Dinner with strangers, ₹1,500 a ticket: the economics of India’s at-home social clubs

On a Saturday evening in Bengaluru, 39-year-old author and educator Divya Ramachandran sat in a stranger’s living room as the host dismantled his collection of vintage wristwatches to explain how they work. On other weekends, she has shared poetry, attended African instrument showcases and joined a “PowerPoint hour”, where guests present on random topics they are passionate about over a potluck meal.

In Kochi, 26-year-old software engineer Prasannath attended house gatherings to share meals with strangers who have similar interests, hoping to overcome social anxiety and build friendships.

Across metros and Tier-II cities, at-home events and workshops are becoming a micro-economy. Hosts turn flats and terraces into pop-up cafés, murder mystery arenas, ice cream swaps and supper clubs. Amid urban isolation, some people are redirecting discretionary spending from crowded commercial venues towards curated gatherings, paying for the prospect of meaningful connections.

Beyond outings

For attendees, cafés and restaurants can mean higher food costs and distractions that hinder conversations.

“The majority of social events in Bangalore are outdoors in cafés or restaurants, where the connections made with people fizzle out,” said Divya. “At home events, there are no distractions, and there is space to focus on conversations. I have made more genuine friends than at outdoor social events.”

Divya allocates ₹15,000-20,000 a month to discretionary spending, from which she funds at least one at-home event every weekend. Although she has encountered overpriced ₹3,000 events that lacked value, she views well-curated gatherings as a worthwhile investment in a dependable community.

Prasannath caps his monthly event spending at ₹3,000-4,000. “House events are an unexplored concept,” he said. “Intimacy is what people look forward to. Prices around ₹500 - 1,500 are acceptable to access this third space and improve your social life, considering how isolated our lives have become.”

Attendees note that there is a premium in the ticket prices as hosts open their own doors, but as the spread of variety and space for connections based on shared interests grows, they do not hesitate to pay the premium, as long as they are able to make lasting connections.

The host’s math

While attendees weigh value for money, hosts must manage setup costs, pricing and brand partnerships. For some, hosting has become a full-time profession; for others, it remains a passion project.

Sandhya Verghese, a 31-year-old experience curator in Kochi, started with a ₹499 “Kanji and unlimited papadam” night in her apartment. She later turned her three-bedroom flat into a café for a day, converting her bedroom into a coffee-brewing room and another room into a bakery.

“I started lean with very little profit margin because I bore most of the costs myself,” Verghese shared.

Her ticket prices have since risen from ₹499-2,200 in India to ₹7,000 for an event in Dubai. To keep gatherings accessible in a Tier-II market while controlling costs, she uses reusable DIY décor and brand partnerships.

“Brand deals help reduce my costs, allowing me to redirect my budget toward interactive details. What started as a secondary income stream has now become my full-time work,” she said. She supplements her earnings with stand-up shows and work as a digital marketing consultant.

But saving on venue rent does not guarantee profits. Shivank Goel, a 25-year-old product manager and content creator, founded Yellow Club, a community built around themed gatherings at home. Its events range from Harry Potter experiences and murder mysteries to childhood-themed activities and custom matching-app gatherings. After starting in Delhi, he has moved the project to Bengaluru.

Despite charging ₹1,499-1,999 per ticket, the venture does not make a profit.

“The biggest misconception is that hosting at home is automatically profitable because you don’t pay for a venue,” Goel explained. “Decor is expensive for themed events. You save on renting a space, but you still have to account for materials, food, drinks, cleaning, cancellations, marketing, and your own time and effort. For me, it’s an experiment in whether social experiences can become a sustainable business.”

Running Yellow Club alongside his full-time job of being a product manager and content creator, Goel sets event-specific spending limits and tries to break even.

Community costs

Simoni Sahoo, a 30-year-old product enablement consultant in Bangalore, invested ₹50,000-1,00,000 for initial setup costs of buying cushions, plates, and decor to create a women-first community space on her terrace. She also has a monthly recurring spend of ₹15,000-20,000 on refreshing supplies. Her ticket prices range from ₹700 for board game nights to ₹3,500 for supper clubs.

“People are paying for exclusivity, curation, and the fact that it feels like a home,” Sahoo explained. Brand deals provide additional income, but profitability is not her immediate goal. “It is not profitable at this moment for me. For me, it’s about building a community based on shared interests.”

Addressing how she manages the financial risk, Sahoo explained: "The initial setup of the space definitely came from my main income, and the first month of events was also largely self-funded as an initial investment. Since then, I’ve been making the events as self-sustaining as possible."

Rather than letting it drain her salary, she maintains a break-even discipline: "The ticket revenue and brand collaborations fund the events, and whatever surplus we make gets rolled into the next one. So at the very least, we try to break even, and are now entering a lot more profitable months, with the festive season coming up," she explained.

Budgeting for connection

Amol Joshi, founder of PlanRupee Investment Services, pointed out that changing lifestyle structures drive this spending behavior.

"Nuclear families, smaller household sizes, and higher disposable incomes among adults in their 20s, 30s, and 40s have created a lack of organic social connections," Joshi noted. “Because there is a lack of traditional third spaces, people are willing to pay and experiment with the two to three hours of curated, interest-based activities, learning new skills alongside strangers or for leisure and connections.”

To navigate this monthly recurring spend, Joshi advised including event tickets in the structured monthly budget.

"As a rule of thumb, one-third of your income should go toward housing expenses like rent or EMIs, one-third toward investments, and one-third toward living expenses," said Joshi. "Event expenses can come out of your living expenses, specifically your allocated fun or entertainment budget for the month." This also helps in setting a cap on the spending, so that one does not end up spending on every social event they come across.

A limit can also help one be more mindful while deciding which events to attend, which agenda resonates more with one or promises more connections. He also recommends a trial approach: “Start with a trial event to gauge the value added and connection quality before setting aside recurring funds.”

The rise of paid at-home experiences suggests that many are swapping commercial outings for home-hosted gatherings, where attendees expect a higher emotional return on investment for the premium paid. For hosts and attendees alike, success lies in balancing the spreadsheet: ensuring that the price paid aligns with connections created within homes.