Kool-Aid - The Elixir of Life. Okay, maybe not. But, it was the elixir of my childhood. I don't remember ever drinking water, except from a drinking fountain. Oh, I learned something new the other day. Two of my daughter's roommates are from Boston - - they call a drinking fountain a "bubbler." I thought that was cute, so had to share. Back to Kool-Aid. I suppose that I really DID drink a lot of water as a child, seeing as that's what Kool-Aid is - - water, flavoring, and a butt load of sugar. And I know now that it was the butt load of sugar that I really loved. But, whatever. Kool-Aid - - the green kind. Loved it.
Summer always meant Kool-Aid stands. Back then you didn't need to apply and pay a zillion dollars for a permit just to have a kool-aid stand. Kids were allowed to be kids. Yea for back then! There were no rules, no regulations - - just a card table, a couple of chairs, cups, a box for all your money and a pitcher full of Kool-Aid! No parents freaked out by the butt load of sugar. No creepy men driving by slowly, with sneers on their faces and gross stuff in their minds. No neighbors complaining about the unlicensed business at the end of a driveway. Nope. None of that. Just total innocent fun! The way childhood is supposed to be.
Kool-Aid - - - it's where it's at, baby!
We drank it a lot, too. My favorite was on Sundays when my mom would make one packet of Kool-Aid and mix it with a can of lemonade. We still drink it that way.
ReplyDeleteHmmm . . . guess I better go buy a can of lemonade and try it!
DeleteKool-aid's the stuff!
ReplyDeleteHow neat we picked the same K word.
Like I said . . .great minds!
DeleteYou have that right, the kids Elixir of Life. love it. I worked with a girl who actually dyed her hair with the blue colored Kool Aid. Shoot I had no clue you could do that or it would have probably been one of those mothers nightmares for my mom.
ReplyDeleteJennifer just commented on the hair dye thing, too. May have to have my daughter experiment :)
DeleteI don't remember there ever being Kool-Aid in the house when I was growing up ... it was milk, water, tea, or go thirsty. But at my girlfriend's, two houses down, there were always several pitchers of Kool-Aid on hand, and boy, was I ever envious! ('Course, there were six thirsty kids in that family ...)
ReplyDeleteYou must have grown up in a more healthy-minded home than I did :)
DeleteOh my Kool-Aid! Grape Kool-Aid and lemon lime soda are all my son will drink period. It's an Aspergers thing. We get the generic sugar free kind so he doesn't drink that much sugar and we can afford the elixir. Mix up several pitchers of Kool-Aid, each a different kind. Freeze into ice cubes and then put different flavored ice cubes into glasses of lemon lime soda. It's pretty and yummy. BTW, sugar free doesn't melt as fast. I have an actual Kool-Aid pitcher. It's plastic and has the face on it and everything. There are two lines to show you where 1 and 2 quarts are for measuring water. It's old now and getting kind of beat up, but I love it.
ReplyDeleteI think the lemon lime soda with the ice cubes sounds great!! We used to make ice cubes and put toothpicks in them!
DeleteThe green one huh? I always liked Tropical Punch, Cherry and Grape. Can't believe that children would need a license to have a Kool-Aid stand!
ReplyDeleteWe used to just add the sugar and then dip our finger into the envelope - - who needs water!
DeleteSo funny Judy..my daughter dyes the tips of her hair in red kool aid. That stuff will stay in her hair for over a month. I so wish my kids can grow up like I did..hours playing outside and chasing the ice cream truck down the street. Now the ice cream truck driver is creepy and I have to sit on the driveway if my kids want to play outside. sad.
ReplyDeleteJennifer - you'll have to make sure you read my "M" post! haha. Someone else said something about dying hair in kool aid - never heard of that! i'll have to tell my daughter!!
DeleteAwesome. By the way, I grew up here in MA and while it's spelled "Bubbler", it's pronounced "Bubblah". lol ;P Grape koolaid!! YUM!
ReplyDeleteBubblah - - I like it!
DeleteNot much Kool-aid around here either.. but you know..every new moon or so..
ReplyDeleteAnd the green kind is definitely the best.
I think I read that Kool-Aid was atually originally invented to act like a medicinal tonic. I was a Black Cherry kid myself. Regular cherry was good, but black cherry was where it was at!
ReplyDeleteNEVER heard of Bubbler before. I'm surprised. I've heard lots of regionalisms from much further away!
ReplyDeleteNo Kool Aid in my house. But loved the commercials :)
Kool-Aid stands are cool! The regulations on them these days are ridiculous!
ReplyDeleteI remember watching my mom make the Koolaide and the huge cup of sugar that went into it. I liked red the best. Or maybe orange. Hard to pick.
ReplyDeleteBoy, I didn't know lemonade stands were regulated. Good to know before I break any laws.
I remember when our Koolaide pitcher & cups arrived. I thought we were the bomb!
ReplyDeleteKool aid was the cheap way to provide something other than water for dinner. We did not routinely have milk - okay , I take that back - powdered milk was available but that stuff was gross. I made at least one pitcher of kool aid nightly for the family dinner.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that kool aid is known for in the SF Bay area is that it was the beverage that the Jim Jones cult members drank in 1978 - in Guyana - many of the 900 cult members who drank the poison laced grape kool aid were from the Bay Area.
I loved how the Kool Aid man would crash through the brick wall to bring the kids Kool Aid...yes, simpler times indeed!
ReplyDeletenot having grown up in the us... does not mean so much to me, but I can your innocent fun feeling all the way over here
ReplyDeleteanni
We used to have Kool Aid stands all the time! What great fun!
ReplyDeleteI drank it as a kid (and into my young adulthood) and then I stopped. Maybe because my kids hate it! Isn't that weird? I think so!
ReplyDeleteMy Dad would never allow kool aid in our house either and in Detroit they call it "welfare juice." :D
ReplyDeleteI don't think we had that in Scotland, but we did have ice cream vans that came round every hour or so and sold everything from frozen drinks to single cigarettes (10p each or 5 for 40p). Good times. :-)
ReplyDeleteI haven't had Kool-Aid in forever!! Time to pick some up from the grocery store and make a pitcher!
ReplyDeleteAh Kool-Aid and it's generic counterparts were the best! Frozen Kool-Aid pops were also super cool too. Did you ever have a chance to make Kool-Aid popsicles in an ice cube tray?
ReplyDeleteSarah @ The Writer's Experiment