Yes, if you're at the sort of party where there is a keg of beer, or at a large family picnic especially. They're the standard disposable cup for situations where the hosts wouldn't have enough cups for everyone and don't want to deal with potential loss and breakage.

It's a real thing we do...is that weird?

It's not like there aren't other disposable cups used, but yeah, very common

I only use

Red cups are like yellow school buses. Both are real.

They're the first hit for "plastic cup". They're cheaper than the clear version. You can get store brand, or Solo brand if you want to go posh.

They're called Solo Cups.

Those cups became very popular in the 1970s, particularly amongst younger people living at home or going to college. If you and your buddies from college were having a big party, you could buy a sleeve of cups and a beer keg a have a good time. I remember going to parties like that. The law said people were not allowed to sell alcohol without a license, so to cover the booze costs, the hosts would sell cups at the door that people could drink from.

I sincerely think that Red Solo Cups beat out other disposable cups are because of the lines. They are actually measurements that you can use to measure mixed drinks if you're not drinking beer or wine.

Yes, but not just parties. Parties using red cups are historically going to be drinking parties for younger people like “keggers.” Red cups are fairly ubiquitous for lots of events like picnics, cookouts, birthday events and the like.

I can’t say they’re used at all parties, but they’re pretty common.

Why would this be hard to believe

Edit: oops my privilege is showing, mb yall

These 7oz/200ml cups are the worst, the very worst. Holds two mouthfuls of drink and crack in half if you look at them funny, just terrible

Family events with a sharpie so everyone knows which drink is theirs

its a common thing for parties, not just for beer, but for birthday parties, barbeques, holding even solid food.

I’ve seen this asked a few times over the years, here or back on Reddit maybe.

Yes. Yes we do. But it’s mostly like high school or college parties. Kids who don’t have a lot of money and are going to make a mess. Sometimes even adults if it’s like a large outdoor barbecue kind of thing. Or around water or a pool where you don’t want glass.

You usually wouldn’t do this for a more formal or “classy” type of occasion. Though it does happen. Some might see it as tacky in that context.

Naw. Not exclusively. They come in lots of colors now.

Yeah. There are a bunch of different brands that make them, and they come in a lot more colors than red, but that type of disposable plastic cup has been pretty ubiquitous since the 1990s. There are also clear plastic disposable cups that are just as common, but you tend to see those at more adult functions because they give off less of a high school kegger/kids birthday party vibe.

I think Hollywood uses the red ones so much because it's an easy visual shorthand to express to the viewer exactly what kind of party is going on. They're also are opaque, so they can just hand everyone an empty cup and not have to worry about liquid levels and visual continuity, which probably makes things a lot easier on set.

We use red Solo cups everywhere, not just at parties.

Red Solo cups

Toby Keith - Red Solo Cup (Unedited Version)

What are other countries doing? Is it just a 'bring your own cup' thing? Do y'all just have a hundred cups on hand for parties?

Not sure why this keeps getting asked, but yes. Solo cups (the original red cup) were incredibly cheap, held up decently, and were sold in large packs everywhere. They were so cheap that for a long time I don't think there were even generic options. Now days most places have their own brand and they frequently make them red just because that is what people expect.

This gets asked so much, I feel like I need to contribute something new to the conversation…

Sometimes they're blue

I see this question all the time. It's just a disposable cup, why is the rest of the world so obsessed with it?

Yes. Red Solo cups. Solo makes large reinforced plastic cups that are cheap and disposable, yet very sturdy. These aren't your grandma's flimsy paper cups.

We don't use them for fancy dinner parties (well, most of us) but they're great for backyard barbecues, college parties, etc.

Yes

That is most definitely a well established thing in the US going back decades: I can't count how many house parties I went to in college, birthday parties when I became a parent, etc. where they had red Solo cups. I would describe them as ubiquitous.

Yes, it is a real thing we do.

I know this! https://youtu.be/ztHq1NLEbio?t=9m4s (note the timestamp, 9:04)

Short version: surprisingly, yes!

Toby Keith literally made an ode to the Red Solo Cup.

I remember being drunk, with a red solo cup, singing along to this song, at a frat... more than once.

Yes, its safe to say the red solo cup is an actual cultural phenomenon.

Ya. We use them all the time. They're actually good and relatively inexpensive.

Most commonly kegs when growing up for a large scale. Usually you pay $5 for a cup all you can drink.

On a smaller scale, picnics I guess? Idk I don't really go to ragers these days and the amount of gusts to parties Ingo to don't exceed the amount of cups somebody has.

Yes, but sometimes they're other colors.

I have a few hundred in my bigger pantry

Yeah. How else are you supposed to play beer pong?

Yes. My wife also puts Sharpies next to the stack of Solo cups so everyone at the party can write their name on their cup.

I buy them, probably influenced by said movies

Theyre also handy for mixing expoxy or paint.

Use them at home too. They coming all kinds of colors and patterns now, but yeah.

Well past the age or inclination for a kegger, but last time I wanted plastic cups for something, red Solo cups were the least expensive choice.

It was ok for my use but I tried to give a short stack to my kid for college and apparently they’re banned

I don't know about in the states but I'm Canadian and have seen red plastic cups at drinking parties. People play games with them, like flipcup and beer pong

They're regulation beer pong size, so we used a lot of them.

And they all drink coffee from these cups...

Yeah. They're cheap and easy to clean up.

Only those that support communism. It's a secret sign that I've now exposed because communism should be the end goal.

It’s not just America, they’re a go-to for cheap disposable cups - the type you’d buy for a party.

silo but they can be blue or yellow as well now but red was almost the only thing available at one point. I hate them.

Costco sells them in Australia. So, I have to imagine there's a modicum of truth?

There a song about it.

Yes. Flip Cup, Beer Pong, and Keg Stands are also real.

Even a once annoyingly popular country song just about the red solo cup.

Not me. I use a red metal cup.

Insulated. Screw on lid with water-tight seal and latch. May it be the last cup I ever buy.