Forget culinary delights or sparkling entertainment. These days the social whirl essential is dispensing hand sanitiser to your guests.
It was an overcast Thursday afternoon when I found myself at a party thrown by a beer brand that can thank its lucky stars isn't called Corona, a Mexican beer whose sales have not been that badly affected by the virus, contrary to Facebook postings.
But even at the Agog Gallery in Maboneng, the too cool for its shoes suburb on the cusp of the Joburg CBD, the organisers of the Amstel Timeless Journey bash were not taking any Covid-19 chances.
Every now and again ushers would come around to squirt germ-zapping gel into our welcome palms.
Outside the gallery, wooden benches were laid out, and that was where guests, mostly of the young and funky kind, hung out as they snacked on braaied chicken and wors with chakalaka as part of the chisa nyama experience that kicked off the day.
Among the crowd it was hard not to miss Sibu Sithole, an ex-member of township style trailblazers Smarteez. He turned up in one of the designs he creates under his own fashion offering, called the FDB Human Store.
Onto saying hello to someone who might not be a spring chicken, but who hasn't slowed down her theatrics: media personality Kuli Roberts.
MCs for the day were two always dapperly dressed DJs, Sikhululo Maliwa, who is better known as Lulo Café, and Quinton Masina, the Metro FM DJ who spins disks under the moniker Naked DJ.
The duo led us through the event, which moved from the outdoor chisa nyama experience into a moodier urban bar setting.
Later on, it was upstairs into the gallery space, which was converted to have a house party feel, and then finally up to the roof to take in an awesome view of the city's skyline.
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