I'm a millennial who's obsessed with Stanley cups. They remind me of collecting 'Harry Potter' books, and I even bought some on my wedding day.

• Kaitlin Gostel has nearly 40 Stanley cups. She estimates she's spent well over $2,500 on the brand.
• Gostel says the rush to buy limited-edition cups reminds her of getting new "Harry Potter" books.

This as-told-to article is based on a conversation with Kaitlin Gostel, a 29-year-old academic in Florida who collects Stanley cups. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I don't have any social media. I don't have TikTok or Instagram.

I actually first heard of Stanley cups in Korea.

I'm a first-generation Korean-American and I often buy cups from Starbucks Korea. Last May, I stumbled across a very different-looking type of bottle I'd never seen before.

It was a Stanley cup. And all of a sudden, I became absolutely obsessed with them. I now have 37.

The first one I bought in the US was Stanley's first Starbucks collaboration at Target last May. I became absolutely in love with the feeling of nostalgia, of waiting like I did in the 90s and the aughts for trend items to come out.

I'm 29. I don't know what a 16-year-old feels when they hold a Stanley cup. I don't feel popular or anything. Nobody really cares.

However, the feeling reminds me of getting Beanie Babies, Tamagotchis, or, most importantly, "Harry Potter" books.

I haven't been so obsessed with something since "Harry Potter." I would wait outside Barnes and Noble all night until they opened and I'd run in there and we'd all have a community as fans.

Stanley is like this — I've met so many people while waiting in line and sometimes we exchange numbers. Some are avid collectors who want to trade. We talk about the cups but we talk about way more than just Stanley.

For the "winter pink" Stanley cup, I went to my local Target for two weeks straight to ask if they were getting it. They finally told me they weren't going to stock it, but it was available at a Target about 40 minutes away. So I woke up at around 2 a.m. and sat in a line of 50-plus people. It was absolutely worth it.

When waiting for both "Harry Potter" books and Stanley cups, we all get these nervous butterflies. Will there be enough? Will they be sold out by the time they get to us? I have no idea. And that is really what gives us the rush.

I bought Quenchers on my wedding day

I mainly have the oversize 40-ounce Quenchers, but I also have some smaller tumblers and mugs for hot drinks.

I use my cups from the moment I wake up. I live in Florida and the Quenchers keep my water cold throughout the day.

I sometimes choose my Stanley cup to match my mood. I'll go with a brown when I'm feeling cozy, I just want to lay in bed, read a book, and relax. Sometimes I match them to my nails. But I usually just ask my husband and he'll pick one at random.

I'm a very organized person. I have taken up most of our kitchen shelves with my Stanleys, coordinated by color.

I gift Stanley cups to friends and family. I've got my husband hooked. My mother refused to use one until I gave her a fuchsia Galentine's Day cup. And now she is absolutely in love with it. She actually hides it when she goes out in public — she's scared someone's going to take it from her.

I've spent well over $2,500 on Stanley merchandise.

My husband says, "This is ridiculous and you've spent so much money." But for me, it's not just a collection. I've kept every "Harry Potter" book with all of my tabs in them and my bunny ears, and with my Stanleys, each one of them brings a memory and those memories are timeless.

I got married in Italy in October, the day the Deco Collection launched. So at 6 p.m., after saying my vow, I ran into the bathroom and purchased four different Stanley cups on my phone. Those cups definitely have a very close part of my heart.

The phase will fizzle out

The cups usually sell out within 10 minutes. When limited-edition cups drop at Target, each store has its own way of dealing with the high demand: Some gave out tickets, some checked IDs to limit them to one per house, and some had absolutely no rules, which caused problems. People ran, jumped, fought, and stole. Target needs more security to prevent these issues from happening, perhaps even law enforcement on the scene.

The videos of people jumping over counters and attempting to steal hundreds of dollars worth of cups are absurd and very traumatic.

I think a large majority of those people are the resellers. They often leave with more than four of the same cup to resell for double the amount on apps such as Mercari, eBay, and Poshmark.

Every phase is a phase. Maybe my collection will be valuable in a hypothetical world, maybe it won't, but it'll have value to me.

I do think it will eventually probably fizzle out. However, they are built to last, and watching the video of a Stanley cup surviving a car fire, I'm like, "Geez, these things are insurance. I should put my jewelry in this." Because evidently they're indestructible.

Do you collect Stanley cups? Email this reporter at gdean@insider.com.