Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/09/12/haunted-mansion-tiki-mugs.html
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According to comments on that page, the eBay scalpers bought all of them by 10am on day one, and they’re not getting any more.
Update: And they’re going for $150-$250 each on eBay right now. Cast Members at Trader Sam’s say it’s a limited edition and no more are being produced.
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That totally sucks; they look great, I would wince at $30 for one, but over $100 is just crazy.
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Could someone explain this Tiki-thing to me? Was/is it some sort trend, niche-culture, party motto? It’s frequently mentioned at fez-o-rama.com too (there was once an article on Fezs @BB, still getting the newsletter) and I once saw a Two-and-a-half-Men episode with some sort of Tiki-Bar.
Polynesian/Tiki style, food, and exotic music started becoming trendy in the '30s courtesy of Don the Beachcomber, got bigger in the '40s and 50s as soldiers in WW2 came back from tropical locales, and was a huge trend in the '60s after Hawaii became a state. It waned in the 70s-80s but there’s been quite a revival since then. Hawaiian shirts, tropical cocktails like the Mai Tai, the restoration/popularity of the classic Disney attraction The Enchanted Tiki Room, and pseudo-Polynesian cuisine and style are all part of Tiki.
I say all of this as a guy with a tiki bar in his house who’s currently working on his membership in the Fraternal Order of Moai.
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Ah thanks. Essentially another variant of the age old tradition of wearing silly clothes, stupid hats and having lots of alcoholic drinks - looks like fun.
Show us your Tiki bar.
Edit: Meh. Searched Google. Not a single Tiki Bar near where I live - and it’s one of the largest urban agglomerations in western Europe.
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There’s a also a lot of crossover with other retro/nostalgia communities. Tiki people are often into midcentury-modern architecture, art, housewares and furniture; vintage cars and vintage kitsch; and the music ventures into surf rock (pun not intended but staying in anyway dammit) and rockabilly. Meanwhile, people who are primarily into one or the other of those things, but especially rockabilly and vintage cars, also often embrace tiki. It’s like a revival of what I imagine to be the aesthetic of SoCal, more than Hawaii, in the 50s and 60s.
And most of the cocktails are sickly sweet. Navy Grog is about the only one I can reliably enjoy.
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Interestingly, most tiki drinks from the 40s/50s were a lot more sour than sweet. A lot of them used more grapefruit and citrus than pineapple, gin, and white rums. It was in the 60s/70s that they got more and more sweet, and these days you’re likely to just get a glass of rum & sweetened pineapple juice in a lot of places. There’s been a trend lately towards more authentic recipes. The first time I had a Donn Beach recipe mai tai it was a refreshing shock after so many sugary sweet pineapple drinks (which are also fun, don’t get me wrong).
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Too bad that this seems an entirely north american phenomenon/trend. 
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It’s not a limited edition and they will be getting more in stock.
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I’ve seen Tiki bars in Australia as well. It may just be a popular trend for (culturally) western countries who had a lot of soldiers stationed in the South Pacific during WWII.
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Well yes, it is supposed to have gained popularity via GIs returning after ww2 and Hawaii becoming a state ( I know don the Beachcomber predates the war but…) and the exotica music craze of the 50s. That said there used to be tiki bars around the world.
One of the Trader Vic’s chain is still open in London. In the basement of a bland modern posh hotel.
And I did read an artisanal tiki cocktail article in the NY Times last week so it may be having one of its regular revivals.
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There used to be a Trader Vics at the Berlin Hilton, but I think they closed it down quite a few years ago…
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Hmm, should try some of those old recipes. I have had tiki cocktails that weren’t over-the-top sweet, but I usually assumed it was because I was in places where they use so much booze there’s no room left for pineapple juice, fruit punch, etc.
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There’s a place like that near me, a 60s-era Polynesian-ish Chinese place specializing in pu-pu platters, crab rangoon, and cheap rum drinks. Locals go there to get rip-roaring drunk and play Keno. The drinks taste like 90% rum, 10% fruit punch. I once heard a guy complain to the bartender that his drink was way too strong and could use more mixer. The bartender laughed and called him a pussy.
If you insist! It’s a bit messy at the moment with too many bottles on the bartop, but you can still see my new Magnum P.I. tiki mug.
Framed on the wall back there: a 60s-era menu from The Kahiki – possibly the finest Tiki restaurant to ever exist, which I loved to visit as a kid – and a copy of the Adventurer’s Club creed.
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the glass buoy is a nice touch! and i see bottles of bitters…yummy,
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Kungaloosh, my friend.
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I’ve been enjoying original recipe Mai tai’s lately. Just 3 shots of rum, a big of lime juice and a bit of Curaçao (orange liquor) and orgeat (almond syrup basically). In other words Mostly booze. If your Mai tai has pineapple juice in it they’re doing it wrong in my opinion.
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Yeah dangit. 100 bucks on eBay. Shoot.
