I don't remember my first water bottle, but I do remember the Nalgene bottle that belonged to my most formative college crush, circa 1998. His classic gray bottle with blue cap was the first one I'd ever seen. He was sporty, outdoorsy, and seemingly moved through the world with ease. All qualities that I did not have and felt aspirational to me. That Nalgene was a symbol of ways that he had the things that I wanted.
All Nalgenes, all the time! I got my first one in college (also an elder millennial) and have never stopped using them for travel and outdoor adventures. My oldest one is covered in stickers and I have a few others from various clubs and volunteer events.
Side note, this Canadian is always confused for a moment when the Stanley Cup is mentioned in connection with hydration, not hockey 😂
First water bottle I remember choosing was an orange Nalgene with a black lid-- my high school's colors. Typing this out makes me think I might still have it?? I prefer narrow mouths on my Nalgenes now, and those are what I carry for travel. I got a Stanley for the pool. It's annoying to carry in and out, but it sure does keep my Diet Coke cold in 100 degree weather.
Getting away from the prompt but my #1 preferred water holder is a giant souvenir cup from baseball stadiums... and so I have probably 15 in my house. They so much!!! I don't know why but carrying a glass around the house weirds me out, so giant plastic cup it is.
I skipped the Nalgene generation and went straight into Camelbak water bottles when they became big outside of the hiking/trail running community, with that squishy straw that DEFINITELY was festering with bacteria based on my limited washing frequency as a teen.
I definitely think that S'well was a huge phenomenon but came just before influencing was as prevalent and certainly before TikTok. I worked as a cashier at my college campus's local bookstore during the burgeoning S'well craze and told management to look into bringing them in. Months into the fad, the supplies department manager told me that S'well bottles were basically the biggest seller in the whole store! Part of this was probably because students could charge purchases aka a $38 water bottle and $60 crewneck sweatshirt to their university financial account (where tuition is paid) under the guise of it being books for class. I had so much fun watching this happen, even though the only S'well I got was free because it had a huge dent in it LOL. I still use it to this day, mostly for bringing wine to picnics.
Nowadays, I like my 21 oz Hydroflask water bottle and find it is much more manageable than a 40 oz Stanley so I can run with it, still put in a car cup holder, throw in a backpack, etc. Hydroflask also has a recycling program which is great for when you feel kinda bad about getting a new one because you don't NEED it, but your old bottle is super dented/scratched. Also helps eliminate the bottle graveyard from forming.
I'm 30 and have been using a Nalgene my whole life. I have been carrying around my current bottle since 2017, and still have the one that I used in high school. Nalgenes still seem to be popular amongst 'outdoorsy' people my age. And of course the bottle needs to be covered in stickers. There is probably something deeper there, about how water bottle stickers represent the version of yourself that you want to present to the world.
Mar 28·edited Mar 28Liked by Anne Helen Petersen, Melody Rowell
The school aspect blows my mind - I was in high school from 1995-1999 and we were very specifically not allowed to have water bottles in class. Maybe in school at all?? Because what if teens were actually sneaking in vodka! Or whatever! It was so extremely Not A Thing and that seems to have changed soon after.
First water bottle of note? Nalgene (elder millenial reporting in)... I don't remember going anywhere WITH water when I was a kid/high school, but I feel like that changed sometime in the early 2010s. Even with my Nalgene bottle in college, I don't recall toting it everywhere. When I went back to school in 2005/2006, I just had a tall flip top Rubbermaid water bottle that got the job done. Working in surgery, we were on the perpetual hunt for insulated cups that would keep water cold so that we could come grab a drink in between cases. I floated from cup to cup before hydroflasks really hit it big in 2017 or so, and it's been downhill from there. They multiply like rabbits and I so wish that manufacturers would stop coming out with new colors...
My collection now is a combination of HydroFlask & Yeti with my daily driver being a Yeti 30oz rambler with a handle (basically the Yeti Stanley cup). I don't go anywhere without a water bottle and have my preferred bottles for traveling (never the most precious ones). I'm sure that I drink more water now just because I always have it with me, but I've always been a big water drinker anyway.
I think the first water bottle I bought was a random one at Target, which we still have and my husband used for years after I switched to something that would keep my water colder. I am a big Contigo fan and we both use their bottles now. Keeps my water cold for up to 24 hours.
My husband and I are the same age as Anne and similarly do not remember drinking water much as children. When I was a teenager our house got a refrigerator with the water dispenser in the door and that's probably the first time I started regularly drinking water. When my husband and I moved in together in our early 20s it didn't really occur to us to drink water and instead we had a constant supply of Koolaid that we made with half the sugar, both to save $ and make it "healthier." Insert huge eye roll here. It took my husband getting kidney stones for a second time while having an outdoor job in the Texas heat for us to get serious about hydration. We put a huge Brita water dispenser on our wedding registry and have been using it ever since, although it takes up a lot of fridge space. We also have a small Brita pitcher that we keep on the countertop because I find using room temperature water to take my many meds and supplements keeps the brain freeze at bay.
I'm pretty sure I had a Nalgene or perhaps a ripoff brand in my grad school days circa 2006-2008, but since then I've had mostly branded (awful quality) swag ones from various nonprofit conferences. I did acquire one Hydroflask, one S'well, and one Yeti, plus the off brand Yeti-the Bubba, somewhere in the last decade though.
I would have loved for this convo to also touch on the specifically American/North American context of hydration obsession--it seems to be unique to us and thoroughly confusing for much of the rest of the world!
I am a younger Millenial in the PNW and when I was in high school Klean Kanteens (why did they have to spell it like that??) were really having a moment. I brought mine to school every day and proudly placed in on my desk to display all my cool stickers. I was also very pleased to have never misplaced it, and even though I don't use it anymore it's still somewhere in the back corner of my kitchen cabinet because it carries such sentimental weight. My water bottle of choice these days is a variety of bike bottles because they seem to just accumulate in my mountain biking household, and they are very convenient to carry around and drink from.
I got a free LexisNexis Camelbak in law school and it was my first “fancy” water bottle. After that I bought a Contigo (still have and like) and was gifted several S’Wells. Do not like. Also bought two hydroflasks but for coffee, not water. My work gave us a Yeti coffee tumbler which is awesome…so, most of the nice drink/water bottles I own were free or gifts. I did buy a Stanley. It’s too damn big.
I don't remember my first water bottle, but I do remember the Nalgene bottle that belonged to my most formative college crush, circa 1998. His classic gray bottle with blue cap was the first one I'd ever seen. He was sporty, outdoorsy, and seemingly moved through the world with ease. All qualities that I did not have and felt aspirational to me. That Nalgene was a symbol of ways that he had the things that I wanted.
All Nalgenes, all the time! I got my first one in college (also an elder millennial) and have never stopped using them for travel and outdoor adventures. My oldest one is covered in stickers and I have a few others from various clubs and volunteer events.
Side note, this Canadian is always confused for a moment when the Stanley Cup is mentioned in connection with hydration, not hockey 😂
First water bottle I remember choosing was an orange Nalgene with a black lid-- my high school's colors. Typing this out makes me think I might still have it?? I prefer narrow mouths on my Nalgenes now, and those are what I carry for travel. I got a Stanley for the pool. It's annoying to carry in and out, but it sure does keep my Diet Coke cold in 100 degree weather.
Getting away from the prompt but my #1 preferred water holder is a giant souvenir cup from baseball stadiums... and so I have probably 15 in my house. They so much!!! I don't know why but carrying a glass around the house weirds me out, so giant plastic cup it is.
I skipped the Nalgene generation and went straight into Camelbak water bottles when they became big outside of the hiking/trail running community, with that squishy straw that DEFINITELY was festering with bacteria based on my limited washing frequency as a teen.
I definitely think that S'well was a huge phenomenon but came just before influencing was as prevalent and certainly before TikTok. I worked as a cashier at my college campus's local bookstore during the burgeoning S'well craze and told management to look into bringing them in. Months into the fad, the supplies department manager told me that S'well bottles were basically the biggest seller in the whole store! Part of this was probably because students could charge purchases aka a $38 water bottle and $60 crewneck sweatshirt to their university financial account (where tuition is paid) under the guise of it being books for class. I had so much fun watching this happen, even though the only S'well I got was free because it had a huge dent in it LOL. I still use it to this day, mostly for bringing wine to picnics.
Nowadays, I like my 21 oz Hydroflask water bottle and find it is much more manageable than a 40 oz Stanley so I can run with it, still put in a car cup holder, throw in a backpack, etc. Hydroflask also has a recycling program which is great for when you feel kinda bad about getting a new one because you don't NEED it, but your old bottle is super dented/scratched. Also helps eliminate the bottle graveyard from forming.
I'm 30 and have been using a Nalgene my whole life. I have been carrying around my current bottle since 2017, and still have the one that I used in high school. Nalgenes still seem to be popular amongst 'outdoorsy' people my age. And of course the bottle needs to be covered in stickers. There is probably something deeper there, about how water bottle stickers represent the version of yourself that you want to present to the world.
My first water bottle was an army surplus metal canteen! Cross body strap, nice tin aftertaste a la Little House on the Prairie.
The school aspect blows my mind - I was in high school from 1995-1999 and we were very specifically not allowed to have water bottles in class. Maybe in school at all?? Because what if teens were actually sneaking in vodka! Or whatever! It was so extremely Not A Thing and that seems to have changed soon after.
First water bottle of note? Nalgene (elder millenial reporting in)... I don't remember going anywhere WITH water when I was a kid/high school, but I feel like that changed sometime in the early 2010s. Even with my Nalgene bottle in college, I don't recall toting it everywhere. When I went back to school in 2005/2006, I just had a tall flip top Rubbermaid water bottle that got the job done. Working in surgery, we were on the perpetual hunt for insulated cups that would keep water cold so that we could come grab a drink in between cases. I floated from cup to cup before hydroflasks really hit it big in 2017 or so, and it's been downhill from there. They multiply like rabbits and I so wish that manufacturers would stop coming out with new colors...
My collection now is a combination of HydroFlask & Yeti with my daily driver being a Yeti 30oz rambler with a handle (basically the Yeti Stanley cup). I don't go anywhere without a water bottle and have my preferred bottles for traveling (never the most precious ones). I'm sure that I drink more water now just because I always have it with me, but I've always been a big water drinker anyway.
I think the first water bottle I bought was a random one at Target, which we still have and my husband used for years after I switched to something that would keep my water colder. I am a big Contigo fan and we both use their bottles now. Keeps my water cold for up to 24 hours.
My husband and I are the same age as Anne and similarly do not remember drinking water much as children. When I was a teenager our house got a refrigerator with the water dispenser in the door and that's probably the first time I started regularly drinking water. When my husband and I moved in together in our early 20s it didn't really occur to us to drink water and instead we had a constant supply of Koolaid that we made with half the sugar, both to save $ and make it "healthier." Insert huge eye roll here. It took my husband getting kidney stones for a second time while having an outdoor job in the Texas heat for us to get serious about hydration. We put a huge Brita water dispenser on our wedding registry and have been using it ever since, although it takes up a lot of fridge space. We also have a small Brita pitcher that we keep on the countertop because I find using room temperature water to take my many meds and supplements keeps the brain freeze at bay.
I'm pretty sure I had a Nalgene or perhaps a ripoff brand in my grad school days circa 2006-2008, but since then I've had mostly branded (awful quality) swag ones from various nonprofit conferences. I did acquire one Hydroflask, one S'well, and one Yeti, plus the off brand Yeti-the Bubba, somewhere in the last decade though.
I would have loved for this convo to also touch on the specifically American/North American context of hydration obsession--it seems to be unique to us and thoroughly confusing for much of the rest of the world!
I am a younger Millenial in the PNW and when I was in high school Klean Kanteens (why did they have to spell it like that??) were really having a moment. I brought mine to school every day and proudly placed in on my desk to display all my cool stickers. I was also very pleased to have never misplaced it, and even though I don't use it anymore it's still somewhere in the back corner of my kitchen cabinet because it carries such sentimental weight. My water bottle of choice these days is a variety of bike bottles because they seem to just accumulate in my mountain biking household, and they are very convenient to carry around and drink from.
I got a free LexisNexis Camelbak in law school and it was my first “fancy” water bottle. After that I bought a Contigo (still have and like) and was gifted several S’Wells. Do not like. Also bought two hydroflasks but for coffee, not water. My work gave us a Yeti coffee tumbler which is awesome…so, most of the nice drink/water bottles I own were free or gifts. I did buy a Stanley. It’s too damn big.