SOCIAList: The people's party girl goes out in the rain

Truth be told, apart from the poorly publicized but highly attended No Beijing concert, there was really not much worth leaving warm, comfy DVD equipped homes for this weekend. Friday night's rain and Saturday's cold breeze signaled an end to the last two-and-a-half weeks of nice weather Shanghai will see until the end of April.

Friday night was the Sex and the City "glamour party" at M Club, which attracted a few luscious looking models and their talent scouts -- but overall the talent was thin, much to the chagrin of the scouts. The romantic surroundings and glamorous girls sipping Martinis failed to create the desired flicker of excitement at this little known venue. Is Shanghai just not ready for innovative parties with suggestive names? (Or maybe the city's not down with heading out to little known venues on rainy Friday nights.) Full disclosure: Shanghaiist was one of the ladies responsible for planning this party.

On a higher note, the Vault at Laris was seeing some action. Professional types were sipping expensive liquor while sucking on equally expensive cigars. The atmosphere was warm, inviting, expensive -- there's that word again -- the perfect antithesis to the dark, cold, wet blah of an evening. A sexy Spanish guitar completed the atmosphere. Laris is about seeing and being seen, comfort and excess: Beer glasses are excessively tall -- or maybe Shanghaiist is excessively short -- the interior is excessively marble, the huge leather couches are excessively comfy, and since this sentence is getting, well, excessive, we'll just say that the cocktail snacks and service are excellent. On Thursday nights you may find yourself surrounded by models and wannabe models -- how many more of those can we fit in this city? -- taking advantage of the two-for-one Martini nights.

Elsewhere, at the International House of Mint, the music was thumping, crowds were still arriving by the taxi load ... and it was only 2 am. You can always count on Mint to be the last place standing on any night of the week (well, except for the Dragon Club). House music, an awesome eclectic mix of people and fat juicy hotdogs are Mint's unique signature. Not bad at all.

Madam Zung is soon to be dearly departed. We'd say this was bad news -- but it's not so sad news for those craving discounts! Saturday night more than 100 people showed up for an impromptu party featuring 25 RMB drinks and 200 RMB food and wine combo deals. (Two red notes bought you any four tapas dishes and a bottle of Montrose house wine.) This was a chill-out affair set to ease newcomers into the Shanghai nightlife, while more seasoned expat residents (those who have been here for more than one month) came to say goodbye to one of the oldest stomping grounds in Shanghai's fickle after-dark arena (meaning the bar almost lasted a year). Those who stumbled upon this event were glad they did -- the rest showed up thanks to an email that went around to those in the know.

Y'all know next weekend is the most Hallowed one of 'em all -- plan ahead, get your costume made (you don’t want to be a party pooper) -- and read Shanghaiist's weekend party forecast for where to go. (There are already some parties listed in our public calendar.)

Photo of Live Bar by Shanghai Streets.

SOCIAList loves to party -- invite her to one at tips(@)shanghaiist.com.