Silly Bandz

June 9, 2010 11:54 AM

iPhone 4 came out but that's nothing, SILLY BANDZ are still where it's at!!!! What they are is rubber bands that are shaped like animals and shapes. These are extremely cool and you can wear them on your wrists or even put your photos of them on the company website. Adults don't like them sometimes. I want a bird one
posted by Greg Nog (115 comments total)

Not sure where to start? The Basic set has basic shapes like women and bones and money
posted by Greg Nog at 11:54 AM on June 9, 2010 [4 favorites]

false-o
posted by internet fraud detective squad, station number 9 at 11:56 AM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

The 36 Pack of Alphabet Shapes includes the full alphabet plus 1 extra A,E,I,O,U,S,L,T,F,G.

ETAOIN SHRDLU, goddammit! Why does this upset me so much?
posted by box at 11:58 AM on June 9, 2010 [3 favorites]

My kid's teacher banned them.
posted by R. Mutt at 11:58 AM on June 9, 2010

It's good for kids to have something innocuous and banned to obsess about.
posted by The World Famous at 12:00 PM on June 9, 2010 [17 favorites]

Turtle means over the shirt, fairy castle means under the shirt, toucan means I'm game for anything.

Wait, this is a middle-school parent sex scare thing right?
posted by Think_Long at 12:00 PM on June 9, 2010 [26 favorites]

All I can think of is "hey, wouldn't regular wide rubber bands be cheaper?" Which means I'm fully into parent mode now.
posted by davejay at 12:01 PM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

I guess they're for kids 'cause my arm hairs are saying BAD IDEA.
posted by GuyZero at 12:02 PM on June 9, 2010

Oh, that's what these things are. I'd wondered what the hell my first-grader's principal was talking about. I thought "silly bracelets" was descriptive, not a brand name. Thanks, Greg Nog.
posted by Etrigan at 12:02 PM on June 9, 2010

"It's important to note that there are generic forms of Silly Bandz on the market."
posted by oinopaponton at 12:03 PM on June 9, 2010

The letters page is also pretty excellent because you can see that people have more ideas for Silly Bandz shapes
posted by Greg Nog at 12:04 PM on June 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

BRING BACK SLAP BRACELETS
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:06 PM on June 9, 2010 [26 favorites]

Fine with this as long as it is people only who wear them. Poor dog!
posted by bearwife at 12:06 PM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm glad to see that school administrators are still defending the children from the insidious evils of fads that kids aren't even going to care about in 6 months. I mean, how would we ever have survived to adulthood if Garbage Pail Kids hadn't been banished from some schools in the 80's?
posted by usonian at 12:08 PM on June 9, 2010 [4 favorites]

Why is there no Silly Bandz shaped like...dignity.
posted by Sticherbeast at 12:08 PM on June 9, 2010 [15 favorites]

Children are enjoying something! Quick, do something!
posted by borkencode at 12:08 PM on June 9, 2010 [13 favorites]

If you say they're lame then that would be falso
posted by Juicy Avenger at 12:09 PM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

They also say children sometimes sling the rubber bracelets at each other.

The Horror!
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:09 PM on June 9, 2010

Man, I get all excited when I just think of an unopened pack of fresh, new rubber bands. I like #33s. And the ones that come with asparagus.
posted by steef at 12:10 PM on June 9, 2010 [4 favorites]

I expect this trend to generate shibari enthusiasts, or at least a gangrenous finger
posted by internet fraud detective squad, station number 9 at 12:11 PM on June 9, 2010 [6 favorites]

Man our moral panics are so lame.
posted by The Whelk at 12:12 PM on June 9, 2010 [7 favorites]

The 36 Pack of Alphabet Shapes includes the full alphabet plus 1 extra A,E,I,O,U,S,L,T,F,G.
ETAOIN SHRDLU, goddammit! Why does this upset me so much?

I dunno. It's pretty standard. A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes SLTFG.
posted by Babblesort at 12:15 PM on June 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

*eye roll*

Way to make them not cool, old guy.

*exasperated sigh*
posted by Aquaman at 12:16 PM on June 9, 2010

oinopaponton: ""It's important to note that there are generic forms of Silly Bandz on the market.""

AND WE WILL CRUSH THEM!
No, seriously. I'm involved in crushing them. I'm not sure how I feel about this yet.
posted by charred husk at 12:16 PM on June 9, 2010 [4 favorites]

*facepalm*

Now I understand why the Walgreens LED screen says "We have animal bands." I was imagining something completely different.
posted by lholladay at 12:17 PM on June 9, 2010 [5 favorites]

I think banning these fads is a good idea because I was in middle school when the Pokemon craze hit and my school took a really long time to ban them and now I'm bisexual. I'm pretty sure that if they'd never banned them I'd be 100% gay.
posted by NoraReed at 12:17 PM on June 9, 2010 [36 favorites]

And the ones that come with asparagus.

I eat so much asparagus that my pee often smells like asparagus.

And I love those rubber bands too.
posted by angrycat at 12:18 PM on June 9, 2010

Silly Bandz must make rainbow parties a whole new kind of creative fun.
posted by Nelson at 12:18 PM on June 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

Now I understand why the Walgreens LED screen says "We have animal bands." I was imagining something completely different.

I first saw a sign advertising these today, all, "SILLY BANDS ARE HERE" and I was like "... Rosenshontz?"
posted by Greg Nog at 12:18 PM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the latest trend. Kids of friends have taken to trading them back and forth and bragging about their acquisitions.
posted by zarq at 12:20 PM on June 9, 2010

But, but... you could put an eye out with those things!
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:22 PM on June 9, 2010

i remember being in elementary school when jelly bracelets were in (and jelly shoes and jelly bags...).

i never really understood it.

my mom got me some cause i was all like "i want!!" but then i got some bracelets and shoes and they were like kinda sticky and made my arm and/or feet sweaty. plus you can't run around in the paved recess "yard" in jelly shoes very well. so i was then all "eww".

i remember some girls having ridiculous amounts of jelly bracelets on each arm and there was some kind of kerfluffle about it, but i didn't really pay attnetion cause i was like 7 or 8 and lost interest.

i guess someone must have really loved their jelly bracelets to have come out with these things.
posted by sio42 at 12:23 PM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Of course they are getting banned in schools, that happens with every stupid fad that gets popular with kids.

I still remember when they banned pogs, in my grade school, which was right around the time that I realized that collecting a bunch of cardboard discs to use in a game that wasn't even fun was kind of a dumb idea. So some kid asked me if he could buy my whole collection, which was actually pretty nice as far as pog collections went (I had a pretty sweet slammer with an eightball design). I smuggled them in, and handed him the pog case in a clandestine manner in the multi-purpose room. After which point he took them out and started showing them to everyone, which caught the attention of a lunch-lady, who promptly confiscated them, so he never actually paid me and I never got the pogs back. All of that taught me a valuable lesson: Always get the money upfront.
posted by burnmp3s at 12:24 PM on June 9, 2010 [33 favorites]

I really hope that Greyson S. gets his triforce and mario shaped silly bandz! The letters page really is the best part of that site.
posted by capnsue at 12:24 PM on June 9, 2010

As a father of a 6 (very soon to be 7 [happy bday allison]) I am in full exposure to this….and they actually are kinda cool.
posted by ShawnString at 12:31 PM on June 9, 2010

This reminds me of Amy March and the pickled lemons.
posted by sugarfish at 12:32 PM on June 9, 2010 [4 favorites]

As a Dad, it is nice to be able to satisfy my child's need to be on top of the trends for less than five bucks. A rarity!
posted by cross_impact at 12:34 PM on June 9, 2010 [4 favorites]

The 36 Pack of Alphabet Shapes includes the full alphabet plus 1 extra A,E,I,O,U,S,L,T,F,G

S,L,T,F,G? I wonder what words you can make with those... *shakes head*
posted by Xere at 12:35 PM on June 9, 2010 [3 favorites]

Hey do you think cats are in on this too? My cats go nuts for rubber bands and then their poops look all funky. That's not how the kids are using them, right?
posted by mokeydraws at 12:37 PM on June 9, 2010 [3 favorites]

S,L,T,F,G (box)

Am I the only one who automatically reads this as "slutfag"?
posted by ocherdraco at 12:39 PM on June 9, 2010 [11 favorites]

Trading Silly Bandz is prohibited on my kids elementary school buses. I have never seen (ahem) any trading on my bus. I'm one of the cool bus drivers.
posted by I'm Doing the Dishes at 12:39 PM on June 9, 2010 [14 favorites]

I love those things. They're so cute!

And they sell them at the 7/11. The perfect stoner toy to go with the stoner food!
posted by mccarty.tim at 12:40 PM on June 9, 2010

"Am I the only one who automatically reads this as "slutfag"?"

yes, but I kinda love you for this comment
posted by internet fraud detective squad, station number 9 at 12:41 PM on June 9, 2010 [6 favorites]

The 36 Pack of Alphabet Shapes includes the full alphabet plus 1 extra A,E,I,O,U,S,L,T,F,G.

Fatigues Lo
Fatigue Sol
Falsie Gout
Fistulae Go
Agile Tofus
Silage Tofu
Aegis Flout
Ageist Foul
Aguise Loft
Fa Eulogist
Fugal Toise
Fagots Lieu
Fagot Lieus
Fistula Ego
Float Guise
Aloft Guise
Oaf Ugliest
Oaf Gluiest
Sago Futile
posted by Shepherd at 12:44 PM on June 9, 2010 [8 favorites]

S,L,T,F,G? I wonder what words you can make with those... *shakes head*

Um, given that those are the letters provided as doubles, they permit you to spell anything with more than one of those letters in the word. So, yes, they can spell "Bill" or "Google" or "Susan" or "Snoop Dogg." *Shakes head*

(But don't worry. While they can spell Snoop Dogg, they don't have enough letters for Snoop to roll with any of his other Gs.)
posted by The World Famous at 12:46 PM on June 9, 2010

While trying to think of amusing anecdotes about the fads I remember from being a kid, I came to the realization that I still actually have Pogs sitting in a box somewhere. Why do I still have these. Why.
posted by threetoed at 12:47 PM on June 9, 2010

Oh my gosh, they can't actually spell Snoop Dogg because they don't have enough Os. BAN THEM!!!!!!1!
posted by The World Famous at 12:48 PM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

They also say children sometimes sling the rubber bracelets at each other.

The Horror!

My father was killed by an errantly slung rubber bracelet. You insensitive clod!
posted by kmz at 12:50 PM on June 9, 2010 [3 favorites]

. . . too late for Lenny.
posted by Think_Long at 12:52 PM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

It seems like they shouldn't even bother making Os. Those are just regular rubber bands.
posted by NoraReed at 12:53 PM on June 9, 2010 [11 favorites]

It seems like they shouldn't even bother making Os. Those are just regular rubber bands.

You take that back right now.
posted by The World Famous at 12:54 PM on June 9, 2010 [3 favorites]

The 36 Pack of Alphabet Shapes includes the full alphabet plus 1 extra A,E,I,O,U,S,L,T,F,G.

i luf goatse
posted by procrastination at 12:55 PM on June 9, 2010 [6 favorites]

Can you imagine the shame of being the only kid on the playground who's "O" Silly Bandz are actually just generics from Office Depot?? OMG
posted by threetoed at 12:55 PM on June 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

Am I the only one who automatically reads this as "slutfag"?

Nope. That was what I automatically thought of, too. Along with "I see what you did there".
posted by Xere at 12:55 PM on June 9, 2010

quick, someone invent a sex code to go along with these SEX BRACELETS! you saw it here first!
posted by Xere at 12:57 PM on June 9, 2010

Oh, Silly Bandz. My daughter is obsessed with these things. The cats love them, too. They are, apparently, good eats. I discovered this while cleaning the litter box the other day. It was horrifying.

(The cats are fine and the girl has strict orders to keep her collection out of the cats' reach, under penalty of permanent confiscation. The thought of being the only girl in elementary school without an armful of those wretched things is a powerful motivator.)
posted by Ruki at 12:59 PM on June 9, 2010

The copy-catters were so instantly on top of this trend that my sister (whose 6-yr-old LOVES these) has been unable to find actual "Silly Bandz"-branded silly bands in stores. And she lives in Brooklyn; it's not like they don't have stores there.
posted by chowflap at 1:00 PM on June 9, 2010

ocherdraco: Am I the only one who automatically reads this as "slutfag"?

No, but that's because that used to be my online handle in my salad days of online fun. Not sure what your excuse is.

I did have a guy I was sorta dating give me these animal shaped rubberbands like 5 years ago though. I'm not sure that we knew we were so ahead of the curve.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:03 PM on June 9, 2010

When I was a kid Wacky Packs were the fad of the day. The newer one just don't measure up to them, although I never remember them being banned.

Having said that, I can see why they don't want them in schools. It is hard enough to get a bunch of fourth graders to pay attention while you teach them long division without half of the class haggling over trades so that they can collect the letters to spell out dirty words or whatever on their arms.
posted by TedW at 1:03 PM on June 9, 2010

Oh my gosh, they can't actually spell Snoop Dogg because they don't have enough Os. BAN THEM!!!!!!1!
posted by The World Famous at 2:48 PM on June 9 [+] [!]

You can still spell Calvin Broadus, it's all good
posted by jtron at 1:05 PM on June 9, 2010 [6 favorites]

In order for them to be "sex bracelets" some pop music star with is going to have to wear them in a suggestive video which will lead to people saying things like "a yellow giraffe means you're gay" (but only if worn on the left wrist, duh).

Shepherd, awesome anagrams. I may have to get a sock puppet account just so I can be Fistula Ego or maybe the more mysterious sounding Ego Fistula.
posted by pointystick at 1:07 PM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

You can still spell Calvin Broadus, it's all good

But there aren't enough Ds or Rs to spell Dr. Dre. It is most certainly not all good. How dare you, sir? How. Dare. You.
posted by The World Famous at 1:16 PM on June 9, 2010

Remember when Snoop Dogg was known as Snoop Doggy Dogg? Man, those were the days.
posted by box at 1:17 PM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

I loved jelly bracelets when I was punk rock and in high school. I had about a hundred that I bought from a dollar store and it was awesome. I was recently at a party and ended up talking to this (really unfortunately dumb) kindergarten teacher who was railing against Silly Bandz and how it's a trend that's nostalgic for "sex bracelets" and more sexualization of children yadda yadda yadda and I was like, dude, no matter what that episode of Degrassi: TNG said, no teenagers were really using those bracelets as "sex bracelets." And she looked at me blankly and said she did.

Which is when I realized that she probably was having way more sex than I was in high school.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 1:18 PM on June 9, 2010 [6 favorites]

The letters page is also pretty excellent because you can see that people have more ideas for Silly Bandz shapes

Oh my god, I love that kid. Is that a triforce shaped one? Mario's hat? Amazing!
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 1:21 PM on June 9, 2010

Oh man, if you have the alphabet ones you could wear secret messages on your wrist! Some lame grown-up who doesn't know any better would be all like "hey, I like your bracelets," not realizing that they spell U SUCK LOL.

omg now I want them more than ever
posted by Metroid Baby at 1:23 PM on June 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

I miss the days of slap bracelets.
posted by twintone at 1:24 PM on June 9, 2010

My kid got some the other day that glow in the dark, or at least under a black light. (No, it's not a grow light). They sell them wholesale near my office, if anyone wants to profit off grammar school contraband.
posted by bashos_frog at 1:25 PM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh man, if you have the alphabet ones you could wear secret messages on your wrist!

If a student spells out a political slogan in alphabet Silly Bandz, is it protected speech under Tinker?
posted by The World Famous at 1:28 PM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

There must be some clever way to make these at home. I'm thinking you make the shape out of pins stuck in cardboard, put a circle of (rubber? silicone? what is that stuff?) around it, and heat it with a blow dryer until it shrinks.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:29 PM on June 9, 2010

Laugh all you want, but as an adult some 25 years later, I now make good money writing about Breyer horses.

Which only goes to prove that A) some trends have staying power, and B) life is often more strange than you could POSSIBLY in a MILLION BILLION YEARS believe.
posted by ErikaB at 1:30 PM on June 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

I think slap bracelets are still being made...just the good ol' hype of yore is missing...
posted by samsara at 1:35 PM on June 9, 2010

High schools have odd economies. It's been reported to me by someone in the know that a unicorn-shaped band was traded over lunch for $150. $150 is also the trading worth of 3 chocolate brownies (regular, not "enhanced"), as in a chocolate brownie trades for $50... Some kids have more money than sense.
posted by Runes at 1:36 PM on June 9, 2010

I saw a kid on the train playing with them. It was a Silly Band shaped like the outline of a flagpole and flag, and he was holding it by the flagpole and waving it back and forth while saying, "Flaaaag! Flaaaaag!"

I was impressed that he was actually playing with them, not just looking at them or wearing them. I experienced a flash of memory about what it had been like to be a child.
posted by hermitosis at 1:37 PM on June 9, 2010 [4 favorites]

(Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo)
Guaranteed to blow your mind
posted by twoleftfeet at 1:39 PM on June 9, 2010

I am encouraged that my initial take on these wasn't echoed by any of the prior comments.
posted by mikelieman at 1:46 PM on June 9, 2010

Hey Runes, chocolate brownies trade for $50 in this one part of Golden Gate Park near the Haight, too. But, um, don't eat a whole one yourself.
posted by Nelson at 1:50 PM on June 9, 2010

Man, in a year from now New Zealand kids are gonna be all over this.
posted by Judge Dredi at 1:51 PM on June 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

And then the NYTimes will report on it.
posted by mokeydraws at 1:56 PM on June 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

I was going to come in here and post that my kids who are young teens have tens and tens of these things, but it looks like that has already been said.

I will add that while I have not banned them, I have banned spending any money I (their father) have earned on them. If they want them, buy them from babysitting money or birthday money or not my money.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 1:57 PM on June 9, 2010

You can still spell Calvin Broadus, it's all good

But there aren't enough Ds or Rs to spell Dr. Dre. It is most certainly not all good. How dare you, sir? How. Dare. You.
posted by The World Famous at 3:16 PM on June 9 [+] [!]

WTF I FORGOT ABOUT DRE
posted by jtron at 2:00 PM on June 9, 2010 [7 favorites]

The birds are not rare! The toucan is a bird! The duck is a bird!!! "Unicorns, Fairies, Dragons, Phoenix" -- ALL BURDS. The surfer? A bird. (Don't you know that the bird is the word? Everybody knows that the bird is the word.)

That said, and without reading the rest of this thread, I am skeptical of any trend that is brand-specific and has "retired" some of their product, thus making those retirees worth more, thereby raising tensions in the playground as kids covet the rare bandz that other kids have bugged their parents sufficiently enough to buy for them also i would like the alphabet set please and the rainforest one too cause i like the gorrilla thanks
posted by not_on_display at 2:07 PM on June 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

I had a box of animal-shaped rubber bands a couple of years ago... Not sure what the brand was. They seemed too small for wrists, though.

As a first-grade teacher in an affluent area in southern California, I've seen these on one girl's wrist, a fourth grader. Her friend made a point of telling me that she was the only one in the school with them.

Our kids are collecting smencils and iphones and such.
posted by Huck500 at 2:10 PM on June 9, 2010

Excellent. Now I know what the "WE HAVE ANIMAL RUBBER BANDS" sign on the 7-11 behind my house meant. What else are the childrens up to these days, metafilter?
posted by electroboy at 2:10 PM on June 9, 2010

Somebody in China is really good at making dumb bets.

1) Zhu Zhu Pets

Chinese Businessman 1: I'll bet that I can make these substandard cat toys the hottest item for Christmas!

Chinese Businessman 2: You're on!

2) Silly bands

Chinese Businessman 1: I'll bet that I can make American children collect office supplies as TOYS.

Chinese Businessman 2: You're on!
posted by dr_dank at 2:13 PM on June 9, 2010 [11 favorites]

Excellent. Now I know what the "WE HAVE ANIMAL RUBBER BANDS" sign on the 7-11 behind my house meant.

Actually, the rubber bands advertised at your 7-11 are for sheep castration. Sorry for the confusion.
posted by The World Famous at 2:13 PM on June 9, 2010 [3 favorites]

I got a pack of these at some convention I was at recently and threw them out because... WORST RUBBER BANDS EVER.
posted by jeffmik at 2:14 PM on June 9, 2010

And then the NYTimes will report on it.

They're on it already. I guess some NY Times trend stories are actually about legitimate trends.
posted by yarrow at 2:18 PM on June 9, 2010

twoleftfeet: "(Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo)
Guaranteed to blow your mind"

I haven't got the problem, haven't got the clue
I'm doing what I'm feeling and I'm doing fine
posted by boo_radley at 2:28 PM on June 9, 2010

It seems like they shouldn't even bother making Os. Those are just regular rubber bands.

Mitch Hedberg! You are still here!
posted by Evilspork at 2:31 PM on June 9, 2010 [7 favorites]

So does anyone have a list of innocuous items that elementary schools have banned? Because I would love to look back at that list and see what everyone has seen as a threat to the innocence of our children.
Won't someone think of the children!
posted by msbutah at 2:33 PM on June 9, 2010

Sheesh. Kids these days! Now get off of my fuckin' lawn!
posted by ericb at 2:37 PM on June 9, 2010

You scoff at us teachers who make rules about the Silly Bandz. Wait until you've had to moderate a fight between two 6 year olds over the terms of a trade gone bad, or had kids talking about Silly Bandz and fiddling with them instead of working. You'll come up with some rules pretty quickly. I consider mine to be simple, and reasonably nice. No trading or gifting of Silly Bandz, and "on your wrist or in my hand" - either you wear it (without fiddling) or you give it to me and get it at day's end.

On preview: So does anyone have a list of innocuous items that elementary schools have banned? Because I would love to look back at that list and see what everyone has seen as a threat to the innocence of our children.

I doubt it's the "innocence of the children" - if you have dozens of kids with these things, and there are haves and have nots, you get everything from social issues ("She promised meeee the purple dolphin *first*!") to anger over trades gone bad, to "gifts" that kids then want back, to outright theft in some cases. With certain kids, these could bubble over into emotional outbursts to calm, or pushing, shoving, and/or grabbing. I can see why some schools ban them - it's far easier to ban the object and have some peace til the next fad comes along than to try to regulate them.
posted by booksherpa at 2:48 PM on June 9, 2010 [10 favorites]

if you have dozens of kids with these things then you need to give your hooh-hah a rest.
posted by Sticherbeast at 2:54 PM on June 9, 2010

The World Famous: "Actually, the rubber bands advertised at your 7-11 are for sheep castration. Sorry for the confusion."

Could have been worse.

There was this elderly lady who quite enjoyed a smoke, but the salty spray on the beach would always soak her cigarettes, and she couldn't get them to light properly. When she saw some young guys hanging around smoking cigs she asked them how they managed to keep them dry.
One of the guys explained: "See, we put the packs into condoms - keeps 'em waterproof, but accessible, and they're really cheap if you buy a lot of them at the sex shop." The lady thanked them for this information and set about to get some rubbers for herself.
She walked up to the store keeper and asked him for a fifty-pack of condoms. The man looked her up and down, wondering what the old woman wanted so many for, perverted thoughts forming in his head. Angling for information, he asked "Hmmm... I'll need to know what size you need. Regular... Large... or maybe extra-small?"
The lady replied:

"I don't know, they're for my Camels."
posted by PontifexPrimus at 3:02 PM on June 9, 2010 [4 favorites]

My kid just told me there was a girl at swim practice this morning who was showing off her "limited edition silly band shaped like a potato". It looked like this. My kid said, "that looks just like a regular rubber band" and the girl replied, "no it's not, I traded it with someone!"
posted by shannonm at 3:08 PM on June 9, 2010 [3 favorites]

I had the original edition -- it was just oh's and zeros, but if you twisted them, you could have an 8 and if you pinched them in the middle, then pushed the two lobes over a bit, you could have a B. You could make squares & triangles and pentagons, but your fingers got tired after a while. I figured out you could also wrap them tightly around the ends of two pencils to make nice bouncy mallets for desk drumming, (I was the best desk drummer in my jr. high school, pencils, or finger tips -- we had a peer-reviewed drum-off and I won) or you could wind a pencil up in one at the middle and make a propeller. Really, they weren't bad, though they only came in that brown. Occasionally, I also found them handy for holding rolled up things together, but not that often.
posted by Devils Rancher at 3:38 PM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Now I understand why the Walgreens LED screen says "We have animal bands."

My pack had swans, monkees, a def leppard and an entire wolf parade.

Someone already did this joke, right?
posted by mintcake! at 3:58 PM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

The best part is that kids sometimes lose a bracelet or two (as, you know, kids do).

And so, as I rush down the street with my eyes fixed on the pavement, I'll randomly come across the outline of a tiny purple tyrannosaur, or a little green kangaroo. Makes me smile, every time.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 4:18 PM on June 9, 2010

I doubt it's the "innocence of the children" - if you have dozens of kids with these things, and there are haves and have nots, you get everything from social issues ("She promised meeee the purple dolphin *first*!") to anger over trades gone bad, to "gifts" that kids then want back, to outright theft in some cases.

Yup, exactly. Seconds ago I had to break up a fight between my 11 yo son and my 9 yo son about a crochet hook (owned-but-unused by one, needed by the other). Kids hold their grudges and memories of "but LAST TIME you SAID that HE" longer than Israelis and Palestinians.
posted by DU at 4:39 PM on June 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

So then the problem isn't that kids are innocent, it's that they're human: just like adults when presented with a scarce commodity, they cheat, steal, bully, jeer, fetishize and create and corner a black market.

Maybe the solution is to keep the bands, but ban the kids? :)
posted by jrochest at 5:05 PM on June 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

I attended a child's birthday party recently where the birthday girl received a plethora of outfits for her Zhu Zhu Pets, and the attendees received silly bandz as party favors. It was held in a warehouse with a bunch of bounce houses in it.

I'm typing this on a desk covered in silly bands. I have 2 crowns, a purse, 2 chicks, an umbrella, a kite, a bumblebee, the letters O, D and N and an animal that may either be a portly cat or a cow. I will trade any of these for a guitar or automobile.
posted by jeoc at 5:53 PM on June 9, 2010 [3 favorites]

DU, I just want to marvel at the fact that you have raised two sons who OWN, let alone FIGHT OVER a crochet hook. My metaphorical hat is off to you.

Actually, many of my bunch at school have recently taken up knitting and crochet, including a number of the boys. Granted, many of them are finger crocheting long single chains and nothing else, but it's a start...
posted by booksherpa at 6:54 PM on June 9, 2010

Oh shit I think I saw them advertising these on the door to Newbury Comics

Have to say I didn't think they were rubber bands though
posted by danb at 8:32 PM on June 9, 2010

I work at a big box store's jewelry department and I get three or four people a day (which is a lot of people asking me about a specific item) asking about these.

We had some Sunday and they sold out in about five hours.

We now have like, a dozen boxes of these silly bands in shape of the NY Giants and Yankees logo but nobody seems to really want those.

BRING BACK SLAP BRACELETS

We actually have plenty of those though. They're like, pink, tiger print, and a few other colors. Unfortunately they're different than the old ones but they're suppose to be safer.
posted by champthom at 8:49 PM on June 9, 2010

My question is when Hallmark stores became ground zero for fads.
posted by smackfu at 9:19 PM on June 9, 2010

Oh, Huck500, I spent a split second wondering what smencils were, and then highlighted and righ-clicked to google them, and the answer dawned on me. They're obviously smelly pencils, right? Genius. Smencils. All I had was a Smee-shirt. Or whatever.
posted by redsparkler at 9:30 PM on June 9, 2010

BRING BACK SLAP BRACELETS

They're back. A little girl came into summer camp today with a slap bracelet on one arm and silly bandz on the other. I couldn't decide whether to cheer or cry.
posted by kro at 9:54 PM on June 9, 2010

This is the first I have heard about this product. Why do I feel as if I've suddenly been transported into a Mr. Show sketch?
posted by Spatch at 10:45 PM on June 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

All Apple product posts should focus primarily upon the latest tween toy trends like bedazzling. In fact, the vajazzling post should've clearly accompanied the iPad release.
posted by jeffburdges at 4:07 AM on June 10, 2010

My kids (ages 11 to 2 years old) have these.

Yesterday I was shown the new ones, shaped like letters. A 5th-grader gave my little daughter one that spelled out "CYA" and one of the kids yelled, "See ya!" but all I could think was, "Cover your ass." Does this make me old? *sigh*

I guess I will stick with my only silly band, a pink pig that cuts into my wrist and tugs at my arm hair. The sacrifices I make for style...
posted by wenestvedt at 6:30 AM on June 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

"a yellow giraffe means you're gay" (but only if worn on the left wrist, duh).

Yeah, but the problem is that when it's actually ON the wrist nobody can tell a giraffe from a potato. I think you'd end up with some very confused fetishists.
posted by dlugoczaj at 7:08 AM on June 10, 2010

smackfu My question is when Hallmark stores became ground zero for fads.

I was going to say "with Beanie Babies," because Hallmark stores were mostly where Beanie Babies came from.

Then I remembered that back in the 80s, Hallmark stores were our go-to place to find stickers. (Which we didn't use, mind. We carefully stored them in photo albums. Why, I cannot say.)

So I'm going to say the answer is Lisa Frank, or thereabouts.
posted by ErikaB at 11:03 AM on June 10, 2010

My pack had swans, monkees, a def leppard and an entire wolf parade.

Sounds like a proper Animal Collective, there.

including the fact that it's designed to appeal directly to spastic nine-year-olds
posted by FatherDagon at 1:37 PM on June 10, 2010

Thanks to this post, I was able to have an informed discussion with someone about these things last night at a bar. Go Metafilter!
posted by smackfu at 5:51 AM on June 11, 2010