The Blue Tumblers

If you are a family member or close friend of my parents, you know exactly what this title refers to. Yes, I am writing a blog post about the blue tumblers.


About 6 or 7 years ago, my mom bought a few plastic tumblers at Wal-Mart. It was about this time of year (early Spring), when they stock the shelves with all the colorful, summery plastic dinnerware. Let me give you a little background information first... My parents have everyday dinner glasses (for when there is company), fancy iced tea crystal goblets (for when there is really fancy company), but what they use the most are plastic tumblers. Anyone who knows my parents also knows that they always have freshly brewed iced tea ready-to-pour at all times of the day.


Back to the tumblers...Now, my mom is picky about her cups. She won't use just any tumbler, and she won't even touch one if it's not insulated (and not every plastic tumbler that says "double-walled" is really insulated...thanks Mom), but the ones she picked up at Wal-mart that Spring several years ago were pretty close to perfect if there ever was a perfect plastic insulated tumbler. She stocked up on a couple every trip she made throughout that summer, and she got her next-door neighbor hooked on them too. But much to their dismay, when they went to Wal-mart the following Spring to stock up on more tumblers (to replace ones that had disappeared, been lost, cracked, etc.), they had quit carrying them. Mom searched high and low for probably the next year and never found anything adequate (I realize Tervis Tumblers are the best of the best but at fifteen bucks-a-pop, who can afford to have a cabinet full of them, especially when the Wal-Mart ones were 96 cents?). After months, possibly years, of no luck finding the tumblers, and watching with dismay as the last few were lost, cracked from wear, or eaten alive because they mistakenly were put on the bottom rack in the dishwasher, my mom was about to give up. She put my dad in charge of finding a suitable option online to order, and he ended up finding a closeout on THE cups from the manufacturer who actually sold them to Wal-Mart. He found out that he could buy them at cost if he bought enough, so what did he do?


He bought 24,000.


That is a semi truck load if you're wondering. And they were all cerulean blue - not navy, royal, or sky blue - but like a neon cerulean blue, like the color in the box of 64 crayons. THE WORST color imaginable (strictly my opinion). You can now find these bright blue cups in the cabinets of every family member we have (and we have an insanely huge family). My dad started selling cases of the tumblers on eBay shortly after acquiring the mother load, and he's made pretty good money on the hideous little things. As it turns out, my mom wasn't the only person in America who hungered after those tumblers. They have quite the following. It's no question that I hate them, especially after seeing so many of them every day, in every house I visit, for all eternity (it seems), but it's really not the cup I hate, it is just the color.


All of that to say this: the unbelievable has happened. Mom told me a few weeks ago that Wal-Mart has the cups again, and in very pleasant bright Spring colors. They are exactly the same, except a dollar more in price, which is to be expected. In my opinion, they are worth the extra dollar. The outer wall is clear, and the inside is the bright color instead of white - so the tea stains don't show as well (we are all big tea drinkers). The only thing better would be if Tervis Tumblers were $1.96 each. I mentioned that I might buy us a few red ones (Tyler has mentioned before that he likes those cups too, but he knows I would never have those blue things in my cabinet), and my mom informed me that between she and her friend, they had already bought out our local store (wow). I did snag a few later.


And now, your life is richer for knowing that very long story :)