Last week was high school homecoming in this little Wisconsin town. One didn’t have to be in high school to be reminded because houses, all over town, were decorated with toilet paper.
Many people I talked to thought the toilet paper house decorations were more abundant this year than usual. It got me wondering when this started – when did the first person take hold of the end of a roll of toilet paper and heave the thing over a tree? Hmmmm.
Makes one ponder the creativity of youth.
I was talking in a family group the other day and neither I, my Dad nor his sister (in their 80s) ever did toilet paper decorations or knew of them being done in high school. My cousin, on the other hand, a few years younger than I (let’s just say early 50s) did, in fact, have the experience.
His mother said they were living in Madison at the time and she got a call from some girls who were “interested in him” asking permission to TP their house. She told them they could if they would come and clean it up the next day. Which they did.
So, figure this has been going on for, say 35 years.
My cousin also couldn’t resist the comment that these old folks (his mother and my dad) would’ve had to throw a Sears catalogue over the house. It took a moment for us to get it.
Who gets a TP job? Consensus is; people who are liked, admired, or are needing special recognition of some kind. One of the coaches lives almost next door to our office and he gets a regular TP job every homecoming, usually accompanied by a sign conveying some kind of positive message.
I spoke to another family who still has a teenager in school. Her story was that over the years their family got such regular TPing she finally told the kids doing it to let them know when it was planned. This gave her time to go out and pick up the usable rolls before it rained.
She said, “I didn’t have to buy toilet paper for weeks.” This same family that retrieved the usable rolls had another important opinion. They had also been the victims of house eggings and that, she said, was destructive. Eggs can take the paint off. She finally called the police on that one.
An informal poll conducted here at the office included our sports editor from Canada who helped me research the geographic scope of the practice. He said couldn’t remember any TPing in Canada. Confined, maybe, to the lower 48? This question remains open.
The other reporter here offered information about the age bracket included. She said when her mother turned 45 her friends TP’d their house. “Guess who had to clean it up? I did,” she said.
How, then, does one clean it up. Most said something should be done before it rains, if possible, since then it becomes quite a mess. The recommended method is to go out there and pull it off the trees using rakes if needed.
To complete the research I asked my police contact if the practice is illegal. He said the department puts it in the category of “juvenile misbehavior” and would stop anyone they caught doing it.
Which brings me back to my colleague’s mom and her friends. Caught, at age 45, in juvenile misbehavior? Might be worth it.
Oct. 5, 2002