We don’t always look to Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio to find out what’s vibing, but when we found out the pair’s boy’s night out consist of muddy hands and the creative art of pottery, they had our attention.

Why should a mates catchup or date night consist of getting trolleyed at the your local or ‘dinner and a movie’ as if it’s the goddamn ’50s?

Brad and Leo – or Breo and we like to call them here at The Brag – are part of a new wave of people looking for more from their personal time and relationships. Why should we leave our bonding sessions with a mouth as dry as the Sahara and a desperate need for blue Gatorade? And why shouldn’t we use our spare time to discover new passions, counteract burnout, and get mindful AF?

Recently the team here at The Brag had cause for a big celebration and we wanted to try something different. We had heard of Sydney-born online marketplace ClassBento, which connects local artisans, makers, chefs, hobbyists, tradespeople and creatives with everyday people like us.

ClassBento let us trial their offering with a Paint and Sip class in Darling Harbour in Sydney and the results were… actually amazing. Who knew my colleagues were a bunch of artiste Monets and Rembrandts?

paint and sip class Class bento
L: The Brag Media’s Hamish Lane. R: Steph Robertson’s magnum opus

The painter hosting the class from Life With Paint made it very clear he was teaching us the rules just so we could break them – and all we needed to turn up with was a bottle of vino.

A cursory scroll through the classes and workshops ClassBento offers could see you surrounded by flowers and plants at a Succulent Terrarium Making Class, or getting Ghost-style sensual at a Beginners Pottery Class, or see you making your own natural skincare, or even making Superfood Ramen with Yoshiko Takeuchi.

The hundreds of options are varied, fun and all support local, independent businesses.

The story behind ClassBento is a touching one. The marketplace was founded in 2016 by John Tabari and Iain Wang. Tabari was personally inspired to start ClassBento after watching his grandmother struggle with dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Tabari and Wang have even partnered with Dementia Australia to ensure a $1 donation is made with every booking to promote mental wellbeing in our communities.

For more information and to rethink your own self-care routine (or to just up your wholesome game), check out classbento.com.au.

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