# Sleepytime Tea Bear

Sleepytime Tea Bear is the drowsy bear in a nightcap and gown on Celestial Seasonings' Sleepytime Tea box, designed by artist Beth Haye in 1973. Internet users began remixing the image as an exploitable around 2018, and by late 2022 the bear stood in for exhaustion in viral tweets, including a @holy_schnitt text joke that reached 176,000 likes on Twitter.

## Origin
Celestial Seasonings commissioned Beth Haye to design the Sleepytime Tea packaging in 1973, and the bear became the company's most iconic brand design[2]. In a Pop Icon interview from December 2020, VP of Marketing Tim Collins said the inspiration came from 'the original influences of Disney and the idea of a realistic fantasy,' and noted that Haye is the sister of one of Celestial Seasonings' co-founders[1].

The earliest known reference to the bear online shows up on Twitter on January 9, 2008, when user @TheSenator wrote, 'Making Sleepytime Tea. I'll be a snoozing bear wearing a nightcap in no time!'[3]. Meme use of the image took off a decade later: on April 17, 2018, Instagram account @moneygames posted a 'not all men' edit featuring the bear that collected over 11,200 likes over the next four years[4].

- **Platform:** Celestial Seasonings packaging (1973) / Instagram (meme spread)
- **Creator:** Unknown
- **Date:** 2018

## Overview
The joke almost always lands on exhaustion. Users caption the sleepy bear with lines about hitting the wall after work, giving up on hustle culture, or picking rest over anything else, with the bear's content, half-asleep face doing most of the work[5]. Instagram account @mytherapistsays attached the caption 'Me every day at 5:37pm' to the image in November 2020, and that post reached over 208,000 views[6].

Other formats cast the bear as a full character. In October 2022, Instagram's @throwingfits ran a 'steal his look' fashion-breakdown that used the nightcap and gown as the outfit[8]. The following week, @chairjesus made a fake RapTV news graphic claiming the bear had been shot dead in Houston, which reached over 47,000 likes[10]. A @jordansamuel tweet urging followers to 'stop glamorizing the grind, start glamorizing the Sleepytime Tea bear' summed up the appeal across all these variants[7].

## How to Use
Posts typically pair the sleepy bear image with a caption about being tired, done with work, or picking rest over anything productive. Common conventions include 'me every day at [time]' lines, declarations of giving up on grind culture, and 'steal his look' style parodies of the nightcap-and-gown outfit.

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Sleepytime Tea Bear?
Sleepytime Tea Bear is the sleeping bear in a nightcap and gown that appears on Celestial Seasonings' Sleepytime Tea box, used online as a reaction image for exhaustion[2].

### Where did Sleepytime Tea Bear come from?
Artist Beth Haye designed the bear for Celestial Seasonings in 1973[2]. Meme use of the image took off on Instagram in April 2018 with a @moneygames post[4].

### What does Sleepytime Tea Bear mean?
The bear represents choosing rest over hustle culture. @jordansamuel's 2021 post 'Stop glamorizing the grind, start glamorizing the Sleepytime Tea bear' captures the recurring sentiment[7].

### How do you use Sleepytime Tea Bear?
Typical posts caption the image with lines about being tired, done with work, or wanting to be in bed. @mytherapistsays's 'Me every day at 5:37pm' version is one common example[6].

### Is Sleepytime Tea Bear still popular?
Viral traction peaked in October 2022, when @holy_schnitt's text meme about the bear reached 176,000 likes on Twitter within a week[11].

## References
1. [https://popicon.life/celestial-seasonings-sleepytime-bear-tea-icon/](<https://popicon.life/celestial-seasonings-sleepytime-bear-tea-icon/>)
2. [https://web.archive.org/web/20151218050620/https://celestialseasonings.com/learn-about-us/iconic-artwork](<https://web.archive.org/web/20151218050620/https://celestialseasonings.com/learn-about-us/iconic-artwork>)
3. [https://twitter.com/TheSenator/status/581963182](<https://twitter.com/TheSenator/status/581963182>)
4. [https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhr1dtXlbCb/](<https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhr1dtXlbCb/>)
5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sleepytime-tea-bear](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sleepytime-tea-bear>)
6. [https://www.instagram.com/p/CIO4hE0FvTF/](<https://www.instagram.com/p/CIO4hE0FvTF/>)
7. [https://twitter.com/jordansamuel/status/1445523007959535616](<https://twitter.com/jordansamuel/status/1445523007959535616>)
8. [https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjitd1Yr_iM/](<https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjitd1Yr_iM/>)
9. [https://www.instagram.com/p/CjnbH86Ozey/](<https://www.instagram.com/p/CjnbH86Ozey/>)
10. [https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj1B-HBpFwI/](<https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj1B-HBpFwI/>)
11. [https://twitter.com/holy_schnitt/status/1586408090639151104](<https://twitter.com/holy_schnitt/status/1586408090639151104>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/sleepytime-tea-bear
Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library