1980s Woven Friendship Bracelets

I never could make these damn Friendship bracelets.

The 1980s were all about FRIENDSHIP and woven patterned crafty girly stuff. Everyone was making friendship books, friendship pins, those cute ribbon hair barrettes and ribbon hair clips (some even had beads dangling from them!) and my personal favorite, friendship bracelets. Remember them? They were made using coordinating colors of durable thread?

Well guess what, other than friendship pins, which, let's face it, were easy. I mean all you had to do was stick some tiny beads onto a small safety pin and you were good to go. Any idiot can do that! I just could NOT master anything involving a pattern. Seriously. I couldn't even braid my own hair, Barbie's hair or anyone's hair for that matter. Oh, and I sucked at making those damn plastic lanyards at camp - mine always had odd knots in them or leaned to one side. (Click that lanyard link for step-by-step directions!)

... and I never could master those dang plastic lanyards
at Girl Scout camp either!

The other day, I did something I haven't done since childhood. I actually broke down and PURCHASED three friendship bracelets. Hello, loser! The purpose of these friendship bracelets was to trade them with friends. Hence the name!

You Can't Trade Friendship Bracelets If You Can't MAKE Them!

When purchasing woven friendship bracelets, it is important to be DISCREET. You don't want everyone knowing that #1 can't make threaded friendship bracelets yourself and #2 don't have friends lining up to gift them to you for free! 

Today, there are even how-to books and
websites on friendship bracelets!

Don't Tell Anyone, But in 1983, I STOLE Friendship Bracelets!

Today, thank heavens for Etsy. Back in the '80s I did the unthinkable. I stole them!! I was just too embarrassed to own up to the fact that I didn't have the talent to make my own and, well, I guess I didn't have the right friends to teach me. Our corner card store had this lovely display of friendship bracelets back in 1983. I remember actually looking at those bracelets in all their woven glory and slipping a few of them on my wrist and well, slipping out of the store. Can you believe it? I'm such a nervous wreck today, I can't imagine trying to get away with that type of illegal behavior. For serious.

*Note, this photo and these bracelets were purchased from cool Etsy chick MilkandHoneybyAndrea. 

Before Facebook We Had Friendship Books or FBs

Example of a Friendship Book page - from the 
Friendship Book Facebook group

Friendship Books or "FBs" were a big part of my life back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These small to medium sized "books" were created by stapling pieces of paper together and including a "To" and "From" page which included an address. Once the book was filled, it would be returned to the pen pal it was intended for. It was common to make FBs for other pen pals. Kids who knew that particular pen pal would often write "ICR" on their page meaning, "I can return the friendship book - I'm pen pals with this person."

Each page would be a work of art and include the names of our favorite bands. We used colorful paints, markers, stickers and more to try and outdo the last pen pal's work. The more offbeat, the better. People would experiment with BINGO markers, tin foil, Saran wrap, you name it. I remember even burning the edges of paper with a candle and applying it to the page. By the way, this was all way before scrap booking became all the rage.

We all had nicknames from songs or bands -- for example I was "Sally Cinnamon" for a while. I stole the name from a Stone Roses song. There was a printing company that made these awesome address labels for us featuring a photo of our choice and typically friends would share the cost with a pen pal and include both of their addresses or just their names.

From the Facebook Friendship Book group

My high school boyfriend became fascinated with the Friendship Book scene and he too had labels made up and found himself a handful of pen pals. While most of our high school classmates were out getting wasted on a Friday night, we would sit at my parent's kitchen table with art supplies strewn everywhere and work on our week's worth of Friendship Books. My dad never understood what it was we were doing -- "You doing your art projects again, kids?" He'd say.

Friendship Books began as a way to meet new Gothic or new wave pen pals from all over the country who liked the same music.  Sadly, much like today's Facebook and teens - some of the pen pals were cruel and would spread rumors throughout the pen pal circuit. I remember getting prank calls and hurtful letters from pen pals I had confided in. It was devastating because the reason we all obviously turned to Friendship Books and pen pals was because we couldn't relate to the bullies at school who made fun of our Doc boots and all black. Now the pen pal you've bonded with is calling you a poseur or making fun of you for one reason or another. It was a bummer, but luckily I only experienced it with a few kids who were of course from my own tri-state area.

By the time I got to college, I began to fade out of the Friendship Book scene. Between school, work and partying, I no longer had time to keep up with my massive amount of pen pals and the Friendship Books. It was in college that I began meeting real-life friends who had common interests and didn't think my shoes or hair was strange at all.