Fashionable New York professional women gathered at a first-of-its-kind “egg-freezing party” this week — where they sipped champagne while learning how to scientifically put off motherhood until they decide that they’re fully ready.
Dubbed “Let’s Chill,” the event was sponsored by a company called EggBanxx, which is cutting the cost of egg freezing and marketing it to young go-getters who want to be ready for kids later in life.
“I don’t have a significant other . . . but I hope to one day and have kids,” said attendee, Donna Kanze, 35, of Manhattan, who has a career in the technology sector. She’s already signed up for egg freezing.
“I want to take my fertility into my own hands, rather than put pressure on the person I have my next relationship with,” she said.
“I don’t want to be in the position when I’m in my late 30s and panicking because I haven’t found the right man and I’d compromise and take anyone off the street!”
Kanze’s feelings were widely echoed among the 70-strong crowd of young women who attended the company’s $45-a-ticket egg-a-paloooza Tuesday at the NoMad Hotel in Midtown.
When EggBanxx’s marketing director Leahjane Lavin, 34, announced that she just underwent two cycles of egg freezing herself, the crowed whooped with approval.
“The pressure is off, and I feel so empowered,” she said of her feelings after she socked away her eggs for a later date. “I can now concentrate on my career and becoming who I want to be before having children!”
During the event, the attendees got a crash course in egg freezing, such as how the ovaries must be stimulated with fertility drugs for 12 days before the eggs are harvested while the woman is sedated.
EggBanxx’s prices average between $6,500 and $7,500, compared to between $13,000 and $15,000, the amount it claims could be charged elsewhere.
At that price, egg freezing can make life in New York’s notoriously tough social scene a little less stressful for more people.
“I don’t want to keep thinking about my biological clock,” said Nancy Noel, a 32-year-old nurse. “I’d rather store my eggs now while they are young and healthy and use them when I’m older, say around 39.”