Kitty Party Bingo

Kitty party bingo gives the monthly get-together a game that costs nothing, fits in a handbag and gets even the quietest guest laughing. The card on this page has 30 squares that almost every ladies’ afternoon produces, from the lipstick and the house keys at the bottom of every purse to the first cup of chai, the group selfie and a little gossip. Choose a card size, press print, and every guest gets a different card.

In short: open the card maker above and press Edit and print this card, pick how many cards you need, and download one PDF. There is no account and no cost, and nothing you type leaves your browser. Every square can be rewritten, so a monthly society group, a birthday kitty and an office ladies’ lunch can each get their own kitty party bingo list.

How to play kitty party bingo

The rules of kitty party bingo are the bingo rules everyone already knows, with a ladies’ afternoon twist: the squares are things in the room, in the bag or on the table, so nobody needs to call numbers. The host hands out a card and a pencil to each guest. When something on the card happens or turns up, the guest marks it. Five in a row, across, down or diagonally, wins the first prize. The free center square is already marked, so a first line needs only four more.

1. Hand out a card and a pencil at the door. A card on a clipboard or inside a small envelope keeps it clean while chai is being served.
2. Pick one of the two rounds of kitty party bingo. In the handbag round the host calls an item and guests who have it with them mark the square. In the mark-the-moment round the squares are marked as they happen during the afternoon.
3. Let guests show, never empty. Holding up one item from a bag is a game. Opening the whole bag in public is not. Nobody has to share anything they would rather keep private.
4. Call the winner aloud. In ladies kitty party bingo the winner reads the line, another guest checks it, and the host hands over the prize.
5. Play on. Move the kitty party bingo game to four corners, an X or a full card after the first line.

Kitty party bingo works because every guest already carries the game with her. Nobody needs to buy anything, and the card turns a pile of ordinary things (a mirror, a hair clip, a tissue packet) into a talking point: “You have a mini comb? Nobody has a mini comb!” That small moment of surprise is what a kitty party game is for. It gets guests talking to the person across the room, and not only to the friend they came with.

Kitty party bingo cards: all 30 squares

These kitty party bingo cards are made from a list of 30 squares. A standard 5×5 card with a free center needs 24 of them, so each card leaves out six and no two cards are identical. The table sorts the list into the families a host usually thinks in. Use it to decide which squares of your kitty party bingo cards to keep, and which to swap for something that belongs to your own group.

The kitty party bingo list is not random. The bag basics fill a card within minutes, while moments such as a song request or a matching outfit may never happen at all. If every square on a card were as common as a phone, the first line would be over before the second cup of chai. A good card keeps both kinds, so the early squares start the game and the rare ones turn it into a hunt.

How many different cards can you print?

With 30 squares and 24 places on a 5×5 card, the number of different sets of squares is 30 choose 24, which is 593,775. Each set can be placed in a huge number of orders, so a kitty of 12 and a hall of 120 both get kitty party bingo cards that are all different. Smaller grids need fewer squares, and the list then has many more possible sets.

The kitty party bingo game: three ways to play

One printed set of kitty party bingo cards supports three quite different rounds. Run one, or run all three across the afternoon. The table compares them, and the sections below give the rules.

Round one: the handbag check game

This is the classic kitty party bingo game, and the one most hosts start with. The host shuffles the 30 calling cards, which come from the Print tab, and reads one at a time: “Lipstick!” Every guest who has a lipstick in her bag, and has that square on her card, marks it.

To make it fun, ask guests to hold the item up, and the host names the guest with the most unusual find. The first to a line calls “Kitty!” and shows her card. Because every guest brings a different bag, the kitty party bingo game never plays the same way twice. The simulation below shows how long it takes.

• Prize for the first line: a scented candle, a mini hand cream or the first pick from the return gifts.
• Prize for four corners: a small plant or a set of bangles.
• Prize for the most unusual find: a voucher for a home-baked dessert from the host. It makes the game generous, not competitive.
• Host job: keep a few spare items on the table (a pen, a hair clip, a tissue packet) so no one is out of the game because her bag is small.

Round two: mark the moment in kitty party bingo

This round of kitty party bingo runs in the background. Cards go out at the door, and guests mark squares as they happen: the first chai, a selfie, a song request, a matching outfit. The host says nothing until someone calls a line. It suits the lunch, when guests are busy talking anyway.

Moment squares such as the chai and the snack plate occur at almost every party, so the early squares fill quickly, and the rarer ones (a song request, a matching outfit, a tea light) keep the lines open. The rule that keeps ladies kitty party bingo fair is the same as at any kitty: a moment counts only if another guest saw it.

Round three: four corners and a lucky draw

When it is time to wind down, the host calls the squares from the calling cards, and the target is four corners. It takes longer than a line, and guests have to watch the call list closely. Finish with a lucky draw: every guest who has a marked free center, which is everyone, goes into a draw for a final gift. A kitty party bingo game that ends with a draw sends every guest home with a feeling of luck, and it gives the hostess a graceful way to close the afternoon.

For a live kitty party bingo round on a screen, with guests joining by link and cards marking themselves, the play bingo online page hosts the 75-ball game, and the play custom bingo online page explains how to play with your own list. A kitty that meets over a video call can use the Zoom bingo list instead.

Where bingo fits in a kitty party

The kitty party is an Indian social tradition, and a short history helps a host plan the afternoon. According to the Wikipedia article on the kitty party, it is a social event held as part of an informal savings club, usually organized by women and commonly held in the afternoon on a monthly basis.

Kitty parties began in India in the early 1950s, after the partition of 1947, and by the 1980s they had grown popular with wealthier women too. The “kitty” is the sum collected: each member contributes a set amount, and the whole is handed to one member each month. Every member hosts at least once, and in much of India and Pakistan the group is simply called a committee. Newer variations include couples and family kitties.

The money side is one example of a wider idea, the rotating savings and credit association, in which members chip in regularly and take turns withdrawing the pot. The Wikipedia article on rotating savings and credit associations lists the many names such groups have around the world, including committees and chit funds in India.

That history explains the shape of the afternoon: a business part, in which the kitty is collected and handed over, and a social part, which is where entertainment such as guest speakers, cooking demonstrations, themed costume parties and parlour games comes in. Kitty party bingo belongs to the second part, the social one.

The plan above is a suggestion, not a rule. Start kitty party bingo with the handbag round, because everyone is seated and fresh. Keep the kitty draw separate, so that the business of the day is not mixed with the game. Let the mark-the-moment cards run while lunch is served, and close with four corners so that the prizes and photos come at the natural end. If your group is large, send out the cards with the invitation and ask guests to bring a bag with at least one surprise.

Kitty party bingo ideas for every kind of group

The template is a starting list, and the best kitty party bingo ideas come from changing it for your own group. Every one of these kitty party bingo ideas starts from the same 30 squares. The sections below show a few ways to do that without starting from scratch.

Ladies kitty party bingo for a themed afternoon

Ladies kitty party bingo is easy to theme. For a monsoon kitty, swap the sunglasses for an umbrella and the tea light for a pakora plate. For a colors-of-the-month kitty, add “Someone wearing the day’s color” and “A dupatta in the right shade.” For a birthday kitty, add “The birthday girl’s favorite song” and “A candle.” Keep about ten squares from the original list so the card still feels familiar, and change the rest.

Kitty party bingo ideas for a couples or family kitty

Where husbands and children join, the bag items stop working, so switch to the mark-the-moment round. Use squares such as “A child dancing,” “A husband carrying the return gifts,” “A group photo” and “A song that everyone sings.” A 4×4 card with no free space keeps the game short enough for children.

Kitty party bingo ideas for an office or society group

For an office lunch, keep the bag basics of the kitty party bingo card, drop the personal squares (the credit card, the cash) and add “Someone arrives late,” “A shared dessert” and “A story about the weekend.” For a housing society kitty, add “Someone from another tower,” “A recipe swapped” and “A new neighbor welcomed.” The goal is the same: a card that makes people talk.

A first-time hostess

Hosting is a duty every member of a kitty takes on at least once, and it can feel like a lot. Printable kitty party bingo takes one worry away: you do not have to invent a game. Print the cards the night before, put a pencil on each, and the game is ready. If you want a second game, the kitty party games guide has more, and the kitty party games in Hindi guide has the same ideas with instructions in Hindi.

A kitty party simulation: how many calls?

A host planning kitty party bingo always asks how long the game will last, and the answer depends on what guests actually carry. To replace a guess with numbers, we simulated the handbag round. At each call, a guest marks the square only if she has the item with her.

We gave every item an assumed chance, from 99 percent for a phone and a handbag to 10 percent for a return gift that has not been handed out yet. These chances are our assumptions, not survey data. We then played 5,000 games for each group size, with the 30 squares called once each in random order.

On these assumptions an average guest can mark about 17 of the 30 squares, so a 5×5 card with 24 squares has about 13 squares that can be marked in the handbag round. In kitty party bingo that means 9 squares are near-certain, at 80 percent or more, and 8 are long shots, at 30 percent or less.

The handbag round of kitty party bingo takes longer than you think

A group of 15 usually sees a first line only after 18 of the 30 calls, and a group of 6 after 21. In about 2% of games with 6 guests, nobody has a line by the end of the list at all.

A full card never happened in the 5,000 games we played for any group size, because every guest would need all 24 items, including the rare ones. Our advice for the host of a kitty party bingo game is to keep the handbag round to a line and four corners, and not to promise a full-card prize.

Mark the moment in kitty party bingo is much faster

If every call can be marked by every guest, as in a game where the host announces moments or the squares happen to everyone, the numbers shrink. The same simulation, with no handbag condition, gives these results:

With 15 guests a first line comes after 11 calls, compared with 18 for the handbag round, and a full card needs 29 of the 30 calls, almost the whole list. A group of 40 gets a line after 9 calls. The chart shows the two games side by side.

Smaller grids for a shorter kitty party bingo game

If you have only twenty minutes for the round, use a 3×3 card: ten guests reach a line after 8 calls in the handbag round, and 25 guests after 5. A 4×4 card sits in the middle. Assumptions: cards are independent random draws, each guest’s bag is independent of the others, and nobody misses a call. A real group of friends, who carry the same brand of lipstick or the same kind of bag, will differ a little.

Prizes for kitty party bingo without touching the kitty

The word kitty also means a pot of money, so it helps to keep the prizes for kitty party bingo clearly separate from the kitty itself. A good habit is that the host pays for the bingo prizes out of her hosting budget, and that they are small gifts, never cash from the collection. That keeps the game friendly and avoids any confusion about whose money is whose. The table gives a few ideas for each prize level.

If you want to play for money, check the rules for your area first, because gambling laws differ from one country and state to another. Many groups avoid the question altogether by playing only for gifts. A friendly game is worth more than the largest prize in the room, and the kitty party bingo free printable on this page is built for that kind of afternoon. The same goes for every kitty party bingo prize on the list above.

Printable kitty party bingo: print, cut and hand out

For printable kitty party bingo, the Print tab has the controls you need and nothing you do not. You choose how many different cards to print, from 1 to 100, how many go on a page (1, 2, 4 or 6), Letter or A4 paper, and portrait or landscape. Cut guides are available for sheets that need trimming. For a kitty of 18 members, print 20 cards, two per page, and keep two spares for the guest who brings a friend.

• Print names on the cards. The Design tab can put a name on each card, which doubles as a place card at the table.
• Use light cardstock. A card that gets passed around next to the chai survives better on thicker paper, and a laminated card can be marked with a dry-erase pen and used next month.
• Print the caller sheet and calling cards for the handbag round. They come out of the same Print tab, and the host can cut them while the chai brews.
• Match the colors to the theme. The Design tab holds color themes, and a pink card for a pink kitty is a small touch that guests notice.
• Keep a few blank cards. The blank bingo cards page gives you an empty grid for guests who want to write their own squares.

Hosts who are away from a printer can save the printable kitty party bingo PDF to a phone or USB stick and print it at a shop. The shareable link in the card maker keeps only your word list, with no names or photos, so you can send it to the group on WhatsApp and let every member print her own.

Kitty party bingo free printable: what you get

Free, private and nothing to install

This kitty party bingo free printable does not ask for an email or an account, and nothing is added to your PDF but the card itself and a small footer. The editor runs in your browser, so your word list never goes to a server. You need only a printer or a PDF viewer.

What you can change

The card maker has five tabs: Setup, Items, Design, Templates and Print. On the Items tab you can rewrite any square, add an emoji or upload your own picture, and decide what the free space shows.

The Design tab holds color themes, fonts, text size, ALL CAPS, borders, rounded corners, tiles or plain grids, and a card background that can be a color, a pattern or your own picture. You can also add a title, a logo and a footer line. The Templates tab holds the other ready-made lists, and the Print tab holds the numbers: how many cards, which paper, which layout.

You do not have to start from this kitty party bingo page. The bingo card generator offers every card type in one place, and the printable bingo cards hub lists every ready-made template.

Customize the cards for your own kitty

The best kitty party bingo card names your own group. Open the Items tab and every square turns into a text box. A few ideas for changes that make a card personal:

• Add in-jokes. “Someone says ‘just one more’ and takes a third helping,” “Anita’s laugh” and “The same story as last month.”
• Add the host’s signature. “The famous dhokla,” “The new curtains” and “The balcony garden.”
• Use the free space. It can say “Free,” “Kitty!” or show the group’s own picture.
• Swap the sensitive squares. If guests would rather not show a wallet or cash, replace them with “A coupon,” “A loyalty card” or “A grocery list.”
• Print a title. “March Kitty at Meera’s” with a footer that carries the date.

When your list has more than 24 words, the card maker gives every card a different mix, as described above. With exactly 24, every card has the same words in a different order. Shuffle re-deals the squares across all cards, Undo takes back your last change, and the preview lets you zoom in before you download.

Hosting etiquette for kitty party bingo

A game at a ladies kitty party is meant to make the afternoon lighter, and kitty party bingo is no exception, and a few habits make sure it does. They apply to any kitty party game, not just kitty party bingo.

• Show an item, do not empty the bag. A bag is private. Ask guests to hold up one thing at a time.
• Keep money out of view. Squares for cash and cards are about having them, not counting them. Offer the substitutes above if anyone seems uneasy.
• Celebrate the odd find. A guest who has a stapler in her bag is a guest everyone will remember. Laugh with her, never at her.
• Welcome the new member. Seat her next to someone who knows the game and give her a spare pencil.
• Think about every diet. Chai, snacks and sweets are on the card, but a square counts when it is seen, not when it is eaten. A guest who is fasting or avoiding sugar can still play.
• Keep it short. The simulation shows a handbag round of 18 calls or so for a group of 15. Longer than 25 minutes, and the chai is cold.

A kitty party bingo game that nobody feels excluded from is the real prize. If the group includes guests of several ages, give each a card and let the youngest member read out the calling cards. That small job turns the youngest guest into the star of the afternoon.

More games for the ladies’ circle

Kitty party bingo is one of several games for the same crowd, and the kitty party bingo cards work next to all of them. Bingo means marking squares for things you see or find, and tambola means numbers called aloud on a 3×9 ticket, so both fit in one afternoon.

For the number-calling side, the kitty party tambola page and the illustrated Kitty Queen tickets are a good start, and the kitty party tambola themes guide has an idea for each month of the year. For a dedicated purse game, see the handbag bingo page, and for an icebreaker, try Chai and Chatter Bingo.

When you need a quick filler between the main games, the one minute games for kitty party page has ideas that need no preparation. In the same card maker there are festive lists such as Diwali bingo and Navratri bingo, plus baby shower bingo for a shower hosted by the group. Number-based games run on the bingo caller.