Hiving™ | Party with a Purpose

Dear Lovely Person with an interest in hiving™,

You may be asking yourself: "What the hell is this 'hiving' thing?" Some weird disease? A sport you never learned in school? A way to sell off your assets?

No, hiving — you know, like bees in a hive! — is about doing inventive group activities to enhance your quality of life. And by "quality of life," I mean: the stuff that makes life more fun, meaningful, and worthwhile, like connecting with other people, experiencing new things, and helping others.

A few years ago, I read a trend study by the Yankelovich marketing consultancy that talked about what Americans had in common with bees: like a hive that's abuzz with activity, people were seeking more interaction and engagement with each other. It was the opposite of "nesting" or the "cocooning" trend in the '80s, when people were supposedly retreating to their homes for comfort and disconnection. The new "hiving" trend — according to this study — meant that people were looking for ways to get out and connect with each other.

I immediately started to notice evidence of this trend everywhere - the way "shared plates" and communal dining was taking off in restaurants, how group travel was the hottest market in the travel industry, and how themed parties and cooking clubs were becoming all the rage.

But more than anything, I identified this "trend" as something I had been practicing my whole life: hiving — or creating inventive group activities to enhance quality of life — was my way of life. It was the motivation behind everything I do - to create fun experiences and meaningful interactions with other people.

So, last spring, I started hiving™::party with a purpose. As a way to formalize what I was already doing in my social life, and as an experiment to see if people were actually following this trend. It turns out, they are. With so little time in our busy lives to spend with our friends and family, it's become even more important to spend that time wisely. I wanted to create fun parties where people would do something they wouldn't normally do — because they couldn't or wouldn't, unless someone else organized it for them — and in doing so, would have a good time with friends, meet new ones, and feel good about themselves for contributing to different charities.

And to connect.

So, that's what hiving is.

Thanks for your interest,
Sally Horchow
hiving™::party with a purpose