other brewer which costs so much to brew and age. Our exclusive Beechwood Aging produces a taste, a smoothness and drinkability you will find in no other beer at any price.”
(emphasis mine)
I drank cliquot veuve (? I think that’s how you spell it) out of a red solo cup one new years.
Veuve Clicquot. Nearly all the right letters, just the wrong order.
… that’s…the same definition. What do you think that’s referring to?
Those cups became very popular in the 1970s, particularly amongst younger people living at home or going to college. If you and your buddies from college were having a big party, you could buy a sleeve of cups and a beer keg a have a good time. I remember going to parties like that. The law said people were not allowed to sell alcohol without a license, so to cover the booze costs, the hosts would sell cups at the door that people could drink from.
I sincerely think that Red Solo Cups beat out other disposable cups are because of the lines. They are actually measurements that you can use to measure mixed drinks if you’re not drinking beer or wine.
That doesn’t look like any Solo cup I’ve ever seen. The lines and profile are completely different.
This is what I’m used to.
I don’t think those lines could be used to measure anything useful
They can.
Easiest one is… add as much ice as you wsnt, thrn fill up to the first line with say, Jack, then up to the second line with say, Coke.
so to cover the booze costs, the hosts would sell cups at the door
I … what?!
Selling the booze is a crime - selling the cups is not. Loophole!
Ahahah… yep, helped plan and host a few such uh, ‘events’, where we employed this extremely legal tactic.
That and ID checking. Still can’t legally serve a minor, even if the booze is free.
These aren’t parties in the sense of house party thrown by friends. These are essentially large "open’ events hosted by a group.
I’m sorry that you haven’t known people with large houses and lots of friends of friends of friends.
You absolutely can throw a house party where you know you’re gonna need to buy a couple hundred cups.
And ideally, you’ll be playing Daft Punk Is Playing At My House at your house.
I never heard of this. Not at an age where this affects me anymore, but cool if true. Meanwhile, I will poor shots in shot glasses if we have company and just down my liquor without measuring otherwise.
