Water cup fever: $250 for a Starbucks Stanley tumbler is a big gulp

LAKE STEVENS — FOMO is in the H2O.

What’s up with that?

People go bonkers over whatever water bottle is trending.

TikToks and news stories showed people camped at Target stores on Jan. 3 for a shot at scoring a limited-edition glimmering pink Starbucks Stanley Quencher.

Cecilia Garcia didn’t join in that fray, but she lined up at the Lake Stevens Target in November for the shiny red Starbucks Stanley holiday tumbler of 2023. She could sell the 40-ounce Starbucks cup for $250 or more, but she won’t. Nor will she drink from it, because it is part of her collection of 200 tumblers.

@everettherald People go bonkers over whatever water bottle is trending. What’s up with that? Visit heraldnet.com or click the link in our bio to read all of Andrea Brown’s article. #waterbottle #stanleycup ♬ original sound – Everett Herald

Even before Stanley mania, reusable bottles were an obsession for fashion, health and emotional support. Reusables are touted as better for the planet than disposable bottles, which, we learned last week, have thousands of nanoplastic particles floating inside that we ingest.

The influencers took to viral strategies to push products by Stanley, maker of that green thermos for tough guys, into a status symbol and must-have for women.

Water bottles are collectibles, like Funko bobbleheads or Disney items.

Garcia, 26, owner of Cecilia’s Cleaning Services in Lake Stevens, started collecting tumblers three years ago, with most purchased at retail price from local stores. She belongs to eight Facebook groups to buy, sell and trade. She only buys. Her splurge last year was $300 for a Starbucks iridescent pinecone tumbler released in 2019 for $18.95. It came with a keychain.

“My daughter is like, ‘Another one?’ every time I come home with a new one,” Garcia said. “I had to get storage because I ran out of room in my house.”

Water bottles tie in with hydration and new year’s resolutions to drink more water.

Of course, people could just use water glasses from the kitchen cabinet. Or they could use bottles they already have or choose from the graveyard of castoffs at thrift stores. There were several hundred at Value Village on Evergreen Way over the weekend, but no Stanleys.

Back in the day, people actually drank from communal water fountains in school hallways, gyms and parks.

Some were porcelain and looked (and tasted) like wall toilets. At best, it was like drinking from a garden hose, another common practice.

Bottles evolved with straws, handles, nipples, flip tops, wide mouth flasks. One for camping, another for the gym, the car, the office, the City Council meeting.

Need 5 pounds of water at your fingertips for emotional support? Costco has an 80-ounce reusable Tritan plastic all day hydration mug by Reduce. A two-pack is $15. One for each hand. You can use them as kettlebells.

Tumblers can be outfitted with cute charms on the handles, silicone boots on the base and snack trays around the top. My Stanley is personalized with vinyl stickers, such as “Not vodka.”

Morrigan’s Nest, a Mount Vernon popup custom tumbler vendor, takes it to the next level. The $55 speaker model tumblers have detachable bluetooth speakers at the bottom.

You don’t even have to like the taste of water to get in the groove.

A German company, Air Up, claims it “harnesses retronasal smell by infusing flavored air into every sip of water from the bottle” through scent-based taste.

“The aromatized air molecules from the flavored pods enter our olfactory center every time we drink and are perceived as taste when we exhale,” a press release explains. “In short, our brain thinks we are tasting lime and mango-passionfruit to blueberry and watermelon, while we are only drinking plain water.”

The next trend is already brewing. The Owala 40-ounce tumbler is a viral darling in the world of emotional support water bottles.

“Out with the old. Goodbye, Stanley. In with the new,” says one TikToker with 500,000 followers.

Is there a person, place or thing making you wonder “What’s Up With That?” Contact reporter Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.