No booze. No cigs. Underage parties are in
Student entrepreneurs are organising club nights now that school holidays are on
By Debbie Yong
PARTY ORGANISERS (from left) Donovan Auyong, Hayden Ow, Ang Jui Lim and Marcus Ong book popular nightspots such as Butter Factory, DXO and Plush for the night and sell tickets at between $15 and $20 to fellow students. The clubs allow students as young as 16 to enter during these events but serve them only soft drinks at the bar and do not let them buy cigarettes. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
A PIXIE-FACED girl gyrates on stage as a couple coo over drinks at the bar and a group of sweaty males ogle short-skirted females on the dancefloor.
It might have been a typical night out in a nightclub - except that the podium dancer is only 17, the teenaged couple are sipping Sprite and the boys have just taken their O level examinations days ago.
It might have been a typical night out in a nightclub - except that the podium dancer is only 17, the teenaged couple are sipping Sprite and the boys have just taken their O level examinations days ago.
This is the underaged clubbing scene, a slice of local nightlife which is heating up with the onset of the school holidays this month.
At these underaged or 'mixed-aged' parties, young independent event organisers book an entire club and the legal age of entry is lowered to 16 for the night.
In exchange, the clubs tweak their modus operandi: Cigarette sales are banned and only soft drinks are served at the bar.
ID checks are stepped up and thoses above 18 are marked with tightly-wound wristbands upon entry, which entitles them to entry into an area cordoned off for alcohol consumption.
'Young people are curious and this is an avenue for them to have some healthy fun,' said Marcus Ong.
At 17, he is a year too young to enter a club on regular nights, even though he has been organising underaged parties in them for more than a year.
Marcus and three student friends have registered themselves as events company Flaunt Industries and throw about two parties a month.
They price their tickets between $15 and $20 and consult school examination schedules to time their events.
'We don't compete with legal age parties. There's no market for us with the big clubs holding free events and giving out membership benefits,' said Marcus.
Full-time national serviceman Ang Jui Lim, 18, has also secured a piece of this profitable pie.
He began as a 'runner' peddling party tickets for a commission. Then, he got into managing such events and later, organising his own parties at popular nightspots such as Butter Factory, DXO and Plush.
Now, he and his friends do everything from booking a club to designing and printing tickets and publicity posters.
They use Friendster, Facebook, and online forums E-clubbing.com, Nightlife.sg and Frontallabs.com to pull in about 500 guests each time.
Profits range from $3,000 to $10,000 per event.
But some parents of such entrepreneurs are unhappy.
'It's money I don't need. Now is the time to have fun and enjoy his school life,' said housewife Jennifer Ow, 44, of her son, Nanyang Polytechnic student Hayden Ow, 17, who started Avalanche Productions as an events company last year.
'He has the rest of his life to earn money.'
Also in Avalanche is Donovan. His father Steven Auyong, 51, says his 18-year-old son has switched from playing computer games to writing proposals in his free time.
'He is getting lessons from the real world instead of studying in the classroom,' he said.
Bigger clubs here say they are cold to hosting underaged parties.
They are reluctant to take on associated problems such as irate parents, fights and underaged drinking and smoking outside club premises.
Said marketing manager Daryl Teo of St James Powerstation: 'It's a social responsibility we have to undertake, as a venue, for these minors.
'They have to wait till they're 18 before they can party here.'
debyong@sph.com.sg
No comments:
Post a Comment