Cuddle party

17 people lying down

Students cuddling in 2005

A cuddle party (also called a cuddle puddle or snuggle party) is a small, structured social event intended to let people experience nonsexual group physical intimacy through cuddling.<ref name="WaPo">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="NYMag">Template:Cite magazine</ref> News coverage typically presents cuddle parties either as a response to urban isolation and “touch deprivation.”<ref name=WaPo/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

History

Cuddle parties originated in 2004 as a series of events in New York City run by relationship coaches Reid Mihalko and Marcia Baczynski, who described it as a safer space for people who felt intimidated by massage or tantra workshops.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Cuddle parties later emerged in other cities,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and facilitator training was provided by the originators.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• Physical intimacy
• Somatosensory system