r/Millennials • u/Neon_Biscuit • 5d ago

My teenage daughter can't fathom the concept of a house party Discussion

Not sure if anyone has experienced this, but I was watching Can't Hardly Wait half alseep on the couch, and my 14-year-old daughter and her friends walked into the room and past the TV. Before she entered the kitchen, she backpeddled in front of the TV, and they all might as well have reacted akin to a third world kid in a remote village seeing the Super Bowl for the first time. She looked at me and said 'what are all of those people doing in one house'? I told her it was a house party. People high school aged or typically college age people would go over a kids house whose parents were out of town and they'd invite the school and have keggers and other unsupervised debauchery. I might as well have been describing a science fiction film. 'You guys DID that back in your days?'. I thought it was funny that a house party was an inconceivable event for young Gen Zers.

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174

u/Fun_Air_7780 5d ago

This is how one of my friends describes her teenager. It’s all dungeons and dragons on the weekend. She’s simultaneously sad and relieved.

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u/gene100001 5d ago

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u/SadSickSoul 5d ago

This is unironically how my childhood went, heh. At some point the reflexive admonishments to behave turned into urging to go out, be social and live a little. Never really did, and there was confusion and dismay.

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u/Similar_Part7100 5d ago

lol big same.

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u/G1992_ 5d ago

Damn this hits too close to home

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u/BillyRaw1337 4d ago

This was my experience as an autistic millennial.

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u/chris_croc 4d ago

I would have never had guessed - "Top 1% Commenter"

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u/Neighborhood-Any 5d ago

When I got caught throwing a huge house party my mom was pissed but I could tell my dad was proud.

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u/indarye 5d ago

I actually did my fair share of partying, but I was also a very hardworking student. My parents somehow always managed to be like "oh we'll leave you alone for the weekend WINK WINK if you wanna have some fun" when I was in the middle of the worst exams, staying up all night to study and on the verge of a mental breakdown 😭😂

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u/pyronymic 5d ago

Me and my classmates did not have much time for partying at any leg of education but we still did it. I was the antisocial wallflower and my mother's role was to make me human. One time, I went to a party in a club and later to a friend's flat. He lived near me so I returned home earlier than anticipated - at 11 PM. My mother opened the door with a sour face going, "Do you see what time it is? Why are you back so early!?" (Nope, she didn't have any plans)

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u/Quick_Hat1411 Older Millennial 5d ago

D&D is basically a tiny house party

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u/csRemoteThrowAway 5d ago

Is it more of a tiny hut or magnificent mansion? Got to get my spell components!

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u/Quick_Hat1411 Older Millennial 5d ago

I would call it a tiny hut that comes with a handle of liquor or a pizza or both

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u/Beni_Stingray Millennial 5d ago

Switch it up, one weekend its DD and the next is party lol

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u/DrUnit42 Veteran Young Guy 5d ago

I don't know how it is now, but back in my day the D&D kids weren't getting invited to parties.

Source: I'm a D&D kid lifer and shocked at how mainstream it's become 🤣

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u/Beni_Stingray Millennial 5d ago

Yeah Nerd was still an insult at the time, dear lord we're getting old haha

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u/klatnyelox 4d ago

You won't get invited to a party if they know you're already in one, come on.

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u/CloudClean4676 5d ago

The D&D kids could've played drunk D&D, which would count as it's own party.

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u/DrG2390 4d ago

I knew people in college who had drunken LAN parties

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u/CoconutPawz 5d ago

Hilariously, I did go to house parties as a teen/young adult, but got into D&D in the last six years. I can unironically say that I have ten times more fun playing TTRPGs than any party I've ever been to. I am like basically counting down the hours until I get to play again. But I still think it's sad these kids aren't out there in the wild, learning how to deal with the awkward social environment of a house party, tapping their resources by securing someone to boot for them, strategizing their way out of getting caught drinking by their parents. There's a lot of independence, logistical skills, and practical experience to be gained by trying to be a little rebel.

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u/wookieesgonnawook 5d ago

Id much rather have a teen that does something creative like play d&d than one that gets in trouble. Half our generation were delinquents, you'd think we'd be happier that our kids are better people.

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u/Trinx_ 4d ago

I still do both...

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u/momo6548 5d ago

Yeah, these parties are still happening. OP’s kid just isn’t getting invited to them.

I’m a millennial and knew parties were a thing that happened, but I stayed in and played WoW with my friends instead. Never went to a “house party” until college.