Once upon a time (oh, ye old days of 2010), you wouldn't dare leave the house without empty wrists. Oh, no. You had to stack bright, colorful, stretchy Silly Bandz on each wrist, then trade the bracelets with your friends at school, and stop by the store on the way home to pick up another pack. These days, you don't think about them until you find an old colorful band somewhere on the floor of your closet. But take a trip down memory lane...

1. Back in the day, these colorful little bracelets were the key to feeling cool.

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2. It felt like EVERYONE had them.

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3. So you begged your parents to buy you a pack.

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4. Ahhh, memories.

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5. You were picky — you had your favorite shapes (ahem, the turtle) or packs (the Princess Pack, obv).

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6. Even though they didn't even look like shapes when they were on your wrist.

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7. And when you lost your favorite one, well...

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8. Whenever you were bored in class, you'd pull them off your wrist and play with them on your desk.

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9. You would even buy single Silly Bandz off your friends. When you heard that someone was selling them during homeroom...

10. Your face when your parents were like, "Can't you just wear regular rubber bands on your wrist?"

11. And, BTW, your parents hated them. When you left Silly Bandz in your pocket, they broke the washing machine.

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12. Your school might not have been into them either — Silly Bandz were banned at some schools for being too distracting. (Your response: hiding them under long sleeves.)

13. But no matter what, when you got together with your friends, you couldn't help but compare who had which ones and compliment each other's collections.

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Hannah Orenstein is the assistant features editor at Seventeen.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram!

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Hannah Orenstein

Hannah Orenstein is the author of several novels, including Meant to Be Mine (out June 7, 2022), Head Over Heels, Love at First Like, and Playing with Matches. She's also the Deputy Editor of Dating at Elite Daily. She lives in Brooklyn.