Current:Home > MarketsMemories of the earliest Tupperware parties, from one who was there-LoTradeCoin
Memories of the earliest Tupperware parties, from one who was there
View Date:2024-12-23 11:35:15
ALLISON PARK, Pa. (AP) — Sometimes something takes your thinking back to an isolated memory of decades ago. And without your bidding, other memories — memories of that era of your life — come flooding in.
When asked what I remember about Tupperware parties, I pulled out some of my pieces of Tupperware from long ago. Along with finding the “Bacon Keeper” that I have used for perhaps 35 years to refrigerate deli sandwich makings. I located an entire part of my life.
We didn’t have a dishwasher back then — what struggling young family did? When my two daughters were old enough. we made a deal. I would prepare the dinner. They would do the dishwashing and I’d be free.
What made me remember that? The Tupperware pieces I was looking at were of the pre-dishwasher type plastic that has not survived the heat very well in the many years since dishwashers have been taken for granted. My later pieces have withstood the dishwasher onslaught. They still look new.
In those days, we thought very little about most women’s designated roles in suburban society. Your husband went to work; you were home when the children arrived after school. Once in a while in the evening, you left the young ones in the care of their dad and went to a friend’s home for a Tupperware party.
It was fun. You saw 10, maybe 20 friends and acquaintances who had also escaped for an evening. It never occurred to any of us that no men were there. We played little games and took home small Tupperware pieces as prizes.
A representative demonstrated the “Tupperware seal”: how to make the containers airtight so we could serve the contents fresh and with pride. We shared coffee and cake provided by our hostess. Then we went home with renewed ability to face the next day and its chores.
Is it still the same today? Now that so many women have taken their place next to men in the working world, do Tupperware parties still exist? Do they fill the same needs? Do men also attend? Are some of the newer items designed to solve gentlemen’s storage problems?
Do we have Tupperware party equality at long last?
___
Ann T. Anthony (1924-2018), wrote this story for The Associated Press in 1996. when she was 71. She was married in 1946 — the year Tupperware was introduced — and attended Tupperware parties for years. She remembers the parties as events where friends could get together and buy from someone they trusted.
veryGood! (8)
Related
- What are the best financial advising companies? Help USA TODAY rank the top U.S. firms
- Suspect with gun in Yellowstone National Park dies after shootout with rangers
- Hiring in the U.S. slowed in June, raising hopes for interest rate cuts
- Jenn Tran never saw herself as a main character. Now she’s the first Asian 'Bachelorette'
- FSU football fires offensive, defensive coordinators, wide receivers coach
- Kendrick Lamar owns the summer with 'Not Like Us' music video, continues Drake diss
- An electric car-centric world ponders the future of the gas station
- Taylor Swift interrupts 'All Too Well' three times in Amsterdam: 'Do they have help?'
- Should Georgia bench Carson Beck with CFP at stake against Tennessee? That's not happening
- Arkansas election officials checking signatures of 3 measures vying for November ballot
Ranking
- My Little Pony finally hits the Toy Hall of Fame, alongside Phase 10 and Transformers
- Saks Fifth Avenue owner buying Neiman Marcus for $2.65 billion
- Wisconsin Supreme Court changes course, will allow expanded use of ballot drop boxes this fall
- With elite power and speed, Bron Breakker is poised to be a major WWE star
- Jamie Lee Curtis and Don Lemon quit X, formerly Twitter: 'Time for me to leave'
- New UK prime minister Keir Starmer vows to heal wounds of distrust after Labour landslide
- Wisconsin Supreme Court changes course, will allow expanded use of ballot drop boxes this fall
- New panel charged with helping Massachusetts meet its renewable energy goals
Recommendation
-
Only 8 monkeys remain free after more than a week outside a South Carolina compound
-
Boxer Ryan Garcia says he's going to rehab after racist rant, expulsion from WBC
-
What's open and closed on July 4th? See which stores and restaurants are operating today.
-
Jill Ellis responds to abuse allegations against her, San Diego Wave
-
Ex-Marine misused a combat technique in fatal chokehold of NYC subway rider, trainer testifies
-
Comedian Tony Knight Dead at 54 After Freak Accident With Falling Tree Branches
-
The average American feels they need to earn over $180K to live comfortably, survey shows
-
Saks Fifth Avenue owner buying Neiman Marcus for $2.65 billion