Dating is fun, but, let’s face it, it’s expensive, too. Particularly in today’s economy, it’s important to find ways to go on a date without breaking the bank. Here are some date ideas that can provide a fun evening or afternoon for just a little cash.

• Attend a local art show, antique show or festival – During spring, fall and summer local events and festivals are easy to find. You can usually spend hours walking around and enjoying the festivities, and often admission is free. You’ll usually just need a little cash for buying some food and drink.
• Go on a picnic – Prepare a meal at home and take it to a nice spot. Location is critical for this date to be a success. Find a park or garden, or a beautiful place near a lake or river. Take along a Frisbee and some music and you have a very inexpensive and fun afternoon.
• Check out up and coming bands – No matter what your taste in music, there are local bands in your area that you can go see for little or no money. They typically play at smaller clubs where the cover charge is less and drinks cost less, too. You might find a new favorite group right in your own back yard.
• Take a class together – This is a great way to learn something new together if you’re seeing someone seriously, with a weekly date paid for up front. For example, you can take 10 weeks of ballroom dance classes for about the same cost as one meal in a nice restaurant.
• Cook at home – A fancy dinner you cook yourself is far less expensive than one in a restaurant. You can cook alone and surprise your date with your culinary talents, or you can make cooking the meal together part of the date itself.

Whether you’re seeing one person seriously or going on occasional dates with different people, it’s great to find new and creative ways to spend your time together. And, finding inexpensive options for fun dates means you can really relax and enjoy yourself without worrying about the cost.

Dating Essentials Date Ideas, Ho, Money

Everyone wants to find the perfect partner. It seems to come more easily for some people than for others. Perhaps one of the reasons that many people find it so difficult to find a partner has to do with the expectations they have of their relationships and their partner.

It’s important to be realistic about what you want and need from a mate. Nobody’s perfect, and no relationship is perfect. If you find yourself having trouble finding the right partner, or the right relationship, keep the following three things in mind when you consider what’s really important to you.

• Be open to types you haven’t considered –I can’t even count the number of female friends who have immediately ruled out a man as a potential partner for some superficial reason, without even getting to know him first. Expectations like “they must have a college degree” or “they can’t have been married before” limit the number of people we are open to meeting, and may cause us to pass over someone who could have been the love of our life.
• Don’t expect to find someone who likes everything you like – Many people are looking for their mirror image. Not only will this prove difficult to find, but if you do find it, you might end up being incredibly bored. It is important to agree on basic values and goals, but beyond that, liking all the same things is not necessary. 15 years ago if you had told me that I would have married an ex-Navy sailor who loved antique cars and fishing, I would have said you were crazy. But that’s who I ended up marrying and it has worked beautifully in part because we’re so different.
• Don’t expect your partner to meet all your emotional needs- Expecting one person to fulfill all your needs is not only unrealistic, but it puts a terrible burden on your partner. Both of you will still need to have friends and interests apart from each other in order to be fulfilled.

Dating Essentials Attraction, Expectations, Fussy, Partner

Ever since the fiasco involving “gate crashers” at a state dinner at the White House earlier this year, the subject of gate crashers has been more and more in the news lately. While the Secret Service is all focused on preventing this sort of thing from happening again at the White House, in the world of online dating the subject of gate crashers has come to the forefront.

What are online dating gate crashers? They are, quite simply, people who join and participate on niche dating sites without actually falling into that niche group. So for instance, on a specialty online dating site focusing on Jewish singles there are lots of members who really aren’t Jewish at all. They don’t necessarily lie about their religious affiliation because the site lets them select from a number of options (including “not active in the Jewish faith”) but they knowingly go onto the site looking for other singles when they have no history of being Jewish and no intention of converting.

The result? Frustration, for the most part. Imagine yourself as someone for whom religious faith is important, going out on a date with someone you met on the site. Now imagine what happens when you find out that apparently terrific person isn’t really part of your preferred faith after all. Another popular target for the “date crashing” crowd is the niche sites focusing on matchmaking wealthy clients. But that’s the subject of my next post.

The lesson here is to make sure you confirm details such as this during the “get to know you” phase of online interaction. This is especially important if you are looking for someone via a specialty or niche dating site. If that niche quality is really important to you then it’s in your best interest to verify the other person feels it is just as important as well.

Dating Essentials Gate Crashers, Lies, Money, Niche Dating, Religion