I threw a party like this in about 1995. I got lucky because a lot of people showed up but they were respectful and didn’t trash my house. I cleaned up in about 2 hours.
I think that one of the things that killed this were the examples on the news of people having their houses destroyed as the party got out of hand.
Another thing that killed these parties was litigious parents. Underage drinking was the norm at these things. Kids would sometimes drive drunk and get in accidents, drown in the pool, etc. Parents of the drunk drivers would sue the parents of the party host for allowing kids to get drunk on their premises. Saying you were out of town and didn’t know did not save the sued parents - they would just be blamed for leaving their kids unsupervised.
Bush parties were also really common in the 90s, but fewer and fewer people live near a large woodlot. In the 90s, even medium cities would have vacant lots scattered throughout the city and many were large enough to (temporarily) conceal a small bonfire and 2 dozen drunk kids. When the cops showed up, we would scatter. Stumbling around the woods in the dark while intoxicated is a cherished memory, but I would probably never do it again, haha.
I threw a party like this in about 1995. I got lucky because a lot of people showed up but they were respectful and didn’t trash my house. I cleaned up in about 2 hours.
I think that one of the things that killed this were the examples on the news of people having their houses destroyed as the party got out of hand.
Another thing that killed these parties was litigious parents. Underage drinking was the norm at these things. Kids would sometimes drive drunk and get in accidents, drown in the pool, etc. Parents of the drunk drivers would sue the parents of the party host for allowing kids to get drunk on their premises. Saying you were out of town and didn’t know did not save the sued parents - they would just be blamed for leaving their kids unsupervised.
Bush parties were also really common in the 90s, but fewer and fewer people live near a large woodlot. In the 90s, even medium cities would have vacant lots scattered throughout the city and many were large enough to (temporarily) conceal a small bonfire and 2 dozen drunk kids. When the cops showed up, we would scatter. Stumbling around the woods in the dark while intoxicated is a cherished memory, but I would probably never do it again, haha.