Does Every Minnesota Family Have A ‘Puke Bowl?’

I can remember being six and, after eating an apparently spoiled sausage breakfast biscuit, my stomach started rumbling as a laid in my bed. I called out to my mom and she came running in with.. the family puke bowl.

Obviously, getting up and getting to the toilet is Plan A, but with little kids that isn't always a winning bet. You need a backup plan and that's where the puke bowl came in.

My family's puke bowl was a monstrous, magenta-colored Tupperware brand bowl that was also shamelessly used as a popcorn bowl, mixing bowl and even used as a drum kit by the smaller kids.

I had repressed this memory for decades until I came across this Facebook Reel by 'You Betcha' discussing 'puke bowls.' Like Celine Dion famously sang (probably not about puke bowls) 'it's allll coming back to me nowwwwwwww.'

Seeing that video has left me wondering if EVERY family in the Midwest had a similar 'puke bowl?' Was this just a common thing among area parents? Because as an adult I find the concept unthinkable. Our family has evolved to using an empty Kemps bucket that is used ONLY for times of potential puke.

To me, you cannot possibly wash that bowl out enough to fully erase the memory (and smell?) of several rounds of vomit over the years.  But, my family did just that and believe it or not I even survived (so far).