I shiver, taking off my glove to check the address. I’ve been to this house countless times, but I still need to pull out Google Maps to make sure I’m on the right street. 

Music blares all the way down the block as college students gather, ready to forget about their midterms, work drama and internship search, at least until they run out of chips.

The door is open when I arrive, and I can hear my name called as I hang up my jacket, always fashionably late, as I get off work at 9:30 p.m. 

I move into the kitchen to drop off the snacks I brought, smiling softly to myself. This is what I’ve been waiting for all week.  

The house party, characterized by Jello shots, beer pong and long lines to the bathroom, has been a staple of youth culture for decades. 

Despite this, the phenomenon of the house party, along with much of nightlife culture, may be on life support as Generation Z seems far less interested in going out, compared to generations before them. 

One Reddit thread went viral nine months ago when a Gen Zer asked whether the house parties depicted in 1990s and 2000s movies were ever actually a thing, prompting Gen Xers to share stories from the house parties of their youth. 

This paints a picture of a generation in dire need of a good rager. And I, along with plenty of students on campus, am committed to keeping house parties alive. 

University of Minnesota second-year student Nico Campo said these parties are important for fostering a strong campus environment.

“It promotes unity,” Campo said. “I think when you bring people together and you give them some good music, get them dancing on the floor, parties can be a beautiful thing.” 

As social media continues to dominate how we socialize, house parties serve as a reprieve. They encourage us to look up from our phones and engage with true community, often through the universal language of early 2010s pop hits.

University third-year student Hayden Diaz said house parties allow her to meet more people with similar interests than she would at a bar or club.

“I feel like it’s more of a curated crowd in a way,” Diaz said. “Not that everybody’s the same, but I talked to a couple people that had similar majors or interests, just because it’s like a friend or a friend of a friend.”

Second-year student Lily Tuttle said she enjoys hosting house parties because she can create a specific vibe, while at a bar, the music and people are selected for her.

“If something’s going wrong at the bar, if the mood is off, there’s not much you can do to change it,” Tuttle said. “Whereas at a house party, you can be the catalyst for anything like that.”

House parties, especially in the cramped homes lining Dinkytown and Como, promote an enhanced sense of familiarity compared to what you find in a bar. At a house party, you can see almost everyone at once and join any conversation. 

Especially when you’re familiar with other attendees, there’s an excitement in introducing your old friends to each other, guessing who will go home with whom and watching your best friend crash out when her situationship shows up unexpectedly, all in the course of one evening.

Well, maybe not that last one.

“I’m sure there’s a philosophy behind it, but it’s very intimate,” Tuttle said. “Being in a party is more intimate than, you know, going to a bar.”

For me, house parties also invite a level of spontaneity I rarely afford myself as I balance work, school and my extracurriculars. At a house party, surrounded by many of my closest friends, I feel more comfortable letting loose and acting impulsively. Even if that means making some mistakes along the way.

I mean, it’s for the lore, right?

First-year student Ben Noble once took three high school friends to a party hosted by his college friend, Kiara. Each made a goal for themselves for the evening. Noble’s friend Brady decided to get lost before the end of the night.

At one point, Noble’s other two friends stole spoons and ice cream from the kitchen and promptly ran away.

“I run down the street to go and find them,” Noble recalled. “I have no way to get back into the party, so Brady is, of course, lost.” 

Reflecting on the incident, Noble said it felt like a bonding moment, even if it left a stain on the evening.

“That one made Kiara really mad at me,” Noble said. “But it’s a great story that we talk about a lot, and it was really funny in the moment.”

For Valentine’s Day, my friend hosted a party at her place for the first time. Through a series of unfortunate events involving broken glass, several scraped knees and a frantic search for a purple jacket (it was actually a purse), I only stayed for an hour. 

On its face, the night may have appeared like a disaster. But I loved waking up in the morning, brewing coffee with my friend who crashed at my place and hearing the gossip from my roommate, my plus-one, who knew not a single person there but still managed to have the time of her life after I left without her.

More than anything, I remember laughing, thinking this could only happen in college.

While writing this piece, I went down a rabbit hole reading stories from the Reddit thread above. It was fascinating seeing just how much meaning a party can bring to the college experience. People shared stories of meeting friends and spouses and going on adventures and sidequests they will never forget.

In my two years at the University, parties have pulled me e out of my shell in a way I could not have imagined. I’ve made friends, heard new music, spilled food on myself a heinous number of times and made memories that will last far behind my time in Dinkytown.

So if you haven’t thrown or attended a house party yet, take this as your sign.