I guess I’d just rather cuddle with someone I know. It can even be a casual thing. I’m female and I was just cuddling with a female friend of mine who was back in town who I tend to be touchy feely with. (No rude remarks, gentlemen.) I wouldn’t go to an event just to cuddle, but if I’m hanging out with someone, some snuggling or back rubs may ensue. It’s just, I don’t like to get my guard down or get touched by people who I’m not close to. No offense intended, I just like being close to certain people.
But the thing is, IMO, what made you unguarded and what made it feel good and what colors your memories of it is that you were with your friends. I profoundly doubt that you can recapture that feeling with a bunch of strangers, at least not without some Ecstasy.
Here’s the thread from a few years ago.
“It is what it is” is not a very helpful descriptor. 
You might not think it’s stupid, but yeah, it’s pretty new-agey. (Do people still describe warmed-over hippie-sounding stuff as “new age?”) I defy you to tell me how a cuddle party isn’t touchy feely just by definition.
I can understand a yearning for less complex displays of emotion, but aside from not being interested in a concept, the infantility of the idea bothers me.
These were sort of ‘in’ in the media a few years ago, but outside of the few parties described in articles, I never heard of anyone throwing or attending one. (See also: Rainbow parties). I’ve definitely taken part in impromptu ones, though, I suppose, with people I knew well in college. Some of my (platonic) girlfriends demanded to be cuddled once in a while. And sometimes we’d all wake up in the same apartment and head to the bed with the best comforter, as long as its occupants were cool. Then we’d hang out for a bit figuring out the easiest way to get breakfast. Straight guys were occasionally allowed in.
Bunch of frotteurs!
I’ll second the only-with-my-friends-thanks opinion. In high school, I had a reasonably large group of friends that would occasionally try to watch movies in an overly-small room, so you’d get that sort of pile-o-friends that’s kinda nice (if often none too comfortable). But it was nice because they’re your people, you know? Not just any ol’ people. So, I can see the appeal, but I doubt it’d be anything but uncomfortable in practice.
I’m with you. I can’t imagine wanting to cuddle any adult that I didn’t want to sleep with anyway, and if I started cuddling with them, I’d soon have my mind on other things. The idea of a cuddle party has no appeal for me at all.
A woman once approached me in a store and handed me a card that was a “coupon for a free hug.” Then she tried to hug me! Ewwww! She was really creepy.
(I guess the exception to my first sentence is I could see cuddling another adult platonically in times of extreme emotional distress.)
I’d totally go get some free advice. I wonder if you ask him for specific advice or he just gives out general advice? Did he get tips?
I was kind of shy so I didn’t ask, but I will if I see him again. I’ll tell him the Dope sent me. 
Good comparison. We’ll see if anybody here has ever actually been to either. Perhaps we’ll find somebody who went to a cuddle party and by the end it turned into a rainbow party. 
How you…
Never mind.
Good post from the other thread:
I think that sums up nicely what I find creepy about it, especially the feeling that most people there are being dishonest about what they really want.
What I find weird about it is that it seems to be a substitute for true intimacy and physical contact. It is very sad that our society has become such that people have to resort to such measures to feel connected to other people.
Yes, I have. It was fun. Not that big of a deal, just hanging out and snuggling some people.
I agree with everybody who has called it ‘infantilization’. Cuddle parties seem to me to be the expression of a desire to return to a responsibility-free, pre-sexual existence. One piece on the local news had somebody stressing that there was no sex. To me, that makes it more creepy.
I’ve also seen a Cuddle Party site proudly proclaiming that they now had adult size footy pajamas.
I suspect that some of these people want to regress even further- to a giant crib, bottlefeeding and diapers.
You mean like this? (Not sexually explicit, but possibly NSFW.)
I don’t see a problem with adult-sized footy pajamas. For people in cold climates, they can be a godsend. Also, totally cute.
Honestly, I dunno, I think it’s a cool idea. We sort of did that in college. It was a sort of very close non-sexual friend fellowship thing.
It can be a good experience for people who never got cuddled or hugged when they were kids. It’s like you can let down your guard and just hang out and be touched in a nice way for once. 
To me, this is more depressing than creepy.
Yes, but you were friends. Complete strangers, OTOH, that’s just weird.
And not to be juvenile about it or anything, but… what happens when stray penis ensues? I’m a full-blooded LGBT ally but … not cool!
Well, yeah. Honestly that never happened because we WERE friends. Yes, that would have been weird. Not in the spirit of things, you know? I guess I can’t imagine a cuddle party with complete strangers.
I think it would be gross even with friends.