Follow tips for blind dates to ensure your blind date is stress-free. You'll have more fun on your blind date when you're armed with information gathered from helpful advice.
Blind Dates Aren't Truly Blind
Despite the misnomer, a blind date isn't truly taken without prior knowledge. Both parties should have at least a vague idea about one another, including basic preferences for food, entertainment, and activities that may be a part of the date. Successful relationships are typically based on mutual interests, and without such interests, the setup will be no more enjoyable than if a random name were chosen from a phone book.
Pre-Date Information Reduces Stress
Finding basic information about another person prior to an arranged date isn't as difficult as it might seem. A casual conversation with your appointed matchmaker can lead to interesting tidbits about your potential date's career, favorite movies, hobbies, or unique talents. Such prior knowledge offers insight into the match and can lead to an enjoyable date.
How to Go on a Blind Date
If you're going on an arranged date, then you've been told a little about your date. However, gone are the days of arriving on your blind date knowing almost nothing about the other person like your grandparents' generation did. You can avoid surprises and disappointments by using modern technology to find out a little more about your blind date.
1. Introduce Yourself via Text
You can introduce yourself via a text to your blind date prior to your physical date. Keep your text light and if all goes well, you might decide a virtual meeting is a good idea before your in-person date.
2. Invest in a Little FaceTime
If a video chat is your next step with your blind date, you can dress up as you would for a casual date. After all, you want to make a good impression. A pre-date visual can really take the chill off your in-person date.
3. Be Yourself
You want to always be yourself. While everyone wants to present their best selves when first meeting someone, you want to remain authentic. You don't want your date to put on airs or pretend to be someone she/he isn't, so you shouldn't.
4. Getting to Know You
The preliminary virtual meeting can also give you the opportunity to ask questions and get to know the person. You can find out a little more about each other that can help you decide if you have anything in common. Be sure to ask questions that will give you insight into the person. At the end of your call, both of you will know if your in-person date is still a good idea. After all, you may discover you have a lot in common during your chat.
5. Planning Your Date
Your virtual meeting should provide you with enough information to help you plan a more successful in-person date. For example, you may discover that both of you like jazz. Having immediately found something in common that you can anchor to your first date, you may decide your blind date will be spent at a jazz club.
6. If You Aren't Right for Each Other
On the other hand, during your virtual chat, you may learn about your date's passionate dislikes, allergies or phobias. You may discover enough about your blind date to realize you don't want to take the relationship any further.
7. What to Wear on Your Blind Date
Deciding what to wear on your blind date depends on the time of year and venue of your date. You should dress as you normally would and not alter your wardrobe to satisfy someone else's expectation or attempt to impress. If your date is disapproving of your outfit, then she/he isn't the one for you.
8. Make the First Date Short if Unsure
You can choose a simple non-committed date, such as meeting for coffee. Each of you arrives on your own. This gives you a short date and one that is easy to disengage from if things don't go well. If everything goes well, then you can make plans for a longer second date.
9. Decide on a Mutual Activity for the Blind Date
If after your virtual chat, you decide meeting for coffee isn't how you want to spend your blind date, then you can discuss other types of first date activities, such as attending a football game or other sports activity both of you enjoy. Another way to share an evening and get to know each other is to plan two activities, with each of you choosing one as a way to introduce more of yourself to your date. If one of you like the opera and the other enjoys fine dining, combining the two activities may prove to be an awesome first date.
10. Use Your Five Senses on a Blind Date
Even though you have met your blind date in the virtual world, an in-person date is quite different. You will be in the physical presence of your date and all of your five senses will be gathering information you couldn't get with a virtual chat.
11. Reading Body Language on a Blind Date
When you finally meet up with your blind date, you'll instantly get certain signals from his/her body language that will give you hints about how she/he feels about you. For example:
- Eye contact, especially prolonged gazing and dilated pupils show interest.
- If they trip over their words, they may be excited and nervous in your presence.
- A person leans in to someone they like.
- A person with their feet pointed at you reveals they are interested, whereas feet pointed away from you means they're ready to leave.
- Crossed legs leaning toward you shows the person is interested in you. Leaning away from you means they're disinterested.
- A person sitting with their arms crossed is a defensive move or possible blocking gesture from fear or in an effort to hide something.
What to Do After Your Blind Date
Following up on a blind date may be a difficult step. If the arranged date was enjoyable, a second date is the logical result. However, is the date wasn't enjoyable and the two of you didn't hit it off, one of you must take the lead to admit you aren't a good match. Being polite and nonjudgmental is just common manners when telling someone you aren't a good fit.
Following Blind Date Tips for Stress-Free and Fun Dates
If you follow 11 simple tips for a successful blind date, you enure your first date isn't stressful and will be fun. Not every blind date will turn out to be with your one-true-love, but you can still have a good time and enjoy your date's companionship.
