The Scandals of Silly Bandz

[@sqweegee5299]

imagine creating the first silly bandz to promote sustainability for some guy over a decade later to try and market environmentally unsustainable NFTs of your concept

[@octogonSmuggler]

Tis the way of American businessmen. Take a good idea and ruin it.

[@panmoncada7257]

Honestly I haven’t used more than 10 rubber bands in the past couple years when I really think about it and this could’ve worked because you just get a couple cute ones and try to take care of them

[@RadikAlice]

It completely escaped me, but God. That's an irony as powerful as summoning a meteor

[@dibberz-v1z]

"environmentally unsustainable" lmao, nfts are a lot of things but they are not harmful to the environment, at least no more harmful then your computer or the server that keeps your favorite website afloat

[@jasperjazzie]

@@dibberz-v1z do you know how they work or do you think they just pop into existence or smthn

[@cincorolo8488]

You should do a video on rainbow looms!! Similar to silly bandz but more of a crafty take on the concept. I don't know what caused the 2010s to have such a rubber bands obsession 😅

[@cloudwyrms9752]

Oh my god I remember those. I have terrible coordination and was never into any sort of weaving/bracelet making, but I still have a friendship bracelet my friend made with it that’s almost a decade old lmao

[@factoringpractice]

i remember kids trading them on the playgrounds lmao

[@velvet561]

loom bands had me in a CHOKEHOLD in 2014

[@ClairesWears]

Former Rainbow Loomer here, it was such a fun time and I really miss it. I'm definitely keeping my looms and bands to teach my kids someday haha

[@bluetimesskyrii]

I wish I got to finish making mine. A nurse at a hospital let me make my own loom band while I waited for an appointment, and I remember only using green-colored beads as it was my favorite color at the time. But then it was time for the appointment, and when I got back I couldn't find the nurse or where the loom bands were being made. One of the greatest tragedies of my early childhood. (Well, it felt like one when I was a kid.)

[@justsomeguy898]

my school banned these because someone put one around their neck (the bracelet, not the bigger necklace one) and cut off circulation. the kid was ok, but the school didn't want to take any more risks. everyone was *PISSED*

[@witchassbitch3]

My school banned them because kids figured out how to use them for gambling on the playground

[@justsomeguy898]

@@witchassbitch3 same school as my original comment banned Beyblades because of gambling lmao

[@ember_flux]

DAVE STRIDER JUMPSCARE

[@GwyndolinOwO]

HOMESTUCK My school banned them because kids kept flinging them against the room. Some of the guys would also put on so many bands onto their arms that their hands and fingers would turn red. Teachers were not a fan. People tried to sneak them in but as soon as a teacher saw them they would take them and probably throw them away. People were upset but after a while we went back to sneaking gum to school (we also weren't allowed to have gum in middle school because kids made a huge mess out of it and would constantly make loud pops during study time)

[@spiderharmer69]

dave

[@Vailskibum]

I was already losing respect for Silly Bandz because of the TikTok but NFTs?! 💀 Awesome vid!!

[@Denneth_D.]

Seeing Vail here is fuскin surreal.

[@bumblebeeproductions1673]

VAIL???

[@ScribblesYT]

VAILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL slay

[@Chica6614]

Soon Vail is gonna comment on every video

[@chingus420]

this is how you know the video is good

[@fishfinn8689]

I remember being obsessed with silly bandz but oddly enough I don't have many actual memories of playing with them or anything. My most prominent memory is showing up to my grandparents house absolutely decked out on my entire left arm and then having to explain to my grandparents what a silly band was and show them how it worked. I remember I had a palm tree silly band that I was really into for some reason and I sat on the living room floor of my grandparents just stretching it and letting it snap back over and over until they understood that's literally all you could do with a silly band.

[@sexygirlmax2019]

i love this lmao

[@squirrel670]

Lol

[@MoodyMickey]

I don’t have too many memories either. I remember one of my cousins had some and gave me a couple because I didn’t have any. And then I asked my parents for some. I normally got knock off brands. And I don’t remember wearing them to school. I didn’t have manny so maybe I was scared of losing them or something

[@LemonJellyJ]

Lmao this is so funny because the palm tree one was the only one I remember ever having.

[@catholiccontriversy]

My main memory of Sillybandz is I was on a boy scout campout and one of the mom leaders needed a hair tie for her braid and one of the boys said "will a silly band work" and she used the band the entire campout.

[@midnightgalaxy886]

That’s amazing 😂

[@lucasgarcia8285]

Hero energy

[@BeetleBuns]

be prepared, as they say

[@Ziaberry]

That's adorable tho lol

[@colleenwilliams1689]

Thank goodness some of those bands were useful!

[@PotatoVampireTaco]

I remember in middle school my friend flung a silly band across the cafeteria and hit a kid in the face, he dropped his tray of food on another kid who got mad and they both started fist fighting causing a huge ruckus and having our ketchup privileges taken away for a week. 😭

[@KingFluffs]

Ah yes... but no doubt it was all masterminded by the kid who's father worked in the factory which made all those tiny ketchup packets! So he became the ruler of a burgeoning black market for condiments.

[@FXFGamer]

I totally believe this made up story 😍😍😍

[@theinventiveidiot]

Not the ketchup privileges 😭😭

[@Poodleinacan]

LMAO!

[@Poodleinacan]

​@@FXFGamer How are you going to eat your fries? Like a peasant, without ketchup?

[@darkninjafirefox]

I had 1 as a kid back when they were big, it was a pig given to me by a friend. Aftter they were banned from my school, my teacher saw it on my wrist and confiscated it, saying I could get it back if I brought my parents after school to get it. I wasn't going to drag my parents there to get a rubber band, but it bugged me a lot cause I wasn't even playing with it

[@zetta_bytess]

Let’s say it together everyone! 👏 GROUP 👏 PUNISHMENT 👏 SHOULD 👏 NOT 👏 EXIST 👏

[@gabriellagehman3220]

@@zetta_bytess YES

[@gabriellagehman3220]

You weren't even playing with it! SCREW SCHOOL!

[@TheFemSniper]

what a bitch honestly, if somebody wanted to take away a gift from a friend that I received i'm stealing it back and taking it home, punishment be damned.

[@pawpatrolnews]

Are you sure your friend wasn't trying to send you a message with the choice of silly band given to you?

[@mynameisreallycool1]

The rise and fall of the Silly Bandz has to be one of the most absurd and kind of hilarious business stories of all time. Kids being convinced that silicone rubber bracelets shaped like guitars, animals, and baseball bats were the coolest things ever, kids flocking to Wal-marts everywhere just to buy a bag of twelve rubber bands, the Silly Bandz trading market being taken VERY seriously by every kid in 2010, the Kardashian Silly Bandz, serious arguments being made over them, schools banning these oddly shaped rubber bands, kids immediately not caring about them a year after they were a trend, the stickers, the video games, the Silly Bandz girls on Tiktok, the attempt at creating a "trend" of begging employees to let people trade food for silly bands, the ASMR videos, the influencer affiliate program, Sway House partnership, the NFTs. All of it. You can't make this stuff up. It's insane.

[@Kenz-the-oakes]

Ik right like,… I guess I could see somewhat how beanie babies were more actually valuable but, rubber bands? Just straight up rubber bands?

[@sayonarameaninggoodbye]

Kardashians < Silly Bands

[@panmoncada7257]

It’s just the collecting/hoarding mentality, the idea that you have to get them all and the best ones and it’s colorful so. The resurgence is so weird how do you do asmr with a silly bad 😂

[@illogicalgarage8641]

Silly bandz dropped off Years before tik tok asmr and NFTs

[@ChrisChrisChrisChrisChrisChris]

Thank you for the summary

[@giantpinkcat]

Silly Bandz were practically a staple from my childhood. I remember getting some Silly Bands from one of my first babysitters after school when my parents would drop me off at her house. She... definitely was a teenager from that time tho.

[@chrishansen5784]

Im a 90s baby. I remember silly bands coming out in 2005 when i was in 5th grade and then became really heavy and mainstream in 2009

[@felsiccanis]

God I always wanted Silly Bandz. I remember my mom never liked them for some reason and never let me have any. My friends gave me some from the princess pack and some random dolphin ring. Idk where they went but I genuinely miss them. They had a certain smell that's so nostalgic to me

[@sexygirlmax2019]

my dolphin ring was my fav on god...

[@squirrel670]

If they were silicone, then I'm sure you can find that smell again easily....with any proper and slightly questionable purchase

[@BrainsofaWeirdArtist]

She probably didn't like them because it could take off your circulation if you put too many on your hand/neck.

[@panmoncada7257]

I loved the rings they were so cute 🥺

[@Blanco_Meow]

In 2010 I was in college and going to music festivals and raves…… I cannot tell you how many of those silly bands I would come home with after an event. My arm would be covered in them, I never bought them but ppl would pass them out or trade them there all the time. Rave culture loved them

[@dommiesgrl]

I thought when I clicked on this video that it was literally gonna talk about the rumors back in the day that silly band colors you wore were secret code for certain sexual encounters you'd had. It's such a bizarre & vivid middle school memory for me, no idea if it was at all widespread or not, but either way, what a wild thing to look back on...

[@renieme]

When I was in middle school around 1997 everyone wore jelly bracelets and the same color equals sex acts rumour existed then.

[@octogonSmuggler]

I remember that! They did that for those little circular bracelets too, but if someone broke one, you had to that thing with them. I stopped wearing those out of fear lmao.

[@marinablack181]

"Literally gonna talk about"

[@RadikAlice]

Something tells me this was based on the actual practice in prisons of wearing your pants low with colored handkerchiefs hanging from the back signaling what you're sexually willing to do

[@kittykittybangbang9367]

I never heard about this until now, tell me more about it

[@ImaginaryAlchemist]

What really bothers me are the videos featuring pets. Rubber bands are *very* dangerous to animals if they eat them, and it can often lead to death. Someone might think it's cute to put Silly Bandz on their pet's paws until the animal ingests them and gets sick or worse. Animals typically don't like having things on their paws or legs so it's very likely they'll use their mouths to remove them. It's dangerous and irresponsible to promote that. It just really pisses me off when people use animals for clout like that.

[@SN64YT]

I agree with your thoughts on that. It's honestly very stupid and trying to make others to do the same thing too, which can lead to some stupid consequences with some unknowingly person without any common sense just make their pet that they love die due to some stupid promotions and wanting to do the trend for clout with Silly Bandz showing something that can cause problems, which is very careless and not cool. :(

[@gracekim1998]

God they don’t seem to realise putting ANYTHING on their paws is bad😨

[@animeloveer97]

​@@gracekim1998well not every thing. Shoes are pretty much required where there's hot pavement or your dog will roast their feet

[@kiittykiiwii]

All I could think about was the potential pain the puppy could feel from how silicone could tug on the fur, especially since it seemed to be on the curlier side. These are also amazing points!!

[@honeyafterdark]

I remember how silly bandz got banned at my school, there was a rumour going around that the bands were made out of used condoms and that caused parents to flip out, there was an assembly officially announcing that silly bandz and surprisingly pokemon cards were being banned.

[@Nshadowtail]

Pokemon card ban isn't surprising at all, except in that it didn't happen until silly bandz were a thing. They got banned at my school back in like 2002 because of arguments over trade value; I'm pretty sure that was a common occurrence.

[@clyne8835]

The pokémon cards were also made from condoms

[@rra7490]

god parents are dumb

[@lunarequine7734]

Hahaha I remember that rumor, some kids used to bully me for collecting silly bands because of it

[@Sina189overlordessOfdarkness]

@@clyne8835 BUT NO! IT WAS WOOD

[@adrianen4644]

I remember kids taking pride over silly bands circulation marks. I had a few silly bands but would get frustrated with how uncomfortable they were to wear, and how easily they broke- especially the tie dye unicorn that I got from a gum ball machine that snapped as soon as I tried to put it on lol. I usually just left my collection in a pocket in my backpack since I couldn’t comfortably wear more than three at a time.

[@mcsomeone2681]

If they really want to revitalize the brand they should release an extra large version that could comfortably fit larger wrists

[@michellesm1nd]

they banned them at my school for circulation issues actually haha. the principal said u couldn’t wear more then 4 on each wrist or they would cut off the circulation in ur arm. we literally had to sneak them in due to being checked at the front gate EVERY DAY. what a time

[@sillybeanthing]

Same! It was kinda hilarious, but it wasn't even something that happened at my school, they feared it could happen so they instantly banned it lmao

[@britishchick09]

I was in second grade when these were popular and it was the first big trend I remember. I bought a pack... and they were banned in school right after! I remember hiding them in my backpack and trading some during recess when the duty aids weren't looking. It was an exciting time! ;)

[@SocialExperiment232]

Oh you were just a baddy weren’t you 😂

[@plzstop6749]

This was wholesome

[@smallfryfury]

in elementary school my friend went to trade a kid his DS for the other kids whole silly bandz collection (it was huge). The other kid gave away his silly bands early in the day but my friend was gonna wait till the end of the day to give the other kid his DS, so the teachers didn't get mad over handhelds during the middle of school. By the end of the day the silly bandz kid forgot about the trade so my friend kept his DS and gained a humongous collection of silly bandz.

[@mahougesu170]

Honestly I'm impressed that a kid FORGOT about the prospect of getting a DS in exchange for some silicone

[@abbycollins]

@@mahougesu170to be fair, some kid traded an Oreo cookie for an iPad before so it’s probably just dumb kids not knowing the value of things

[@przyjaznekrzeso8188]

I still have mine. I'll never forget the day when I finally got my mom to buy me a pack and one of the bands immediately broke when I was trying to put it on my hand. That was truly disappointing.

[@TI_Tajador]

I still have mine too! I was too guilty to give them away.

[@jessicaantonucci3720]

Same but then the first pack (was late also) was stollen

[@getsouped]

i still have my silly bands collection!! theyre all in a big ish box with all of my jewellery. i collected and traded them like a fiend bc they were super cheap and accessible, so when i did my chores id get to pick out a pack or two at walgreens. i specifically remember having the tom and jerry set which was highly coveted by everyone at school, partly because i refused to trade them. i wanted something good for my t&j silly bands, yknow? i could only ever find the one pack, and i never saw another t&j pack after that. eventually i did trade one for a spongebob silly band though, and i think that was the only t&j one i ever traded. i cant remember a lot of my other packs, but a lot of kids wanted to trade with me because i had a really good (and extensive) collection. trading was banned at my school because of both disruptions and health concerns (sometimes theyd cut off our circulation if we wore too many, something i did daily lmao), we couldnt even trade during recess or after school, so we formed a little black market we would run in the corner of the playground near the trees. since i had the t&j silly bands, a few sets of rings, and other cool silly bands, i was one of the higher-ups in the trading system. i cant remember when the craze stopped at my school, i just remember it slowly fizzling to a stop. shifting interests i guess. honestly i kind of miss them because of the trading, id love to see a comeback in that sense rather than what we got. maybe now that the og silly bands kids are older we can create a more effective trading system so we arent trading ridiculous amounts of silly bands because one person said their palm tree was rare !! sorry for the long ramble, its 4am and silly bands hold a special place in my heart because of my schools trading community. i might go through my collection in the morning, they now give me a similar vibe to kandi bracelets (mostly bc of the trading and such) and as an alt kid, i think theyd be a fun accessory to add to my outfits :]

[@peachesandcream22]

Silly Bands stopped being popular at your school because your generation which caught these times had already outgrown of them. No one high schooler or young adult is ever interested in trading of cheap rubberbands which can be easily torn. Pokemon cards survived even longer and still thrive. Children can easily got into things they shouldn't be into cause for child's unexperienced psychic, forbidden fruit is always the most wanted. But when the child grows up and becomes the teen/youth, they're not into this anymore cause it becomes boring and they understand that gambling is not something cool and quirky. I won't give you any hopes that Silly Bands come back. Believening in TickTok is not promising, a microtrend comes after other microtrend like Formula 1.

[@getsouped]

@@peachesandcream22 idrk wht ur trying to say, i just think theyre cute and fun !! i dont need them to be mainstream or anything, but i have been incorporating silly bands into my kandi sleeves (both for trade and not for trade) and tbh? its super fun and ive really liked doing it so far! theyre a really great accessory and someone usually comments on them while im out and about. i understand the reasons they died out, but that doesnt mean i cant want them back… they were fun and hold good memories! ive traded and given people kandi in public, and while kandi is more decorative and doesnt break as easily, silly bands are basically the same deal. for me (at least now that im an adult) its less about the gambling aspect of getting a rare/valuable bracelet or piece, its more of a sentiment of “youre cool, take this cool bracelet from my collection.” like, its awesome to get a carousel cuff or a sparkly spongebob silly band! but its also fun to get a dinosaur silly band or just a single strand kandi with “RADICAL” beaded onto it. i never expect anything big or special, i just trade for funsies and happily take whatever im given. but tbh, tiktok is the last thing id put any faith in for keeping silly bands alive. most of the trends there die within a week, maybe two weeks tops. im just doing what i enjoy while thinking hopefully about the potential return of silly bands within the alt community. apologies if i misunderstood you or if my comment seems oddly worded, though!! ive been super sick the past few days and a bit loopy bc of tht, if i misunderstood what youre saying pls let me know. there is definitely something to be said about the durability of silly bands, though… i think there should be stronger silly bands, like how there are ceramic zoo pal plates being made now. silly bands breaking definitely kinda helped kill my interest in them, so id love to see them made out of stronger materials, maybe even something biodegradable? i dunno. again, sorry if i misunderstood you, and sorry for rambling. i hope ur having a good day/night and that ur doing well :-)

[@avastoyboxandarcade]

@@getsouped A kid in the hallways at school gave me a black & pink kandi bracelet and I was so happy. Wearing kandi and silly bandz is a good idea, I'll do that!

[@gertrude137]

As a elementary schooler, these were a huge craze. They got banned of course. I have great memories of people trying to get me to trade away my gun shaped silly band.

[@skye738]

My prized possession was a glow in the dark one of a heart with Angel wings. I’d heard there was a matching one of a heart with bat wings that I searched tirelessly for, but never found 😭 our school ended up banning them bc of the cutting off circulation thing, but everyone just ended up bringing them in a big wadded up ball in their backpack instead lmao

[@SecretIdentityStudio]

I worked retail when these first got big and never understood why kids kept getting so excited to buy them, but then remembered the adults in my life were just as dismissive of the stuff we liked as kids.

[@leiloleilo]

When I subscribed last night, this channel just hit 8k. Now, Dream Jelly has 9.13k subscribers! This is definitely well deserved! The videos are structured and narrated so well!

[@greenteadreams5182]

6:50 that half second of a zuzu pet gave me flashbacks of the zuzu pets craze that happened around the same time. Me and my sister both got one but unfortunately, we could only use them in the kitchen, the only non-carpeted room of the house. My parents never brought me silly bandz, but I was still able to amass a dozen or so since they were in all the party bags at the time.

[@blanketshark]

I had some of the o.g. 'animal rubber band' when I was younger. I remember being upset seeing silly bandz use exactly the same shape for their rhino, elephant and ostrich. The absolute vindication seeing their descent into NFT-nastyville has me like 😂😭

[@Ichigonomu]

It was such an innocent, fun kids trend + accessible because it was cheap und nearly everyone despite any disabilities could enjoy them! No skills needed, nothing to do wrong, just simple colorful joy. Love it, learning about its history was super interesting

[@Soladat]

I knew a girl in middle school who was such a hardcore collector of these things that she kept them in one of those photo album binder things, like what people use for pokemon cards. She didnt even wear any

[@pumpkinpartysystem]

I remember in middle school silly bandz were oppressively popular. I couldn't go 30 minutes at school without seeing one for a few months. I never really understood the hype and I still kinda don't. I never bought one, but I still ended up with one or two through cultural osmosis and coincidence since there were just so many floating around. Eventually they were replaced by the Frozen movie and that became the new inescapable thing, which I also never cared for but at least made a little more sense than silly bandz.

[@libsteve]

I remember silly bandz coming out of thin air in high school. I only really liked the dinosaur ones. I still have them in my “treasure box” (‘cause you never really grow up, you just get bigger, lol)

[@SteMegManzaroli]

Yeah I’m 35 and I can confirm that tha number goes up but the mind doesn’t follow it 😂

[@noodlelynoodle.]

I don't accept that I'm 24 I'm a fucking child lmfao

[@SMCwasTaken]

Reptiles are boring af

[@noodlelynoodle.]

@@SMCwasTaken tell that to a komodo dragon

[@SMCwasTaken]

@@noodlelynoodle. i told it to a komodo dragon and it stared into my soul but idc

[@megaascension2748]

I remember getting my first pack of silly bandz- it was a mythology pack. I was really into Percy Jackson at the time, and my favorite out of the group was a blue sword. I refused to trade that one. I never really got into trends that were popular growing up (I didn’t play Minecraft until 2021) but silly bandz were the exception. I guess it foreshadowed me always wearing bracelets today.

[@dreamyjellies]

Somehow we all collectively had a Percy Jackson phase and I love it. Good call not trading Riptide :)

[@TornaitSuperBird]

@@dreamyjellies Y'all were into Percy Jackson. I was into the Kane Chronicles. We are not the same.

[@wthleo]

i remember trading away all my "weird shape" silly bandz for ones that were more circular, for example a high heel for a flower, or a dog for a star 😭 after paying extra money for colorful, fun-shaped rubber bands, i only wanted the more rubber-band shaped ones 💀

[@barbariqe]

I had exactly one (1) silly band, given to me by my friend in school, and i used it through the university for holding my tech drawinds in tubular shape while in transit. just so you know.

[@Yay248]

Loving that Sims 1 theme remix in the background. Great video. I was too old for Sillybandz when they originally came out so I didn't understand the craze. Pretty neat learning more about it.

[@quantumhawk806]

I have never heard about them, maybe only big in America? I would be too old around that time, but Ive never seen others with it.

[@manders8698]

I was hoping someone else noticed the sims music

[@lurji]

@@quantumhawk806 my cousin and i in honduras in that time had a shit ton so probably not

[@AlejandroMorez]

I need the song name 🙏🙏

[@VivianIsTheREALMe]

@@AlejandroMorez I think it's the pet store music from the Sims Bustin Out on the GBA. (I went down a rabbit hole cuz I HAD to know)

[@Yes-pi2kf]

I love how smooth your voice is for video essays and branding documentaries, definitely worth the watch.

[@klrl93]

I was a senior in high school when the Silly Bands trend was going on. It took over my high school quickly, but faded into obscurity just as quickly. I think we’d all forgotten about then by the time Christmas hit.

[@thelylatsystem4691]

I remember when I moved to Georgia from New York briefly in 2009-2010, EVERYONE had these. I was in 10th grade but my cousin was in middle school and was obsessed with these things. It wasn’t until 2011 that it caught up to NY. It was just fascinating to see how trends moved across state lines back then, especially since not everyone had access to the internet / social media / influencer fashion wasn’t really a thing back then.

[@snowbeast4463]

My mum bought a bunch of these for her shop when she noticed them becoming popular. Every other vendor in the area didn't buy them in time and they were sold out. We ate well that summer.

[@jayzepickle6637]

Silly bands were totally a status symbol when I was in elementary school. My brother had a glittery glow in the dark dinosaur set which I was so envious of.

[@coffeeratswithhats]

It's gaining popularity again because people love nostalgia. And through the last couple of years with the hell of 2020, people want to forget that and be a kid again. 2010 was definitely a good time lol. Seeing people make art out of them now and giving them a purpose is cool. Like I saw someone make a rolling tray out of them and resin and it was pretty neat.

[@teawanee]

I remeber silly bands mostly cuz I was the only kid in my whole school who didn't have any. Despite being like $1 for a pack of like 10, my parents refused to buy me any because I "didn't need them." There was also a trend around the same time that I think was only at my school where everyone was obsessed with those little flocked plastic bear keychains. People would be like "Yeah the blue one is named Bobert and the yellow one is named Frito and Frito is married to Chad's bear." it looked like fun but my parents wouldn't buy me one of those either :,)

[@kailynmo]

When I was about 11, I went to the public library to check out Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, and in one of the pages, someone had used their pink and white tye-dye poodle Silly Bandz as a bookmark. Needless to say, it was one of my favorite finds, and I thought it was so rare because it was multicolored

[@VeronicaStorm98]

I remember the Silly Bandz craze from when I was a kid. I remember having a collection of them that I would organize in rainbow order on one of my arms. Luckily, I was never injured by wearing Silly Bandz as a kid. I remember my favorites being the ones with a gradient of two or more colors on them. I have no idea where that collection is or if I ended up giving it to my little sister though.

[@Stephie2007]

I was already past the target demographic when these came out (I was 20 in 2009) but I do remember seeing kids at my church wearing these. How they didn't become a distraction during worship service I'll never know.

[@VioletA400]

I remember my aunt got me animal shaped silly bands for my birthday. I had no idea what to do with them. Then I saw kids starting to wear them around school so I decided to wear mine. My friends and I used to trade with each other at lunch. I think my school ended up banning them because they were “too distracting” and so obviously everyone stopped wearing them. Last summer I actually ended up finding all the ones I had stuffed in this random little fanny pack

[@thatcatbasil]

I remember when these got banned at my school as a kid! After the ban there was this group of girls that would hide under this big plastic rock on the playground where the teachers wouldn't see them, and they would secretly trade sillybandz and talk about their collections. I would wander around the playground and whenever I got too close to them, they would tell me to go away and I think it's cause they thought I would snitch on them 😭 I didn't have any sillybandz myself at the time but a few years after the trend died down I got some Webkinz shaped ones as a birthday present

[@zephvrothe]

This channel has singlehandedly unlocked almost all the things I've forgotten from my childhood in the span of just a few days 💀🤙

[@EmilyElizabethxox]

I was graduating highschool around this time so they didn’t make a huge impression with me but I do remember finding them on the ground, picking them up and thinking what the hell is this? Lol

[@gigimedeiros6933]

I remember being in 3rd grade and going to recess and trading silly bands with friends. It was so cool at the time and is definitely a core memory I’ll never forget!

[@fwoweyuwu1335]

I was a little too old for this craze at the time, but I distinctly recall going to a water park, where a bunch of kids had purposefully littered the tops of structures (and the fenced-off ground below) with an impressive variety of these. There had to be hundreds.

[@miraleeks]

Silly bands ended up being banned at my school after a few kids literally chased me around the playground begging to trade when I didn’t want to lol

[@lifeisstrange2605]

God I remember getting my packs of sillybandz from a gas station called Thorntons. I had princesses, Barbie, animals, etc. I think I still have my collection somewhere 😭 I also had the rings, but I could never wear them because of how tight they were

[@Darkshadows9776]

My family has worked in the arcade industry leasing equipment before I was born, and I started working for them at 8 years old. I remember when I was 14/15, we started getting this in our little capsule machines, and they started selling like wildfire, WAY more than any other item. I was home schooled and was probably just slightly too old at the time, so I never got into the trend myself. I just thought that the trend was nifty more than anything.

[@zicklane]

nobody asked

[@animeloveer97]

​@@zicklanebruh why be an asshole for literally no reason just say nothing

[@flamthrowr_]

I would have been about 4 or 5 when Silly Bandz really took off… I don’t remember them being a massive craze or anything, but I definitely remember me and my friends owning more than a few. This unlocked some weird memories of redeeming all my tickets from a local arcade for Silly Bandz… I wonder what happened to all of mine

[@GioTheVax]

When I was a kid my dad went on a business trip to Florida and brought me back some Silly Bandz, saying that they were popular but apparently hadn't come to the west coast yet, so at the time it felt really special to own something that none of my peers had access to. Then when they finally got rolled out over here, I think the luster had finally wore off so I didn't really care anymore since I'd gotten my craze out early

[@frogboidakota]

I remember my elementary school used to have a field day, usually on the last week of school, and Silly bands were one of the prizes (one band for winning). After moving to a different school I completely forgot about them. Luckily I never own many, maybe two at most.

[@bunnyshoes893]

I remember in elementary school me and my friends had some weird unexplained beef with these two boys that resulted in a years long game of tag. He once told us that if we caught him he’d let us slingshot five silly bandz at his face. Luckily he was the fastest kid in the grade, so that never happened. Tbh that could have ended horribly. I do remember drawing propaganda cartoons to encourage my friends, one of which was a giant picture of his face. I don’t remember if it was used for target practice or if the drawing was of us actively slingshotting the silly bandz at him, but either way I really hope I find those drawings one day lol

[@Ema_Not_Emma]

I remember being late in elementary school when this thing hit the scene. A literal brick and mortar store dedicated to them popped up in the small town my grandparents lived in. I can't believe such an obvious fad got to that stage lol

[@warriorseamonkey1693]

I dont remember much about how popular they were at my school but I do remember they were incredibly popular at my piano lessons. One of the kids doing lessons with me had like 100 on his arm omg.

[@Jaminux]

i collected silly bands because i just liked how they looked, really. the only time i ever traded them was when i was at church because i didn't really have any friends who wore them at school. our church handed out a bunch of cheap goodies from a company called oriental trading to the kids, especially during easter, and silly bands were often included. i remember trying to trade with someone at the church who had a whole sleeve of them only to be told that my silly little pig band wasn't good enough for him. it made me sad and i wanted to have more silly bands to trade, but not much happened after that because i got too attached to my spongebob ones to give them away. i still enjoy how they look to this day, but that doesn't mean i'm going to give this guy my money

[@IsomerMashups]

I am so proud of myself for having boldly called these things stupid when I was in grade 7 and not backing down to peer pressure.

[@fluffcake]

I STILL Remember the days before Pre-school and I was ADDICTED to those Silly Bandz and I always bought them every single time we went to the store and I found a pack. My favorites were the top 3 (Princesses, Rock Star, and Hello Kitty) and I think that was the genesis of my collection craze.

[@mynameskris]

honestly... i was kinda a loner kid with not that many friends (even though i was outgoing when i was younger) so i never really got into the silly bands hype. didnt even know they were traded. the closest thing i had to them was rainbow looms and pokemon cards.

[@fishdude2954]

Rainbow looms at least encouraged being creative, and Pokémon cards are part of a franchise with actual substance, so you were probably better off since your interests aren't disposable

[@feralfernweh6091]

3:33 reminded me of something, my mom, when she was a kid, tricked her brother: here's how. she told her brother that, because dimes were smaller, they were less valuable than nickels, and she offered to trade all his worthless dimes for her nickels, lol

[@awetistic5295]

I never heard of these because I'm old. Weirdly, I still get a faint nostalgic feeling, maybe because they remind of something else. Or maybe because all of those trends and collectibles are similar in a way.

[@definitelynotwalter]

Ur vids so bingable ngl. Calming voice and nice stock photos. Very chill :)

[@Pozorrogo]

I used to take my neice to the corner store after picking her up from school. It was only about a 5 block walk and the store was at the halfway mark between my house and the school. Every Friday Id give her $3 and she'd buy 1 pack of (generic) silly bandz and 2 tootsie pop lolipops, and just enough change to put in the "take a penny give a penny" tray. I was way too old for the silly bandz but just seeing the joy she had looking at them and sorting them gave me immense happiness

[@grungekitty77]

I remember being really confused about the trend when it was happening. I ended up having my mom buy a single pack of them when I saw them at a checkout just cause I wanted to say I owed some. I didn't know what the deal was, but I figured out that they were important for some reason and wanted to have some just in case. It was the animals. I kept stumbling on the yellow cow in my stuff for years afterwards. (don't know why that was the one that stuck around or what happened to the others)

[@mandapanda2675]

Silly Bandz getting banned in school was a core moment in my life.

[@gh0ul1a]

Proud to say I was the reason silly bands were banned at my school. My collection was so large it went halfway up both my forearms and I would often lose circulation in class and have to take them all off which took a few minutes. I still have all of them

[@tannertadlock7741]

I don’t remember if they were banned at my school, but I DO remember that there was something darker about the way some circles traded them. I was in a lot of “emo and scene” circles, and they used them as more of a.. how do I say this.. sexual favor trading item. The idea was that you’d get something if you managed to break a certain color while the person was wearing it. Never went too far, luckily. I remember that being a thing in Junior High, so it must’ve been what people started doing after the main trading was phased out.

[@HmmmmmLemmeThinkNo]

The dangers of sillybandz genuinely was a thing. My sister, and her friends, had on multiple occasions been forced to take them off when their hands went numb and started going cold. I wish I was joking.

[@garakstailorshop]

Of course that would happen if you put multiple tight hair ties lmao. That's what's supposed to happen

[@kimackerman2183]

I remember these!! I still have a few and still love them. I remember everyone at school obsessed with them but they quickly got banned at my school since teachers said it was distracting for kids and against the dress code🙄i always found that dumb. But nonetheless everyone continued to wear them when teachers weren't around.

[@keybyss98]

You should do a video on Sqwishland (we’d call them “Squishees”), which was also another trendy toy that took over my school before Silly Bandz. Not sure how widespread these were in popularity, but these were basically little vending machine rubber pencil toppers that basically became a hot commodity in our school. It was probably why our local danky little bowling alley suddenly got a lot more traffic than usual, lol. I honestly liked them a little better than Silly Bandz since they had a bit more personality to them, in my eyes (cute cartoony design, smaller, less “fashion heavy”, etc,.).

[@animeloveer97]

I remember those but the fancy eraser tops were more popular where I was that and those shitty bendy pencils

[@ughhhdeja]

I remembered everyone having those in middle school. It went from being innocent to having colors correlate w/ how "freaky" you are lol

[@animeloveer97]

Ironically no one was actually freaky 😂 and we all knew it too

[@materialgawd2748]

they were banned at my school, but summer camp was essentially the NY stock exchange

[@thehobbler1349]

There was also a silly bandz movie, rebeltaxi made a video about it I saw a while ago. Also the tiktok what it's like to date an energetic younger woman is the reason why tiktok should've been banned and now we're suffering the consequences of it's continued existence

[@abbycollins]

I swear, if someone came to my minimum wage Target cashier job and asked me to get silly bands for free and wouldn’t stop, I’d be really tired the rest of the shift and would call the manager to deal with that crap.

[@sophie-b]

i just found your channel and i'm OBSESSED!! i completely forgot about this crazy sillybandz trend, i think i still have mine somewhere in my garage lol!😂😂

[@ncwomega6158]

What was cool for me is that I actually live only a couple miles away from where Silly Bandz were first sold at a retail store ever in the US in Alabama! The store was called Learning Express and I remember always constantly wanting to go over there and look at the toys and Silly Bandz! I just thought it was neat that I grew up in the heart and the origin of the Silly Bandz craze!

[@KNOTTYBUDS]

Damn. These guys basically invented silly bands for sustainability, and Robert came through like Mr. Krabs; "Moneymoneymoney!"

[@Pipkiablo]

I actually graduated high school the year these took off, so if I didn't have a sister that was eleven years younger than me, I'd have no idea what they even were. She had like three of them that a friend gave her, but she never really got into the craze. She was more into Littlest Pet Shops because she liked to watch those weird youtube videos of people acting out completely bonkers stories with their LPS. She still has her massive collection and regrets destroying one of them by repainting it with nail polish as a kid because she later found out it's apparently rare.

[@the-inatorinator]

I found my collection recently, and gave them to my grandma to hand out to trick-or-treaters (most were still in the package). Apparently kids overwhelmingly chose the bracelets over candy (and even named them by name!), so apparently the comeback attempt is working 🤷‍♂

[@the-inatorinator]

This was in 2022 btw

[@fishdude2954]

That's probably coincidence, we'd be hearing a lot more about them if they actually became significant again

[@melonpalooza]

I remember missing out on the silly bandz boom that happened at my school. I had to leave school for a month because of a family emergency and came back with everyone wearing silly bandz, something they definitely were not wearing before. It was jarring, to say the least.

[@kawaiidere1023]

Honestly, I love how they could maybe fit a scene or Gyaru style, but instead they went for a generic white girl aesthetic. Like, whoever did their marketing did a terrible job

[@ollie_3948]

Maybe nostalgia scene, but I don't think Gayru girls would do silly bandz. I'm not super big on the movement though so I may be wrong

[@lemoncreme847]

@@ollie_3948 there are several styles of gyaru, some subtypes could use them and some probably wouldnt

[@acousticeel9695]

I still have my sillybandz collection! It’s ordered by color and they’re on one of the rubber necklaces. I found it DEEP in my closet very recently and it was such a nostalgia trip

[@BanazirGalpsi1968]

I occasionally used to do physical behavior rewards for my students, and in 2011bto 2013 I did several pacs of sillybands amongst them, acquired from rite aid drugstore.

[@Lucid.Daydreamerr]

I remember this so clearly, I used to be in this after school activity called Girls on the Run and when it was nice outside we'd run laps around the track as part of it, and for every lap you conpleated you'd get a silly band. I never liked wearing them on my wrists cause I didnt like the way the smaller ones dug into them, so I had this little plastic clasp braclet that I kept them all on attached to my backpack. I probably had close to 300 by the time I left GotR..

[@sabrinaleedance]

I was a teen when silly bands were a thing but yes they did just kinda come out of nowhere 🤣 and teens were still as obsessed w them as children

[@alexmuniz9286]

I remember at my elementary the bands that were considered “rare” were the sparkly fantasy pack, specifically the green glittery mermaid and the pink fairy. It was so exclusive cause the only retailer near us that sold that specific pack was a local hallmark store who literally had a sign with a picture of the bands in the store front

[@AverageEggmonEnthusiast]

I tried playing with them like dolls as a kid but it didn’t really work so I quickly gave up and returned to my plushies and legos.

[@Doobydoobydoowah]

I was in college when Silly Bands were popular and now they’re nostalgic… I feel very old…

[@ocarinagirlandthestories648]

I remember having a small collection of these. They were the princess tiara, a ball gown, a clothing hanger and a wand. There wasn’t really a big craze around these where I lived so I didn’t bring them to school a lot. I mostly just kept them in my toy box but occasionally I would take them out to fidget with or just admire.

[@vikitoth5902]

i found my silly bandz recently in a box, and the nostalgia hit me like a truck. i also found pictures from middle school where i had my arm full of these up to my elbow

[@theartofnina]

I didn't remember this at all until you showed the design, all the popular girls in middle school had them Update: WTF that nft thing hit me like a truck, imagine being so out of touch with like, humanity as a whole

[@jakezepeda1267]

I didnt know these lasted beyond 2010. I remember them popping up out of nowhere and then vanishing almost just as quickly.

[@raikazemizukiri2708]

I remember having precisely one pack of silly bands as a kid. They were Halloween-themed, caused me to have an allergic reaction, and I threw the whole package away when the black cat one snapped. It's all fun and games until the rubber band that looks like your actual pet breaks and you can't mentally handle having any of the rest of the bracelets around anymore.

[@sarahfelson655]

this story is so sad 😭

[@Nutmeg-]

I don't care how overused this term is, but there is no better term to describe these TikTok videos than "cringe af".

[@fishdude2954]

"Cringey" already exists (or better yet, "awkward") , the only people I've ever heard misuse "cringe" as an adjective are the same people who thought saying "cray-cray" was cool

[@owenw.1643]

i literally remember just waking up one day in 2010 and going to the basketball court where all the kids hung out and they were trading silly bands. id literally never seen one before that day it was bizarre