Any kid of the ’80s who ever needed a late night drink of water before bed usually grabbed a Dixie Cup from the handy wall dispenser in the bathroom. Lucky for us, these Dixie Cups often depicted characters from our favorite TV shows and movies, which of course included Star Wars.

Most of us have fond memories about our first encounter with the Star Wars Dixie Cups. I remember being at a friend’s slumber party and I literally smuggled out 10 Star Wars Dixie Cups from her bathroom that apparently belonged to her younger brother who kept wondering why I was so thirsty.

Reis O’Brien from Geek Orthodox blog recalls his favorite Star Wars Dixie Cup memory:

The unexpected huge hit of the day was the fact that they were serving plenty of “orange drink” from a giant cooler and handing them out in these awesome Star Wars Dixie Cups! Now, this was 1981, when we were still covered in the warming glow of The Empire Strikes Back and we pounced on those cups like they were made of gold!

We kept going up to the lady by the cooler and asking for more, which she kept giving us, each time in a new Star Wars Dixie Cup, then we’d chug the orange drink, wipe out the cup with a napkin and ad it to our rapidly growing stack, which we were hiding in our jacket pockets, worried that if our teachers knew we were trying to keep the cups, they would make us throw them away. We knew that they wouldn’t understand and would look at our treasures as “trash.”

They did notice us going bonkers over the cups, though, and I remember them shaking their heads and kind of laughing as if they didn’t get it. What’s not to get?! We’re all 9 years old, it’s 1981, and we’ve just been presented with free Star Wars collectibles! It’s simple math, people!

Read more about it here:
Star Wars Dixie Cups!