Las Vegas women celebrate singlehood with divorce parties

It was not too long ago that divorce was an incredibly shameful, humiliating event that caused the divorcing spouses – more often the wife than the husband – to become the subject of heated gossip and socially exiled. But that is not the case anymore in Las Vegas and most other parts of the country. Today, with a divorce rate that has been near 50 percent for several years, the ending of a marriage is no longer necessarily seen as a negative thing.

In fact, many people now consider the finalization of a divorce as a reason to celebrate. Enter the divorce party, a relatively new movement in which newly-single spouses – again, more often women than men – throw a big bash to celebrate the end of their married life and their re-entry into singlehood.

Some have criticized this movement, saying that it is crass and tacky to celebrate the end of a marriage and the separation from a spouse that you promised to love until death. But newly-divorced women say that these parties are more a celebration of their fresh start than a mockery of their former married life.

In addition, the parties are also a way to blow off steam after the long legal process of a divorce is complete, says Janet Morante LaFauci, the owner of an online bachelorette party boutique that now also specializes in divorce party gear. “Everyone always freaks out, like, ‘Oh my God, divorce is so traumatizing. Why would they want to throw a party?'” she said. “But divorce parties usually happen after months and all the legal work have passed. They get to the point where they’re like, ‘Thank God this is all over.'”

What do you think? Would you throw a divorce party?

Source: New York Magazine, “How Divorce Parties Became the New Bachelorettes,” Michelle Ruiz, Oct. 10, 2012