Back in the mid-2000s when Thanksgiving Eve was dubbed the biggest party night of the year
Posted by lordskulldragon@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 100 comments
Anybody remember that? I remember first hearing it and thinking, Since When? And for some reason it stuck. Then it vanished when covid came. Now I'm starting to see it again because today.
Throw-away17465@reddit
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is supposed to be the biggest bar day of the year. That’s anecdotal, not sure where I heard it from. And personally that may be hard to believe compared to New Year’s.
But as far as I know it’s true. Everyone comes home for the holidays to a place that they don’t live at, and have to face a day or longer with relatives they may not want to be with. So I get it
CommercialPhone69@reddit
Don’t forget no pads full contact football on before the meal was served
mcfetrja@reddit
NYE is amateur hour. Night before Thanksgiving is when the pros get back to basics with all their OD’s- original degenerates. TBH most of us should have aged out of this behavior a few years ago. To those still going strong, have fun and try not to pick up a DUI.
BugEquivalents@reddit
I know so many people from high school that ended up getting DUIs on Thanksgiving Eve. The 22 year old in my office refers to tonight as Blackout Eve
Cactilily@reddit
Luckily we didn’t. We had mass transportation in Brooklyn which ran all night long, albeit you may have to wait an hour for a a bus or train. Those were the days. Now I’m excited to be in bed by 8:30 🤦🏻♀️😩😂
flexcabana21@reddit
Was a DJ in the city, always a great time.
BugEquivalents@reddit
We didn’t have mass transit, taxis or sidewalks. Small town problems 😩
hahnsolobolo@reddit
Its Blackout Wednesday, ala Black Friday
BugEquivalents@reddit
I’m just saying what she called it.. your version makes much more sense 😂
Logical-Locksmith178@reddit
Amateur night !! Better chance of getting laid than new years !!
shinysquirrel220701@reddit
We now have the benefit of being able to call an uber
tipping@reddit
A lot of people go to house parties for NYE though. Espsince NYE tends to have exorbitant cover charges. Thanksgiving eve is different
chargeorge@reddit
I feel like it’s for very specific age ranges, like 22-35 and visiting family out of town
6BigZ6@reddit
I fucking loved Thanksgiving for years in my 20’s because we would go out on Wednesday with everybody from our home town, a fucking shit show, then people would disperse to other parties. Thanksgiving would be with family, then Friday was sloshball, ending at the same bar from Wednesday night. Saturday was then Friendsgiving which usually rolled into Sunday football. It was 5 days of debauchery, before most of us had kids, and it was a blast.
VaderK8@reddit
I can’t upvote this enough
jayseventwo@reddit
And also country 😂
Gorkymalorki@reddit
Right, tomorrow I gotta cook a bunch of shit, get my kids all dressed up and drive across town and spend the day with a ton of family. No way am I doing that hungover. That sounds like an anxiety attack waiting to happen.
sarahteenagedream18@reddit
It’s wild how certain trends just disappear and then pop back up like nothing happened
drgath@reddit
Point is that trend didn’t disappear, you just got old.
Final-Fun8500@reddit
This is how it was in my home town. Everyone back visiting and still young enough to party. Now I have too many kids, dunno what the party people do.
FL3TCHL1V3S@reddit
I’m currently at the bar.
sorrymizzjackson@reddit
Excellent user name.
Logical-Locksmith178@reddit
Was thinking this today !! And now, 6 hrs after my current bedtime, im sitting in my kitchen sippin white russians thinkin ' still got it !' Lmao
sorrymizzjackson@reddit
I just woke up and having a mimosa watching the family stone. We totally still have it!
I went to my first bar the day before thanksgiving and had two coronas with a guy I had a massive crush on. I was 19.
These days I just have wine at home with my husband, lol.
Micklikesmonkeys@reddit
It’s still that way, but officially “Blackout Wednesday.”
rodneyenmac@reddit
I have a group of friends that call it Wild Turkey Wednesday and do shots of Wild Turkey 101 at a different bar around town every year
moissan2nite@reddit
My college friends used to have Wasted Wednesday. But every Wednesday, not just pre-Thanksgiving.
FiveCrappedPee@reddit
Taco Tuesday, wasted Wednesday, right in to thirsty Thursday. Fucked up Friday, sloshed Saturday, and then church on Sunday of course and that is all.
blueblue8282@reddit
E used to get shitfaced on Mondays and called it chess club.
TBShaw17@reddit
We always called it Skanksgiving.
Nature_Hag@reddit
My 23yr old taught me about this yesterday.
Guess where she is tonight...
Micklikesmonkeys@reddit
Same, but I’m also a former bartender. We used to talk about this like some grizzled war vet. It was chaos, but the money was worth it. Even back then I would walk with $500-$700 in tips, but sooooo much drama and minors trying to be shady with awful, flimsy fakes because it worked in their college town.
sllh81@reddit
Blackout Wednesday!
Ok-Necessary123@reddit
This was definitely a thing in my 20s, first when coming home from college but then also when others came home for the holiday weekend. Fast forward a decade not so much as peoples parents have retired and moved elsewhere or they have established their own lives in their own towns and don’t come “home” any more.
I loved thanksgiving in my 20s. In my 40s the holiday itself is meh but I love the long weekend off.
Comfortable_Tale9722@reddit
Hell yea! It was the unofficial HS reunion for everyone coming back into town. We had a local hotel that hosted the party and called it the turkey bash.
Honest_Tutor1451@reddit
Was literally at a brewery tonight doing a little Friendsgiving thing with some pals and there was a 10 year HS reunion happening. I desperately wanted to crash their class picture when they announced it.
chunkybudz@reddit
This. Many very wild memories of both the night before Thanksgiving and the night after. I hated going back home, but Thanksgiving was something I very much looked forward to.
Rare-Treat-2727@reddit
Yes, so fun. We always went out Thursday night after spending a long day with family and ready to go see old friends and have some drinks.
Putrid-Art-1559@reddit
When my son graduated high school last May he said this would be the last time they were all in the same building together.
I told him, oh no! Just wait until the first Thanksgiving and Christmas break when you are all 21 and back home from college. It’s a fucking class reunion at the bars!
ItsDarwinMan82@reddit
It’s still is in my area. I haven’t gone out in years (at least 15-20 years) but in the Boston area, people my age 45+ were flooding the bars the tonight. I was snug as bug, watching Stranger Things.
anOvenofWitches@reddit
The Thanksgiving hangover was a tradition from like 1995 to 2010 or so. I don’t miss it. Serving THC mocktails tomorrow!
Spencerforeman@reddit
THCocktails.
strippersandcocaine@reddit
I’ll never forget having to turn down deviled eggs (my absolute fave) on Thanksgiving because I was barely holding it together. In that moment, the entire family just knew. I was 18, first Thanksgiving Eve of college went hard.
That’s when my angel of a stepmom pulled me aside and taught me the magic of baking soda and cream of tartar (basically homemade alka seltzer)
BoognishRising82@reddit
We called it "Wild Turkey Wednesday", which was the style at the time.
cranberries87@reddit
I heard of this over the past two years or so as something that was a thing back in the day. I don’t actually remember this happening back in the 2000s when I was young.
ScottClam42@reddit
We always had a Big Wednesday party. Ages 20 - 37/38 then everyone had kids around the same time. Now after bedtime I just smoke a bowl and watch The Last Waltz like a good dad
CreativeFedora@reddit
I joked with my wife tonight that we should go out and get blacked out. 🤣
CROBBY2@reddit
Is it wrong that in Wisconsin we just call it Wednesday? We are drinking regardless what tomorrow brings, lol.
pedestal_of_infamy@reddit
Shit, my family coming to Thanksgiving dinner could probably drink the Wednesday crowd under the table.
Total_Ordinary_8736@reddit
I said Wild Turkey Wednesday to a 30 year old yesterday and they looked at me like I was a boomer
Equivalent_Public_41@reddit
So I got bored and went down to the local watering holes. Each one was packed ear to ear with 20 somethings. So yeah, it's still a thing.
ElectricPenguin6712@reddit
Still a thing in Buffalo. Not for me. I'm too old for that shit lol
Bushwazi@reddit
We call it “Valley New Year” where I grew up.
Ill_Tour_7294@reddit
I remember going to a bar in my early 20s that had half price drinks every Wednesday for men and women. I went every week. I had no idea Thanksgiving Eve was a thing. I got there the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I remember having to pay a cover and it being packed. That was a shock. Needless to say, drinks weren’t half price that night. This was in the early 2000s
nonexistentnight@reddit
My cousin owns a bar, says it's the busiest night of the year.
ScreenSensitive9148@reddit
In my hometown, it was Christmas Eve Eve— the night before Christmas Eve. Everyone was in town and at the bars
debaser64@reddit
I remember being freshly 21 and visiting my friend in Brooklyn and being pumped to go out TG eve, but when we went out everything was dead and we realized that no one was actually “from” Brooklyn and they were all back where they grew up.
LateEvening6026@reddit
My hubs was a bouncer back in the day and he said the bars were loaded the night before, the night of and the night after.
ArchSchnitz@reddit
The youngest child has a music lesson on Wednesdays, and quite often I'll entice my wife down to the local bar for one (1) drink while we wait.
It's usually half full, lively but no wait.
Tonight it was packed, loud inside, and a line for drinks. Probably out of towners visiting family.
Good to see them busy, hated the noise.
whereitsat23@reddit
I just asked my wife if it was still a thing
Iceprincess1282@reddit
Oh it’s def blackout Wednesday! Been working in bars/restaurants for years and it’s always one of the busiest nights bc people come home to see family and get blacked out to deal with them 😂
Slevinkellevra710@reddit
It's always been known as amateur night.
TheFoxandTheSandor@reddit
It was so much fun revisiting with all your friends and going out til 3 or 4, then feeling awful on thanksgiving. So much fun
Practically_Hip@reddit
Still is. With or without you.
Cmama2Boyz@reddit
Yes, I remember. But tonight my old ass is drinking hot tea with magnesium for perfect sleep. I’ll consider day drinking tomorrow instead at the turkey trot.
CliffGif@reddit
My Gen Z daughter is back from college and out partying. She actually asked me as a GenX whether I was familiar with this tradition and I said no was not familiar with it.
PositiveFroyo9790@reddit
Blackout Wednesday!
Coco_Cokie_Cookie@reddit
Best time to get drunk and run into your ex
Southside_john@reddit
It’s the hometown suburban bars that were busy. Chicago and its bars turn into a ghost town. If this is still a thing it’s going to take a significant hit with Gen Z.
ChiefSampson@reddit
I mean in my younger years I partied for any reason.
Taskerst@reddit
It was like that before the 2000’s. Do you think the bar scene began when people born in 1983 turned 21?
Puzzleheaded_Sky7341@reddit
Oh man I remember Reeds in Blue Bell, PA (defunct for years and still for sale) was THE Thanksgiving Eve spot.
Saw an old classmate Kelly that finally got her teeth fixed and so many of us were drooling over her and she absolutely soaked up the attention, who could blame her? lol
Adventurous_Pin_344@reddit
YES! I am in the Bay Area with some dear friends from HS this year, and one of them and I were recounting our NYC antics Thanksgiving Eve 2006. If anyone is familiar with Rudy's Bar in Midtown West, that should tell you everything you need to know... I fortunately had nowhere to be on Thanksgiving, but she had to go to her aunt's, which was rough.
EmmalouEsq@reddit
It still is, we're just the old people who stay at home while the kids go out and have fun.
FoodHasMyWholeHeart@reddit
It literally still is…
sassooal@reddit
I was thinking about posting something along these lines and then I sat by myself and drank two beers at an empty bar.
nightrunner900pm@reddit
48 years-old, and I did this every time I came home from college.
SweatyPalmsSunday@reddit
I have an older brother who I remember saying it was a big bar night when I was 18 in 1997
emotyofform2020@reddit
I’m going out tonight.
oflimiteduse@reddit
Definitely a big party night in my hometown when I was in my 20's.. I think it's mostly for the college aged kids or recently moved away folks that still have some connections when they go back to their hometowns.
Now, I mean I haven't drank for years but I couldnt care less about running into 90% of people I knew from home.
Wissmaniac@reddit
Thanksgiving Eve has always been the year the small town VFW’s are at their fullest like a massive high school reunion. I’ve been to many; even some for towns I wasn’t from! Always a great time!
NBKiller69@reddit
Coming from Kansas, I never heard that before. I only ever heard it was a popular holiday for singles and maybe some folks trying to cut the stress of the Thanksgiving dinner
worksnake@reddit
https://i.redd.it/lf296pik9p3g1.gif
shinysquirrel220701@reddit
The bar I worked at in the early 2000’s was always packed on Thanksgiving Eve and we opened at 8pm on thanksgiving because so many people were looking for a place to escape to. I always volunteered to work because we made bank!
JessMacNC@reddit
I had one of the wildest nights of my life on Thanksgiving eve in my hometown. God bless America
bgva@reddit
When I was in college we'd either hang out at someone's house and/or IHOP. Once I hit my 30s we'd do a little bar-hopping but I don't think I've gone out on Thanksgiving Eve since about 2019.
blove135@reddit
I don't remember a lot about the Thanksgiving eve parties I went to but I do remember quite a few pretty terrible Thanksgiving day hangovers.
Gwendolyn-NB@reddit
Yes it was, and still is in certian circles/cities.
I met my wife thanksgiving eve, at a bar, in the cobblestone "district" in Buffalo some 16 odd years ago. Sabres Hockey Night with the Edge.
illinoishokie@reddit
Blackout Wednesday
Debtastical@reddit
My 21st birthday (in 2004) was thanksgiving eve!
PersianCatLover419@reddit
Did you get very drunk? When I turned 21 in April 2004 after university classes I went to a bar and ordered a tonic water, bought a six pack of mixed dark and lager beers, and drank two at home with dinner. I did not get drunk just buzzed.
OwnPlatypus4129@reddit
Skanksgiving.
knivesofsmoothness@reddit
Hell yea! Starting in the 90's though. We used to party hard on tgiving eve. Also the rest of the weekend.
impliedapathy@reddit
Never heard this before. I’ve heard of thirsty Thursday though so maybe it’s the same thing idk
facedownasteroidup@reddit
um yeah, my husband just asked me yesterday what we were doing for blackout wednesday lol
PersianCatLover419@reddit
I sort of remember this it was for high school and university students on break, reunions, homecoming parties, people visiting family members, etc.
xargos32@reddit
Doesn't sound familiar to me at all. 🤷♀️
Gloom_Pangolin@reddit
My ex and I made it a tradition to seek out the seediest dive we could find. The best, a bar next to a strip club that didn’t serve booze so all the patrons and dancers would come in to get shots and arrange other transactions. Also the local outlaw MC hangout. And the icing on the cake, a super white trash family that came in frying balls because they’d spent their holiday dropping acid. I doubt I can ever top that.
InformationAny643@reddit
I remember it being the Friday following Thanksgiving being for reunions and parties, not the night before.
HughJuvula@reddit
BBNOTY!