Social party networking...OMFG

What are we looking for when we go out? When I was 15 it was a bouncer who I could wink at so he wouldn't know my New Brunswick ID was totally fake (thank you, sketchy "souvenir" shop on College Street) but now, nine years and countless nights out later, what is there left to do?

My group of friends are all around my age (mid-twenties), have all been out and about a ton, (in Toronto, in other cities, drunk, sober, on drugs, not on drugs, dirty underground things, upscale celebrity things, you name it and we've probably done it. Twice.) and are now we're all....well a little bored. The scene here in my darling city is a little conservative to say the least and the industry players usually don't travel outside of the safe, but overly-gentrified areas (King West, blah blah blah...I might suffocate from familiarity the next time I'm out on King West.) and usual crowd (suburban folk make up the majority). Sure, I could go venture to something entirely new and go out in, say, Ossington, where things are decidedly more hipster, but are there really no options other than mainstream ginos and not-so-indie hipsters? Surely.

Location be damned. It's not about where but who that makes a quality party now. It seems as we grow older, our mindset changes from not just the seeking out of a good time, but a good opportunity as well. The busiest parties, events, hootenannies, shindigs and what-have-you in Toronto are the ones where attendees know the mingling crowd will be one of a professional standard. And I'm not talking about the late-night girl professionals who work the King West crowds. (Ha.) Rather I'm talking about the people in this city who are creating business opportunities by pursuing their passions, and thus creating opportunities for others as well. Magazine launches, after-work corporate happy hour-esque mixers, big name charity galas and social media unveilings guarantee a like-minded crowd; if your current train of thought is business-savvy, ambitious and determined. They also happen to make the best, and even (at times) craziest, parties. Money, brains, and a young, handsome group of the city's top folk ensures that the party is not only marketed to a tee, but that it's planned to one as well.

Gone are the days where the most talked-about rager happened spontaneously in so-and-so's grimy after-hours space filled with dirty-yet-pretty rave kids, a plethora of drugs and un-posed-yet-posed Polaroid photos....we're in our mid-to-late twenties now and want to go places where we don't have to worry about scandalous pictures leaking onto Facebook. (Well, on most nights anyways.) What sells nowadays are ideas, ideas, and more ideas, and meeting with idea-producing individuals in a schmoozefest of an atmosphere is, well, ideal! Perhaps it's also because as we get older more of us are in relationships too which hampers the idea of going out and getting crazy. Just because we're in relationships doesn't mean we don't want purposeful partying as well! It's just that the purpose is making business connections instead of, um, physical ones, to phrase it politely.

So I guess the answer to what we're all looking for after a certain point when going out is to better ourselves; through social savvy and essentially selling the ideas we have to others in hopes to collaborate. Add chic martinis, out-of-office haute attire, good beats, & a beautiful venue and you have yourself the new coveted party scene for twenty-somethings: the social network event. Zuckerberg may have put it online, but the rest of us are keeping it going in person.
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