Friendship bracelets – am I too old for them?

How old is too old to wear friendship bracelets?

Ahh, the question that truly marks the passing of time for Generation X. Not even the entire oeuvre of Douglas Coupland can capture the obsessions and temporal nature of a generation as you, Charlotte, have done with your question.

I have no doubt that friendship bracelets were around long before anyone even heard the term "Generation X", and I have even less doubt that some eager Guardian reader will soon inform me that actuallyfriendship bracelets originated in the early 16th century and they were worn by peasants in the lowlands in order to commemorate each of Henry VIII's marriages. But Henry VIII aside (a massive fan of the friendship bracelet), this particular stringy accessory truly had its moment among those born around the mid to late 70s and early 80s. The only clearer sign that someone is a member of the tail end of Gen X than that filthy bit of string around their wrist is if they have, buried somewhere in their car, a mixtape that includes both the Prodigy and East 17's Stay Another Day.

Friendship bracelets, like holidays in Ibiza, are something that this particular generation discovered in their late teens in the 90s and see absolutely no reason to give up just because they are starting to make plans for their 40th birthday parties. But whereas the holidays have become yet more expensive and high maintenance every year (£90 for a club ticket? £10,000 a week for a villa? £500 for a beach chair? Hey, it's Ibiza, yeah? Where everything is just so laidback and simple!), that bit of string on the wrist just gets nattier and knottier every year.