The First Date Decisions
You’ve been chatting online with a really great guy or gal and you’ve both been enjoying yourselves. You realize it’s time to meet in person. While the prospect gives you delicious butterflies, you can’t help but wonder whether to meet for just a coffee or a drink or if you should push the boat out and go for dinner.
Once you’ve decided that there is another decision to be made; who is going to pay for the first date? For some people this is a no brainer, for others it’s more complicated. Money can be an issue in any relationship, no matter how old or new the relationship is. Couples argue over it, divorce over it, while others end friendships because of it. While the subject ignites so many emotions it can be a difficult subject to bring up with someone.
It all depends on how comfortable to feel with your new internet dating sweetie. If talking about it doesn’t present an issue, then by all means, bring it up. Tradition says that most men are open to paying for both at least initially. It’s certainly easier and allows for the two people involved to talk about their interests rather than about money.
If you eventually do end up in a relationship things will progress naturally and the result is usually a fair exchange. Times have progressed and most women are more than willing to pay for things. But before you ever get to that point, here are a few things to consider;
1. Decide when and where you want to meet
This is crucial on a first date. Women tend to feel more at ease meeting during the day, say for coffee or for lunch, while he might be thinking about a night on the town. Discuss this beforehand and come to a mutually acceptable decision.
2. Decide where you are going
Once you’ve established when you’re going to meet, you need to decide what it is you’re going to do. Will it be meeting for coffee, lunch or dinner, a movie, the museum or a concert? By this time you should have a pretty good idea of each others’ likes and dislikes.
3. What will you wear?
What you’ll wear is usually decided by where you’re going. You don’t want to wear you hiking gear to a swanky French restaurant, nor do you want to wear killer heels on the hiking trail. There are enough things to be nervous about on the first date, so don’t make what you’re wearing one of them.
Now that you have decided where to go and when to meet, you can just prepare to allow nature to take its course. It is not absolutely mandatory to discuss who should pay on the first date and the thing to remember is that there will always be enough time to bring money into the picture. Just have fun getting to know one another so that your relationship can be stronger so that when the tough times come around you have a solid foundation to help you through them.
This post was developed by the staff of the Datepad.com internet dating company where you can find hundreds of helpful dating posts.
