Prosecco or Cocktail ladies night.

[HelloIneedhelp]

I help run a social club. We need suggestions to make it viable to run.
Covid hit us hard. We are getting a few private parties and even a few
weddings, baby showers and funerals.
This is a town without a night club. There is about 70k people that live here.
One of the ideas is to have a ladies night. But not with male strippers as there
used to be in the 1980's.
Would you go to a ladies cocktail disco (other drinks available)
Last orders are midnight.
If not what other nights would you attend.
We already have bingo. Small offices rent out the concert room during the day
for training or seminars.
For the gentlemen it's been suggested after dinner speakers.
Suggestions are welcome for ladies and Men.

If you want to advertise an event as single sex, then you probably need to be able to justify your reasoning.

So you could put a poster up:
"After Dinner Speakers, the first Thursday of every month from 7pm, see below for details"

Then underneath list the months, the speakers and the topics, and mark against some of them "men only", "women only" - but for a reason eg the speaker may ask for audience participation/story sharing that men or women may not want to share in front of the other sex.

Stating single sex only I think would be so off putting. Much better to say-

“Pizza and Prosecco night! grab your gang of gal pals and join us for a pizza of your choice, a glass of Prosecco for £15. Night open to groups or couples”

I've got to say if I saw an event at my local club which was "After Dinner Speaker - Formula One, men only"

I'd be so annoyed and would look to take my business elsewhere. I know lots of women who love F1 and would attend such an event, and the fact that they couldn't come, for no justifiable reason, would infuriate me.

(Using F1 as an example).

However if the event was "After dinner speaker - Male Mental Health, men only" I'd understand completely!

As PP have said, it'd help enormously to know why it's so important for you to have single sex events.
You asked for feedback and the overwhelming response was that that isn't what this particular sample group would want, nor would they want clichés such as prosecco for the ladies and speakers for the gents.
If we could understand why it's so important, then that might help with advice.

@HelloIneedhelp

So there IS some kind of far right wing or religious fundamentalism in play!

Not sure Mumsnet is the right audience for you. Or indeed organising anything fun.

Not very religious to swear at us though….😂

A local pub to us do a Bottomless Bingo every 6 weeks or so, it's a Saturday afternoon, about £35 a ticket, 2/3 hour event, some food and bottomless drinks with bingo. Tickets sell out within hours every time. Then people can either leave on continue with their evening with the bar open.

I think there's a small typo in your post, I think it should read "thanks to everyone for taking the time to post and for all the ideas".

You didn't specify that it could ONLY be single sex or couples and given how unusual/downright weird this is, nobody would have assumed this is what you meant.

I think there's a small typo in your post, I think it should read "thanks to everyone for taking the time to post and for all the ideas".

This.

You didn't specify that it could ONLY be single sex or couples and given how unusual/downright weird this is, nobody would have assumed this is what you meant.

I think OP is just getting wound up and being unclear. I presume she means single or mixed sex events. If not the place really is doomed.

Back to the point:

• I second the suggestions of bingo and quizes. These are popular with both sexes.
• How about some live music? Local bands trying to make it will often play for little money or perhaps even a small percentage of the bar?
• I think just putting on televised sport, marketing it heavily and having good drinks prices will build up a small but steady customer base.
• Consider events for specialist communities with a readymade customer base, e.g. is there a local LGB group, WI or sports team which might host events there.
• Try to get people using the space during the day to raise it into the public consiousness: e.g. host kids parties etc for just cost at first.

How you market is going to be the key factor:

Where in the country are you?
What age are you trying to reach?
What businesses are nearby?
What's your nearby competition for stuff to do in the evening?

Try to get people using the space during the day

Yes. You could have a clothes-swap event, an indoor boot sale, a fleamarket, a book fair ... charge a small amount for stalls, and run a cafe.

I wouldn't go. Hate separate genders nights. It's so crass. I much prefer a mixed night

What about singo bingo or bonkers bingo?

Or a games night - horse racing (either on a board or tv screen), TV game show night etc?

Again people are not reading the thread. I have thanked for the suggestions.
We are hoping to have single sex, mixed sex and couple entertainment.
We know how to advertise couples and mixed groups it was the single night I was asking for advice.

What do you actually mean by single sex? Do you mean for the gay community? Like a lesbian disco night or something? I assume so. My daughters gay I’m not sure she’d be going to your event. My friends son is gay, he likely wouldn’t either but he’d likely pop along for a laugh and a look but be put off if he could only have other males with him. Generally folks don’t like to socialise in single sex anymore unless it’s a religious thing. Certainly not a disco. Which is a bit eighties. Folks go to clubs for that now and they go after midnight. Discos are more what schools used to have for the kids.

im also not sure what couples entertainment night would be. I think many will assume it’s a swingers night, is it?

id advise Don’t try to segregate people off, you limit the customer base, and make it unappealing to the majority, just pick popular type things, like cards games, quizzes, bingo and sell cheap booze, and let anyone come, irrelevant of gender, relationship status, or sexual preference. Make it free to attend and make your money off rhe booze. You will make a killing. Sell snacks like nuts and crisps.

other than the couples entertainment thing though, as I assume that’s a bit “specialised” I’d watch how I advertised that as people don’t tend to want to go to known swingers clubs publicly.

Think I've cracked it op.

Sunday - Family Board Games
Monday - Couples Quiz Night
Tuesday - Salsa Dancing
Wednesday - Whiskey and Willies
Thursday - Wine and Wombs
Friday - Gay Men Gardening
Saturday - Lady Gardening

I die 😂😂🤓