12 gatherings in 2025 I can’t stop thinking about

(And most are from YOU.)

I started GROUP LIFE in September because I believe we are living through a group life crisis. We are inundated with tools for self-help, yet are left largely to our own devices when it comes to group help. And, this community has been my reminder, again and again, that it doesn’t have to be that way. You teach me every day and inspire me with your creative, hilarious, thoughtful, moving gatherings that show group life in action.

As we close 2025, I want to thank you for communing with me. And I want to share the twelve gatherings (many of them from you!) I can’t stop thinking about and that I’m carrying with me into 2026.

JANUARY - Pableaux Johnson’s Monday Night Red Bean dinners

For twenty years, every Monday night, Pableaux Johnson hosted a dinner of red beans and cornbread at his home in New Orleans around the table his grandmother left him. No two tables were ever the same. On January 26, 2025, Johnson passed away, and one of you (thank you, Erin) sent me this video of his dinners. As an email announcement of his death read: “It was always a warm, welcoming, buzzing energy of people, but never the same group twice. He brought together old and new friends, people visiting New Orleans, longtime locals, artists and musicians, actors filming movies in town, folks he ran into at the coffee shop that morning.” I posted this tribute to Johnson on my Instagram, and it (also tellingly) went viral. As thousands of people re-posted this video about red beans and cornbread, what struck me was how many people said some version of “Invite me to something like this! 😩” or “I wish someone would invite me to a dinner like this!” And, not think instead: “Ok. Maybe I CAN do something like this. Red beans. I can do this. I’m going to invite people to my little table.” It reminded me of a dynamic Ellen Cushing described in her riveting Atlantic piece that Americans Need to Party More: “Everyone wants to attend parties, but no one wants to throw them. We just expect them to appear when we need them, like fire trucks.” This is your sign to try hosting SOMETHING. ANYTHING. SIMPLE. In the New Year. Amanda Litman writes about starting a regular Saturday night community meal this year and gives great ideas on how to start here.

FEBRUARY - Nechama’s dinner for 30 amidst the fires

When the Palisades Fire burned the Chabad, her house, and the surrounding town to the ground, Nechama’s community scattered far and wide. She wanted to support them, but it felt impossible. “How do you keep community when what held you is gone?” she said. “How do you get together when space and time are out the window?” But she gathered 30 parents who had all lost their homes to the fire to eat and talk and share, and reminded us that crisis is EXACTLY when you need to gather most.

MARCH - Tenley’s Tomato Tart Party

I keep thinking about Tenley, who, upon seeing a tomato tart recipe she wanted to make, instead of hitting “save,” invited six friends to a weeknight dinner party to make her make (and eat) the tart. Dress code: tomato.

Photo from Tenley of her Tomato Tart Party

APRIL - The Daddy Stroller Social Club’s stroller walks

The Daddy Stroller Social Club organizes stroller walks across the country for dads to get out, meet other dads, and build community. Their purpose is to bring awareness to postpartum depression in fathers through connection, education, and wellness support. They’re practicing generous exclusion by gently saying no to moms for this specific gathering, not as a rejection, but as a way of protecting what the group is for. They’re using specific, disputable gatherings to shift norms and start conversations around fathering, parenting and community. (It reminds me of the conversation I had with Christopher Pepper and Joanna Schroeder on one of my favorite books of the year, Talk To Your Boys.)

MAY - Liz’s Gossip Night Birthday Party

In lieu of gifts, Liz Migliaccio asked everyone to bring a single piece of gossip to her birthday party: "Join me for some cozy wine and please come tell me your insane co-worker gossip or how your boss is the worst… Regale me with your salacious romantic encounter or unhinged dating story. Get really detailed about someone else's business and we can fully form opinions that no one asked for. I'm 36—the world's hottest age and hot people like hot gossip." A hilarious reminder that a little bit of heat and frisson and banter does a body good.

JUNE - Ryan’s Half-Assed Potluck

We learned this year that we seem to have entered The Anti-Social Century. And, as Derek Thompson lays out in his blockbuster piece, there are a myriad of reasons for this trend. And, one way to start gathering is to lower the barrier to entry for each other. Enter Ryan’s Half-Assed Potluck: bring whatever’s in your fridge or pick something up on the way. Wear sweats. Don’t clean. Use paper plates. They eat what appears, pile onto the couch, talk, laugh, and everyone’s home by 8:30. They love it and, most importantly, they do it. For more inspo, check out Anya Kamenentz’s gorgeous piece on making friends in your 40s.

JULY - Bad Bunny’s casita and the No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí Residency

I have watched in fascination and admiration this year as Bad Bunny threw the party he wanted to attend, and wrote a global love letter to a hyper local place. He’s now on a historical tour and I learn from every concert. To go down a Bad Bunny gathering breakdown rabbit hole, start here.

AUGUST - Zohran Mamdani’s Scavenger Hunt

I’m smitten with how the Zohran Campaign gathered the whole year, but was particularly chuffed by this brilliant, bonkers 4,000-person Scavenger Hunt. And I loved sitting down with Deputy Campaign Manager Katie Riley to break down the campaign’s gathering strategy post-win. You can listen to our full, juicy conversation here.

SEPTEMBER - Suleika Jaouad’s Journaling Club

On September 23, 2025, Suleika Jaouad invited 300 strangers to journal together in a garden with live music and prompts from friends and artists (including yours truly). Journaling is typically considered a solo activity. And Suleika has been making us look and re-examine what can be done alone, and what can be done collectively. She’s bringing these Journaling Clubs to communities all around the country, including one starting on January 13 at this and local bookstore in Manasquan, New Jersey, where the whole town was invited to fill out a “journal entry” in their shared town journal. Her journaling clubs have been a wonderful example (to me) about taking an individual act and thinking about how it might be done in community.

Scenes from Suleika’s journaling club in Brooklyn

OCTOBER - A lunch with my dad with a Magical Question

While visiting my father in Florida, my kids and I took him to lunch by the beach. As we ate, they suggested (I swear, without me prodding!), “Shall we ask Grandpa a Magical Question?” And my son came up with one: What's the meanest thing you've ever done? (!) And then he caveated it: "Before the age of 15." It led to a vulnerable, funny, and powerful conversation across eight decades of shared life. (I loved diving deeper with you all on Magical Questions. If you want to get really good at crafting them, start with this GROUP HELP Session all about how to craft a Magical Question and crack a group open.)

NOVEMBER - The Green Door Folk School’s Repair Café

In Traverse City, Michigan, neighbors organized a Repair Café where 17 community volunteers showed up to fix almost 60 household items for one another. I loved this example so much when I learned about it. It’s simple, practical, and surprisingly moving. Wow, we have a lot of capacity within us, right here, in this neighborhood. Also, strangers need not be scary. In fact, they might even help me fix this dang printer! I’ve since learned that apparently folks host repair cafes all over the UK.

DECEMBER - Words of Mouth’s No Company Holiday Party

A group lifer recently forwarded me an invitation to a “No-Company Holiday Party.” Here is the invitation: “Join other job seekers for a festive gathering for the un- and under-employed. Let's cheers to a new year where we all get paid for our labor. Please RSVP here! There will be: Cake! Holiday bonuses for a lucky few! Real humans to meet and chat with! No awkward co-workers! Festive dress is encouraged. *If you have a job: Yes, you can still come, but no bragging.” It knows who it’s for. It knows what it’s for. Hosted by Words of Mouth, they’re taking a real need in the community and holding it with care and joy and knowing.

It’s been exactly three months since we launched this little project called Group Life. Thank you for reading. Thank you for coming to our GROUP HELP Sessions and working out with me! And, thank you for becoming people in your communities with group intelligence, and building a more nurturing, connected and vibrant group life for you and your people. You carry me.

See you in 2026,

Priya

P.S. There won’t be a GROUP HELP Session on December 31. Wishing you a gentle end to the year. See you in January.

P.P.S. Some fun news: I’ve been invited to serve on the Inauguration Committee for the historic inauguration of Zohran Mamdani as the 112th mayor of New York City. And it is my pleasure, to hereby officially invite you to attend the city-wide BLOCK PARTY on January 1, 2026, and, for you who are not in New York to be part of this historic moment and watch it on live stream. The mayor-elect begins his administration the way he launched his candidacy: with a massive, joyful public block party for you and your 40,000 closest friends ;) As you may know, they really know how to gather.