WATCH: A cuddle party was held in Richmond today. The whole idea was just to relax and snuggle up. Nadia Stewart was there and has more.
Karin Whittaker believes you’re never too old to cuddle.
“Everyone is so at peace and really enjoying the hormones that are flowing through us,” she says.
Whittaker is one of two organizers who have brought cuddle parties back to Metro Vancouver. In the last few months, demand has grown to the point where they now facilitate up to seven cuddle parties a month.
“We have several hundred people on our mailing lists. We tend to have 10 to 20 attendees at each party. We really are finding there is a demand for this kind of social event between people,” says Jonathan Lehrer, the Vancouver cuddle party facilitator.
Whittaker says she was inspired to host cuddle parties after attending one in Victoria last year. It’s also where Alexis Anderson has been operating her own personal cuddle service for several months, charging $60/hour for the service.
READ MORE: Paying to cuddle? One B.C. woman says business is booming
“Most people want to be held,” she told Global News in December. “They’re welcome to hold me, be the big or little spoon, some people just want to hold hands, some people just want an arm around them, some people have strong emotions come up, and some people just want silence and they want to snooze.”
One thing is for certain – the movement is growing.
“That zeitgeist is basically saying we need more intimacy, we need to connect to people 1-on-1,” says Damon Brown, the co-creator of a popular app called Cuddlr, which has over 25,000 downloads in Canada since being launched last September.
“If it happens to be physical, cool, if not that’s fine too. But we need to find a way to connect with other people, because we’re feeling disconnected.”
– With files from Nadia Stewart and Amy Judd
Comments