Kitty parties make the social whirl go round

GURGAON: Be it an elaborate session of rummy with thousands of rupees at stake, or a casual gossip session with friends, kitty parties in Gurgaon are only getting bigger and better.
Quintessentially, kitty parties are aimed at encouraging a group of women to save small sums of money every month. One of the members gets the bulk amount every kitty session that enables them to purchase expensive items.With a per head expense in the region of Rs 5000 to Rs 20000, non working mothers and sexagenarians are opting for as many as 15-20 kitty parties a month, to keep themselves busy. The parties are organised by professional event managers and have many entertaining activities on offer like tambola, tarot reading, cooking lessons, etc.
“Since I quit work after my child was born, kitties have been one of the most exciting social events for me. I attended my first kitty party five years ago, when a friend of mine advised me to join her group. I pooled in Rs 3000 per month,” said Ananya Malhotra, resident of Nirvana Country.
She gradually joined more groups that introduced her to people from different social circles, and today she spends upto Rs 60,000 per month on 15 kitty groups. According to Priya Bhatnagar, owner of an event management company in Gurgaon, “the money involved in kitty parties across Gurgaon is rising like never before.
Earlier women had little money to splurge on entertainment and therefore kitty parties were more about investment than socialising. However, with rising corporate salaries, even upper middle class women are given a fat household expense budget that can accommodate as many as 20 kitties a month.” The themes of these parties vary from ethnic celebrations, at festival times, to Arabic and retro nights, and even Bollywood kitsch.
Women dress up elaborately for kitties, as they are an ideal environment in which to display ones latest purchases in terms of clothes, shoes, accessories, and jewellery, to their closest friends.
“After the latest India Fashion Week, three of my kitty groups decided to double up the number of parties and made them a weekly affair instead of monthly. Everyone wanted to showcase their latest collection of designer clothes and what better way to do that than wear them to a kitty party,” said Sudha Gopalan, a housewife from Sushant Lok 1.
Couple kitties are also now in vogue, as husbands accompany their wives once a month for a Sunday outing with friends and neighbours.
“My husband has been attending a couple of kitty parties for over a year now, as he loves participating in tambola and card games because he otherwise never gets to do all these things,” said Vani Manchanda, resident of South City 1. Vani claims she is a lucky gambler as she has never lost a game of cards in the last eight years of kitty parties.
“During Diwali the stakes go as high as Rs 1 lakh for every round of cards at couple kitty parties, as this is a chance for the men to make a statement in their social circle,” she added.