Glow sticks, pulling competitions and other precious memories from Lazy-P under 18 nights

Bridge, Escape, Lava – no matter where they took place, the under 18 nights were a formative part of growing up in Oxford. Whether you were one of the smug reps or actually had to pay for a ticket – everyone who was anyone was there.

Gone but not forgotten, here are some of our most cherished memories from the nights:

Getting ready

I’ve got my jeans, my ralphie polo, and I’ve slathered myself in so much Abercrombie and Fitch cologne that I’ve become a fire hazard. I’m ready for the club, although I couldn’t say whether the club is ready for me.

Tallying how many people you snogged

You’d bump into Beth on the dance floor, grinding to Flo Rida with some HOT Abingdon boy with floppy blonde hair and a Jack Wills shirt. She’d catch your glance, flash you a cheeky smile and hold up seven fingers. She’d only kissed seven people? Harriet got fingered by 12.

Competitions for how many people you could get with

Everyone left with glandular fever.

Thinking you were from Skins at the UV rave

You’d smother your face in UV paint bought from Tigerlilly, and would have some on your pocket as flirting material for the d-floor. Three glowsticks on each wrist, a few around your neck – the more you have on the more badass you look. Mum bought you a pack of 20, so you might as well. This is what people do at raves, right? You are so Effy.

Everyone was there

Literally everyone. The one you really fancied from Teddies, your ex from Magdalen, the really fit mysterious one from Matthew Arnold, the one who you got in a fight with from Cherwell, the one who you always talk to on MSN from OHS but have never really met, the one from Cokethorpe who sent you a picture of his willy and the one who always gets wasted from Rye. Everyone went, and it’s what everyone would be talking about the next Monday at school.

And they were all wrecked from two WKD’s

Mate.

But there was always one girl who got paralytic

She managed to nick vodka from her parents, and would be irretrievably hammered by 11pm. She’d totter around the dancefloor of Bridge for an hour, get with four guys who weren’t her boyfriend, before finally collapsing in a heap of tears and her own sick. The zombie drunk. 

Then there were people who couldn’t get any alcohol

Spare a thought for the poor souls who lived through Lazy P nights without access to booze. They tried unsuccessfully to sneak something from their parents’ alcohol cupboard, and they were too afraid to make a fake ID on Microsoft Paint. You could recognise them as the shifty kids at the bar, clearing out all the Red Bulls and pretending it had got them pissed, bless their cotton socks.

The Foam Party

Finger fest.

Dancing really close to the DJ booth like you’re in Ibiza

You’d stand there with your sunglasses on, hands up in the air clutching your glow sticks. You’ll saunter closer to keep requesting “American Boy” for the fifth time. If you dance really well maybe he’ll let you behind the booth with him.

You thought the people who were nearly 18 were so cool

Now you realise they were just nonces.

Following the club photographer around and then waiting a month to see if you were in the pictures

It was a time before camera phones were a thing, so unless Phoebe with the digital camera was out the official club photos were your only token of the night. You’d follow the photographer around, waiting for a candid shot – which of course you’d ask him to see straight away. Then you’d sit every day refreshing the Facebook (this cool new site kinda like Bebo) page to see if you were in the background of any other ones.

And you’d always do this pose:

Making best friends with people you actually hated in the girls loos

OMG LIZZIE you look soooo pretty! I love your silver sequin belt and ra-ra skirt combo – where did you get it? We should so meet up next week in uni parks!! Let’s take a picture for Bebo.

Being one of Zappi’s reps was a badge of pride

You were really smug as he told you he’d picked you as you were “the coolest from your school” – and he wasn’t wrong. “Me and Zappi are mates”, you’d tell everyone breezily, “he’s so safe.” You’d meet him at Zappi’s cafe to collect the tickets, and you’d be woozy on the way over because he put TWO KISSES at the end of his text. You’d be inundated with messages on your Motorola Rzr, and people would literally be queueing up in your form room to get their tickets. And it was all worth it for the free entry and strutting past the entire queue when it got to the big night.

In the really early ones you could smoke inside

It was the time when the age to buy cigarettes was only 16 so they were easy to get hold of. You’d stock up on Marlboros in town the day before, get them out on the d-floor and wait for the babes to come flocking.

The Traffic Light night

Red for taken, green for single, yellow for i’m-so-hard-to-get.

The things we’d wear

Striped superdry polo for boys, collar turned up every time. Early 2007 was a universally acknowledged turning point in the collar-up game, when someone – and nobody knows exactly who – wore two polo shirts at the same time, with both collars up.

Girls: Ripped denim skirt, circle belt, some kind of bra-flashing strap top or oversized neon-slogan tshirt, Fresh cardigan, gypsy shoes, heaves of Rimmel bronzer, dream matte mousse, foundation lips, backcombed hair. Boys, I’m ready.

The boys who wore sunglasses inside

Hugo, Jack, Tom, Xander and Max knew how to bring them girls in.

There was always one pull that would get everyone talking

There was usually one high social status snog. Sometimes it was one that nobody saw coming – a rags to riches story of someone punching above their weight with a high society beauty, great to see. Then there were smooches that had been on the cards for a while, but until then had been a ‘will-they-won’t-they’ situation. Most memorable were the hookups that saw two big name social powerhouses coming together to form an intimidating power couple, sending shockwaves through the Oxford-Abingdon-Witney area.

Wearing your wristband for as long as possible

“I’m mates with Zappi.”