More than 80 members and invited guests were expected at the red carpet cocktail launch party of the Sociable Club, at Threesixty Restaurant and Bar at the Crowne Plaza Queenstown, on Friday night.
Interested parties were urged to contact the club by the end of Wednesday.
Queenstown businesswoman Deborah Coburn founded the Liaison Social Club in January 2009, to connect single residents aged 30 years and over, and socialise through events and activities.
However, Mrs Coburn and new development manager Angie Mills decided last summer to rebrand it as the Sociable Club and open the membership criteria, after many residents with partners wanted to join.
Ms Mills was a client at Mrs Coburn's Collective Hair Salon and wanted to join Liaison.
Ms Mills suggested everyone over 30 could be invited to join the club, as she wanted a network of friends with whom to take part in activities in which her partner was not interested.
"It's about getting people together from all backgrounds," Mrs Coburn said.
"Straight away they make friends and feel settled and gain local knowledge.
Members sometimes meet outside the club and a lot of networking goes on in business, as well as social."
The membership change saw the Queenstown club increase its membership from 50 in December to 80 last week, with two to five new people a week inquiring from around the Southern Lakes and Central Otago.
Members' agea ranged between 30 and 60 and they included business owners and operators, medics, plumbers and bus drivers, who were a mixture of long-term residents and recent arrivals.
Members pay $150 for an initial six-month contract and receive a membership card, which entitles them to discounts around town.
They are emailed regular updates and choose events to participate in.
Activities included regular dinner clubs, drinks evenings, 4WD safaris, tramps and cycling trips, fundraising events and more.
Members were encouraged to suggest ideas.
Mrs Coburn and Ms Mills said the Sociable Club backed mutually supportive Wakatipu businesses.
A regular event was a three-course meal, for 16 to 20 members, at a different restaurant every month. www.thesociableclub.co.nz
