Want to make friends? Bring a banana
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Attendees at the "eat an apple with me" event in D.C. last month. Photo: Tierney L. Cross for The Washington Post via Getty Images
There's a party happening this weekend at Meridian Hill Park that's BYOB — Bring Your Own Banana.
The big picture: The youths are all about a shindig built around an absurdly niche premise, most of them organized via Partiful.
- Think the recent "eat an apple with me" party that drew hundreds out to Meridian Hill Park.
- Other greatest hits elsewhere include a "Smoke a Cigarette With Me" party that brought 1,500 people together to rip cigs in New York's Washington Square Park, or hundreds gathering to watch a dude in Philly eat a rotisserie chicken.
Why it matters: The premise is almost beside the point. It's a low-stakes excuse to hang out IRL at a time when loneliness is widespread and young people are drinking less.
What they're saying: Elaf Alkazzaz has Invisalign and couldn't eat apples at last month's party — so, naturally, she decided to host her own banana-eating event on Sunday.
- It's taken off: Over 800 people are signed up on Partiful to attend, and Alkazzaz is getting a permit from the city and enlisting volunteers to clean up party debris (aka banana peels).
- And, sure, potassium is great, but Alkazzaz says the event is really about giving Washingtonians a break from the city's usual seriousness. "We live in such a political location that it's kind of hard for us to remember our human connection."
Zack Jarbu, the host of a D.C. party next month centered around being bald, agrees: "People yearn for community. People yearn for meeting strangers in an organic fashion and being around other cool people."
- The event — which Jarbu says he's thinking of renaming "Bald-chella" — has over 100 people interested on Partiful.
- On the lineup: Scalp decor via rhinestones and stickers; bald caps for "allies;" a barber so the "follicly challenged" can take the plunge into full-on baldom; and a bald celeb lookalike contest, says Jarbu.
Zoom in: RSVPs to Partiful gatherings that were "niche and high-concept" grew more than four times between 2024 and 2025, the group told The Atlantic.
- "Millions of people come to Partiful each month to plan their social lives, and events like these give them a low-stakes reason to get off their phones and connect in the real world," a Partiful spokesperson told Axios.