Born From Partition, Reclaimed By Gen Z: Why Kitty Parties Are Cool Again

"I think all of us girlies should start doing kitty parties. Our mummies were so ahead of their time. Because what do you mean only women are allowed, and they meet and play games?" says influencer Divyanshi Chauhan in a viral video that has reached almost a million views, talking about how kitty parties were, in many ways, ahead of their time.

And honestly, she may be onto something.

Divyanshi is not the only one. Over the last year, a wave of youngsters (especially Gen Z) has started looking at the concept their mothers and aunts once loved with fresh eyes.

The very same kitty party that was once dismissed by many young people as an afternoon of aunties, gossip and dressing up is suddenly looking like a pretty solid way to spend time with your girlfriends.

Social media, including Instagram, naturally, has discovered it too.

Scroll through Reels, and you will find women dressing up for themed kitty parties, playing games, exchanging gifts, posing for pictures, dancing, laughing over lunch, and generally looking like they have figured out something the rest of us are still trying to solve: how to actually make plans with your friends and stick to them.

The comments under these videos carry a similar emotion. Have a look at some of them:

"Me with my girl gang in 30 years," one person wrote.

"Auntie's got a better social life than me," said another.

"Mujhe bhi le lo aunties please," reads another comment.

And perhaps the most relatable one: "Sorry yaar choti thi tab kitty parties par hasti thi (sorry I used to laugh at Kitty parties when I was young)."

There is even a comment that sums up the entire Gen Z reaction: "Women living their life with fun is my favourite genre."

Maybe the aunties were onto something all along.

The Partition Story Ft Kitty Parties

The kitty party did not begin as an excuse to dress up, eat lunch and play Tambola (not that there's anything wrong doing that either).

Its history is considerably more serious.

Kitty parties as we know them today began taking shape in northern India in the years after Partition, particularly among middle-class women in places such as Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

Families had been uprooted, property had been lost, and many people were trying to rebuild their lives. For women, who often had limited access to formal employment, banking or independent financial resources, informal savings groups offered a practical way to pool money.

Kitty parties as we know them today began taking shape in northern India in the years after Partition. Photo: Instagram

The basic idea was simple. A group of women would contribute a fixed amount every month to a common pool, or the "kitty". Each month, one member would receive the accumulated amount, with the cycle continuing until everyone had received their turn.

Think of it as a very desi version of a rotating savings club, except there was usually food involved.

And, importantly, there was company.

The gatherings gave women a socially acceptable reason to leave the house, meet other women and build friendships at a time when many middle-class women were largely confined to domestic spaces.

Research by Norwegian social anthropologist Anne Waldrop has looked at 'kitty parties as part of the changing lives of middle-class women' in Delhi, particularly how they brought together saving, friendship and what she describes as "exposure".

For women whose families had migrated during Partition, these networks could also become particularly meaningful.

From Financial Lifeline To Full-Blown Social Event

Over time, the financial side of kitty parties began to change along with India's middle class.

By the 1980s, as consumerism grew, kitty money could help families purchase expensive household items such as televisions, refrigerators and furniture.

For some women, it also became a way of setting aside money for things they wanted for themselves, from jewellery and clothes to salon visits and holidays. And then the party part became bigger.

Kitty parties as we know them today began taking shape in northern India in the years after Partition.

The hostess would organise lunch or snacks. There would be games. Someone would bring a new Tambola variation. Someone else would arrive with a theme. Eventually, kitty parties became not only about financial arrangements but also about a friendship circle and a monthly event that everyone was expected to show up for.

By the 1990s and 2000s, the stereotype was firmly established: women in nice clothes, eating good food, discussing family matters, shopping and, inevitably, gossiping.

Waldrop's research found that kitty parties were often dismissed precisely because of these associations with gossip, consumption and middle-class femininity. Yet her research also points towards the less visible reasons women continued participating: saving, friendship and having a social life outside the home.

Instagram Has Discovered The Kitty Party

On Instagram, kitty parties have become a genre of their own. Reels show women getting ready together, arriving at restaurants, playing games, exchanging gifts, doing themed activities and taking group photographs.

One recent trend even saw kitty parties embrace elaborate themes, including Bridgerton-inspired gatherings, with women turning up in coordinated outfits and treating the monthly meet-up like a proper social event. 

And the timing is interesting.

Gen Z is already living in an era where friendship increasingly has to compete with work, dating, family commitments, screen fatigue and the general chaos of being an adult. At the same time, social media has made activities that were once considered uncool suddenly desirable.

In 2026, Meta said 89 per cent of Gen Z in India engages with Reels daily, while beauty, fashion, lifestyle and fitness are among the most engaged categories. 

So when Reels started showing women having unapologetically silly, social and glamorous fun together, Gen Z did what Gen Z does best. It reconsidered what is 'cringe'.

Suddenly, "aunties playing games at a kitty" became "women maintaining a thriving social life".

Maybe We Were Wrong About The "Aunties"

For years, the word "kitty party" came with a very specific image. Young people often saw these gatherings as something their mothers did because they had nothing better to do.

But that interpretation misses the point. Having something to look forward to every month is not exactly a bad thing.

Neither is having a group of women who know when you are struggling, when your marriage is going through a difficult patch, when your child is unwell, when you have changed jobs or when you simply need to complain about life over a plate of chaat. That social infrastructure can matter.

The Mental Health Argument For A Good Kitty

Mental health expert Absy Sam says there is a genuine psychological benefit to women coming together in this way.

"Women meeting together, perhaps, it's not something of a big agenda," she explains to NDTV. According to Sam, such gatherings can help address loneliness, which is an important mental health concern, particularly when women experience social isolation.

A kitty party can also work as a stress buster.

"They [women] come together, do what they love, they dress up," she says, adding that getting together, dressing up and having fun can provide a break from the mundane routine.

And that might be the most underrated part.

You don't always need a grand girls' trip to reconnect with your friends. Sometimes you need three hours, a decent meal, a silly game and people who make you laugh.

Sam also describes these gatherings as potentially offering a "safe space" for women to come together and talk.

There are, however, caveats.

Kitty parties can also become spaces for comparison, gossip and social pressure, she points out. If the focus shifts towards who is wearing what, who has the bigger house, whose children are doing better or who can afford the most expensive gift, the same gathering that was meant to reduce stress can end up creating more of it.

She also stresses the importance of being mindful of class, caste and financial differences within these groups.

In other words, the point is not to turn a girls' afternoon into an unofficial social ranking system.

The point is to have fun.

Perhaps Our Moms Really Were Ahead Of Us

What makes the current fascination slightly funny is that Gen Z has spent years trying to invent new ways of being social while simultaneously rediscovering things their parents were already doing.

We called it networking. They called it kitty.

We called it a girls' brunch. They called it kitty.

We called it a themed social. They called it kitty.

The kitty party was never simply about women sitting around and gossiping. Its history is tied to displacement, informal finance, friendship and women's access to social spaces. Over the decades, it changed with India's economy and its middle class, eventually becoming the glamorous, sometimes extravagant gathering that many people recognise today. 

Now Instagram is giving it another makeover.