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After 18 months of paperwork, which Proescholdt handled herself as the couple didn’t use lawyers, she finally got to throw that divorce party — and said it was one of the best nights of her life.

“Because the process took so long, there were times I wondered if I’d ever actually be free. I’d already spent time mourning the loss of the relationship, the loss of the future I’d imagined, so by the time the paperwork was done, I was ready to party,” she said. “It was also about celebrating that I’d made it through a really horrible, difficult time of my life, that time was over now, and the future would be amazing.”

And celebrate she did, with a custom cake, signs that said “Finally Divorced” and “Boy Bye” (complete with the middle-finger emoji), and a sash and crown that proudly proclaimed her “Divorced,” a tongue-in-cheek nod to the “Bride” or “Wifey” insignia you might find at a bachelorette. Her friends embraced the concept with enthusiasm; one gifted her a “Smells like freshly signed divorce papers” candle.

“It was just so meaningful,” said Proescholdt. “Having the DJ call out, ‘And let’s hear it for Maja’s divorce party!’ while I was on the revolving dance floor was a top life moment.”

The urge to celebrate divorce is trending at the moment. Instagram and TikTok are awash with clips from divorce parties. In one, the ex-bride tosses her wedding dress on a bonfire; another features a lineup of friends sporting T-shirts with the slogans, “I offered to key his car” and “I never liked him anyway.”

It’s something that pc28����divorce lawyer Sarah Conlin is seeing in her own practice. “The most common way is with a party or celebration of some sort — it could be a special dinner or a long-awaited holiday if the other spouse was not someone who enjoyed travel, for example,” said Conlin. “Others celebrate by doing something for themselves or engaging in self-care. It could be a major purchase, a health retreat or even cosmetic surgery.”

As a partner at Lerners Law Firm specializing in high-net-worth clients, Conlin has shepherded many people through what can be a high-stress process. “Divorce is a major transition period in a person’s life, and getting divorced is often the final step in the separation process,” she said. “A divorce celebration may help someone have a sense of closure so they can move on to the next chapter in their lives.”

Her one note of lawyerly caution pertains to divorced parents’ increasingly common desire to have a positive co-parenting relationship. “A public celebration of one’s divorce may not always facilitate that,” she said. “Is it in a child’s best interests to see their parent publicly celebrating the end of their marriage to their other parent?”

Proescholdt added that there is no one size fits all approach to coping with divorce. “Everyone will navigate it in their own way, on their own timeline,” she said, pointing out that you might choose to have a “marriage funeral” instead of the party she threw, especially if you’re still in the grief and sadness stage. “It’s important to honour whatever feelings you may have.”

Another trending way to mark a divorce is with jewelry. After was finalized in 2023, she took her two-diamond, pear-and-princess-cut engagement ring and asked its original designer, Alison Chemla Chetrit of Alison Lou, to repurpose it into two separate “divorce rings” this past March. The model and author did this to represent her “personal evolution,” as she told Vogue. “I don’t think a woman should be stripped of her diamonds just because she’s losing a man.”

Ratajkowski said she was inspired by her grandmother, who had a snake-style ring composed of diamonds from her several marriages. “I loved the idea of a ring unabashedly representing the many lives a woman has lived.”

The serpent motif is strong in this genre. Bluboho founder Maggie Aurocco was working in one of her stores one day when a group of three women came in. Two of them were divorced, the third had just separated and was looking for a piece to commemorate the milestone. They’d came to the right place. Aurocco had designed a serpent-themed collection of rings to chronicle her own divorce journey and the pain of losing an old self to find a new, better one, representing shedding a skin and beginning again.

Moments like this are common in the jewelry business, where pivotal life transitions are frequently bound up in a purchase. They’re often celebrations, like engagements or birthdays, but increasingly there’s a movement to mark the harder-won victories too.

Bluboho president Natalie Westlake said the brand is increasingly seeing women — many in their forties and fifties — buying jewelry as a “gift of commitment” to themselves. She credits social media discussions for helping to break down the stigma of “failure” that has long been attached to the end of a marriage, particularly for women.

Westlake bought herself a watch when she finalized her own divorce. “I wanted to remind myself of how precious time is,” she said. She hopes to pass on this “divorce watch” to her daughter, not unlike bequeathing an engagement ring to the next generation. “I’ll be able to tell her that this is your reminder to be in the present moment and appreciate the time you have, because time slips by, just like that,” she said. “How rich of a story that is to be able to pass on — both the highs and lows of life.”