Recorded in Los Angeles with producer Jerry Finn, the song was created with the intention of shipping it to radio, as the trio felt they needed a "really catchy and basic" single.

The video was popular in rotation on MTV's Total Request Live,[7] leading to criticism from those who felt their basis for parody was thin.

The trio—composed of vocalist/guitarist Tom DeLonge, vocalist/bassist Mark Hoppus, and new addition drummer Travis Barker—had come up playing in Southern Californian punk clubs and on the Warped Tour festival circuit.

Their penchant for off-color humor and fast-paced punk rock had caught the interest of Universal Music Group, which signed the band to its MCA label.

With a higher budget and assistance from the veteran engineer Jerry Finn—who mixed Green Day's Dookie (1994)—the band set out to make their next album, which came to be called Enema of the State.

"All the Small Things" can be traced back to when the trio first began developing songs for the album at their rehearsal space at DML Studios in their hometown of San Diego, California.

By this point, most of the tracks on Enema of the State had been written, but DeLonge felt the album needed "just one song that was really catchy and basic.

[14][15] The lyrics "She left me roses by the stairs / Surprises let me know she cares" are based on a time Jenkins did just that after DeLonge returned home late from recording.

"[10] Gavin Edwards of Rolling Stone termed it an "irresistible pop-punk anthem,"[25] while it was labeled "a pop punk watershed" by Jonah Weiner of Blender.

[7] Steve Appleford at the Los Angeles Times praised the song as "angsty, juvenile, endearingly cute and loaded with irresistible hooks,"[26] while Mikael Wood, writing for the same publication, observed that the tune "deliver[s] a potent mixture of humor and melancholy, hope and resignation.

[31] Steven Hyden, writing for now-defunct culture website Grantland, said "I've come to view Blink as arguably the best radio singles band of its era; songs like "All the Small Things" stand the test of time as ace pop tunes.

"[32] Amanda Petrusich, in a piece analyzing the band's longevity for The New Yorker, writes: "[Blink's] finest moments are barked in aggrieved-teen shorthand, like this verse from "All the Small Things": 'Late night / Come home / Work sucks / I know.

'"[33] Tom Breihan at Stereogum ranked the "soaringly sincere" ballad at a 10/10,[34] while Jeremy Gordon at Pitchfork viewed the song as "surprisingly sensitive [...] the fizzy pleasure of the melody captures the Hallmark simplicity of young love.

[10] It features the trio doing parodies of other popular boy-bands such as Backstreet Boys (most famously the "I Want It That Way" video), 98 Degrees, and NSYNC.

[46] "I was a little surprised it went over so well," recalled Marcos Siega, director of the clip, commenting that he felt it would offend viewers of TRL and boy band fans.

"[10] "Blink now had the backing of a major record company […] just like the synthesized pop acts they were spoofing," said British journalist Tim Footman.

"[47] Matt Diehl, author of the book My So-Called Punk, called the basis for satire thin: "To seasoned ears, Blink-182 sounded and looked just as manufactured as the pop idols they were poking fun at.

"[8] In a similar vein, in 2011, The New York Times wrote, "Fame doesn't discriminate based on origin, though: soon the group was as famous as those it was parodying.

"[41] Kelefa Sanneh, writing for The New York Times, described the video as prescient, suggesting "in the next few years top-selling punk-inspired acts like Avril Lavigne and Good Charlotte helped turn Blink-182's parody into reality as punk rock became the new teen pop.

Former Simple Plan bassist David Desrosiers noted that the song "blended punk attitude with pop songwriting so much better than other bands.

[59] In a 2022 piece, GQ writer Chris Gayomali humorously suggests that "if you were born in the 1980s or early '90s, even if you were never a fan or a willful listener of a Blink song, the lyrics to their biggest hits—"All the Small Things", "I Miss You"—are somehow already encoded into your subconscious, sitting there, just a few blood-alcohol-content percentages away from being karaoke'd without a teleprompter.

"[60] Billboard columnist Josh Glicksman ranked it among the best karaoke singalongs, observing: "Its communal nature affords it flexibility [...] Bring out every air instrument in the arsenal.

"[61] * denotes an unordered list "All the Small Things" has seen extensive use in popular culture, covered by a number of artists from different genres, and soundtracking video games, movies, and television programs.

[81] The song has been covered by All Time Low, Kelly Clarkson,[82] Charlie Puth,[83] GFOTY,[84] Evan Stephens Hall,[85] Kidz Bop,[86] Nick and Joe Jonas,[87] Avril Lavigne,[88] Machine Gun Kelly,[89] Middle Kids,[90] Twenty One Pilots,[91] Weezer,[92] and Postmodern Jukebox[93] (which is used in the 2022 John Lewis Christmas advert).

In 2019, the NHL team the Colorado Avalanche began playing the song during the third period of home games with a comfortable lead and after overtime wins.

[99] Hoppus acknowledged the Avalanche's tradition on Twitter, calling it "amazing",[100] and appeared at the 2022 home opener to lead the crowd in singing the song, and remarking, "Thank you so much for taking our band along or the ride, it means the absolute world to us.