I have no idea about how common the practice of key parties was or even if they ever existed at all, but the idea of them certainly pre-dated the 1994 publication of The Ice Storm.
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In one of the various places I worked in the 80s (intentionally being vague here), that some colleagues were known to run key parties was taken as a sign that those social circles were way behind the times.
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It does seem that key parties are more urban folklore than anything that happened frequently.
And their frequent reference in movies and TV shows AFTER The Ice Storm seems to indicate it was a major factor in adding false verisimilitude.
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Don’t believe everything you read.
This is not ancient history. For some of us, it is yesterday.
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Busta Rhymes was so skinny then 
Yeah, that’s the biggest thing that’s always turned me off (not that anyone’s asking!). The idea of having to manage multiple discreet relationships as well as a meta relationship makes my head spin.
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I can barely handle one partner (and have legal documents detailing my failure in the past), I really can’t imagine more than one person. I can barely take care of myself!
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When I was in junior high, a friend’s parents had a doormat with the motto, “If You Don’t Swing, Don’t Ring”. I knew what it meant, but I think his parents thought it was a reference to Sinatra or something.
TIL that it was a motto from Hefner’s Playboy Mansion:
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Well, now they call it “swinging” which pisses off jazz musicians to no end.
/s
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Brings a whole new meaning to, “take my wife, please!”
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The book review states
But if we are to judge by letters printed in the slick magazine, "Mr.,* partner-swapping (as it s should be more accurately de scribed) is prevalent in almost every town and city in this country. Now many of the letters are gathered together in a book, "WIFE-SWAPPING; A Complete 8-Year Survey of Morals in North America* (Counterpoint, Inc., N.Y., 95?), and they have the ring of authenticity.
The possibilities for sexism are still there, but, maybe don’t judge a scene by it’s cover?
Married for 37 years, together over 40 since high school. Been asking for a threesome for most of those years knowing full well if it ever happened I would panic and run away.
In other words, for me anyhow, it sounds good on paper but… Nope. And swapping? I just barely figured out my wife, I really don’t want to try and figure out another woman.
Stigmatizing poly relationships is not a new thing, and outsiders intentionally misunderstanding them isn’t either.
If it’s not for you, then it’s not for you, but if you think trust, jealousy, and communications issues are something that’ll hamper you from having a swinging/poly/swapping relationship… I have news for you. You’ll have trouble in ANY kind of relationship. Those issues don’t happen MORE in poly relationships, they’re just exposed easier.
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MAD had a joke about it in a Super Special (#36) from 40 years ago. I was 11 when I read it and it was many more years before I fully got the joke (quite possibly because of Ice Storm).
“Quick! To the archives!” (Hope it’s OK I uploaded this)
I did a little more digging, and the original appeared in 1972 (Issue #153). (But, more to your point, that has no bearing on how prevalent this actually was.)
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That’s a remarkable memory, @Gyrofrog and wow! I’d never seen that page. Thanks for posting that.
And regards to your recall. It’s crazy how indelible memories of MAD pages can be on people’s lives. I have a Don Martin book that I read once (on a school bus trip) but can still recall by memory. Those books have souls. If Don Martin were a wife, I wouldn’t trade him for a hundred Spy vs Spies.
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Oh my gosh, and I didn’t even read as much MAD as (at least some) other kids. Maybe they were the outliers but some would have a stack of issues* going back to when they were 6 or 7 (though we were only 10 or 11 by then). I got maybe 2 or 3 issues a year, for taking on trips. But yes, it sticks in the mind.
I was able to follow Godfather the first time I watched it because I’d already read it in MAD. 
30, 35 years later I was watching Marathon Man for the first time and realized, “Hey, I know what this is! It was in MAD!” (some issue I found or was given when I was 8 or so; I think it might’ve been a year or 2 old by then)
*ETA: plus the board game! And the card game!
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