# What Did You Do On Your 18th Birthday? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 22, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920 "2009-02-22T05:09:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/1 "2009-02-22T05:09:46Z")
Today is my cousin’s twin girl and boy’s 18th birthday. It got me to thinking about starting this thread to see if most people remember what they did that day and/or night. For me- it was July of 1986. I had just graduated high school and was still living at home getting ready to go to Eastern Michigan in the fall. During the day, I believe it was a Saturday, I went to see _Top Gun_ at the theater with my half-brother. This was before Tom Cruise got weird, back when people still went to his movies. We were completely baked. The movie was very intense for me because of that- unforgettable, even. I don’t remember what, if anything, I did that night. 'Probably got the munchies. What about you? ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/2 "2009-02-22T05:17:01Z")
Bought cigarettes. Probably a scratch off ticket too. It wasn’t that many years ago but I don’t remember much more than that. Besides the fact I bought Checkers cigarettes that day because I could finally pick my own. They were disgusting and I only smoked one then went and bought my normal kind. Probably drank with my friends too, or went to dinner. Same as any other birthday. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/3 "2009-02-22T05:23:27Z")
October 1, 1963. I was a freshman in college and still a virgin (not for long, though). Kennedy was President (not for long, though). The Beatles were unknown in the U.S. (not for long, though). I have no idea what I did. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/4 "2009-02-22T05:26:05Z")
No idea. Birthdays don’t hold any significant meaning for me, never have. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/5 "2009-02-22T05:28:48Z")
I studied for a college final. Maybe second-semester general chemistry, but I don’t remember anymore. I’d declared the previous Sunday ‘Gila’s Birthday Observed,’ although I couldn’t tell you what I did then, either. ---
**Author:** ![MissIntent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/97f17d/32.png) [@MissIntent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissIntent)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/6 "2009-02-22T05:28:53Z")
Went and rode my horse, ate pizza rolls with my brother and got a tattoo. Nearly 7 years ago. And I still love the tattoo. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/7 "2009-02-22T05:32:44Z")
A week short of graduating High School, I remember I was just about to move out of my parents’ house (they had just died, and I was moving out of the house I’d grown up in to go to college) and I just had gotten my draft card (this was middle-late Vietnam). I remember walking two blocks to my local liquor store, where I had gotten rebuffed on several occasions, and thought how I would flash my draft card, and buy enough booze to float a boat in, and there must have been something smug about my walk because they didn’t even bother to card me. I bought a shipload of booze and got silly-drunk, legally, that night, with a few friends. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/8 "2009-02-22T05:34:45Z")
I got in a minor argument with my parents and went to an unremarkable graduation party at a friend’s house. Not very exciting, but I appear to remember it… ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/9 "2009-02-22T05:42:41Z")
Best birthday ever. I was a freshman in college. My boyfriend and my two best friends took me to the local amusement park, where we got passes and spent the whole day. It was a weekday so we didn’t have to wait in long lines. We rode the roller coaster nine times! Ate junk! Stayed until the place closed! It was great. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/10 "2009-02-22T05:42:56Z")
Registered for the draft and got drunk legally. I’d lost my license earlier that year so I got blasted and didn’t worry about driving. Colorado still let 18 year olds drink 3.2 beer in 1986 I think I had some pizza as well. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/11 "2009-02-22T05:53:28Z")
> [@myskepticsight](#): > > Bought cigarettes. I did the same thing but I was not, and am not a smoker. I smoked about 3 of them and gave the rest away. I just did it because I liked the “grown-up” feeling of being allowed to buy them. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/12 "2009-02-22T06:14:08Z")
same like **Leaffan** - no idea, because nothing special. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/13 "2009-02-22T06:27:36Z")
It was 1983. I got drunk and tried to get laid. ---
**Author:** ![Simmerdown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simmerdown/32/14859_2.png) [@Simmerdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simmerdown)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/14 "2009-02-22T06:38:26Z")
It was 1981. I was traveling with two friends in Europe. We were in Koblenz, Germany. We went to a restaurant and had a nice meal and a couple of beers. It was weird, because you would think your 18th would be pretty raucous, but instead, it was more what I would expect my in-laws to do on their 43rd anniversary. Grüss Gott! ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/15 "2009-02-22T10:54:35Z")
December 12, 2003 - I didn’t buy cigarettes, I didn’t buy porn, I didn’t buy lottery tickets, I worked. I didn’t really do anything different until several months later, when I did buy cigarettes for my dad. Same thing when I turned 21. I didn’t drink. It was almost a month before I actaually bought anything with alcohol in it, and it wasn’t even for me. ---
**Author:** ![MissMossie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@MissMossie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissMossie)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/16 "2009-02-22T11:25:49Z")
July 17, 2003. I was working as an arts and crafts director at a summer camp. I don’t think I even took the day off. Eighteen wasn’t that big of a deal for me except for the fact that it allowed me to count as an adult for ratios at work. We needed x adults around for every y kids, so it was useful. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/17 "2009-02-22T12:20:54Z")
I have no idea. I don’t even remember my 68th birthday but I know what I hope to do on my upcoming 69th. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/18 "2009-02-22T12:30:19Z")
In the morning I gave blood. In the evening, I had beer in a restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/19 "2009-02-22T12:31:59Z")
It was a school night, so no partying. I went and signed up for the Selective Service. Drinking age was 21 in Arkansas at the time, so that wasn’t a factor. ---
**Author:** ![JaneSaintClair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JaneSaintClair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneSaintClair)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920/20 "2009-02-22T12:47:41Z")
I am somewhat distressed to discover that I have no idea what I did on my 18th birthday. I must assume that I killed those brain cells in the years that followed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-do-on-your-18th-birthday/486920.md?page=2)