How to Make Blind Dates Work for You

Nearly everyone talks badly about blind dates, and there’s usually a reason for that. What typically happens is you’ve been dateless and on your own for a while and people start to notice. These are usually your happily married best friends, sister, mother, aunt, grandmother, and so on. Rarely do you find men interested in setting up their single buddies with someone unless they are being spurred on by their female better half.

No matter who is doing the arranging, blind dates have developed a bad rep over the years.  You know those jokes about “What does she look like?” and the answer is “She has a really great personality.”  That one seemed to alert the guy being set up that the girl he was meeting might be a lot of fun but she was definitely lacking on looks.

If you’re still living in the past, you should push that fast forward button and consider that things today may not be as bad as they used to be when it comes to blind dates.

These days, it’s perfectly acceptable to let someone you TRUST set you up on a blind date. The word in that sentence is “trust.” For example, if you and your sister don’t get along that well, you may not want to allow her to arrange a date for you with someone sight unseen. On the other hand, your best friend will most likely have your best interests at heart. Therefore, it’s probably fine to let her fix you up with someone she feels would be perfect for you. While your sister may be mean and set you up with a guy that you would just as soon not want to be seen in public with, your friend that loves you will want you to ADORE the man she has found for you.

Blind dates shouldn’t carry the stigma they once did. These days, a blind date is a very respectable way to meet someone with whom you may share common interests. More often than not, a blind date now means that someone has taken two people they care about a lot and have found a way to introduce them to each other. There’s no “throwing them together” as in the past. Now, it’s done in a very comfortable and easy going environment so that if things don’t work out, no one is embarrassed.

All of these reasons are why you should seriously give blind dating a shot. If you trust the person that’s doing the arranging, there’s no need for you to worry about it or be wary of it. Look at it as a way to get out for an evening and have a good time, and possibly a delicious free dinner. If things go well between you and the arranged date, you may end up with more than just a pleasant evening. Many happily married couples first met on a blind date and they highly recommend it as a way for singles to meet.

The Advantages of Blind Dating

Although many people consider blind dating to be outdated in a world where the technological revolution has made close scrutiny of other people a matter of a few clicks of a mouse, it is still a fairly common way of embarking on a dating relationship. While not everyone will be enamored with the idea of meeting and dating someone whose only immediate “selling point” is a mutual friend, there are many who will trust their friend’s judgement without question – and often it works to their advantage.

No-one knows us as well as our friends. They spend time with us and they see things in us that we do not even see ourselves. As tricky as it can be to judge how well two people will get on, it is made immeasurably easier by knowing a few of their quirks, their likes and dislikes, and how they will react to the more outlandish sides of a person’s character. It is hard to ever judge a perfect fit, but few things in this world are 100% perfect, and it makes sense that a friend will be able to judge what will work for you.

At the end of the day, a relationship forming depends on two individuals finding each other’s company pleasant enough to want to make it a more regular occurrence. Such a bond cannot be invented or forced, but if anyone can spot the potential for it to form, it is someone who knows both parties well. The rest of the work is for the couple themselves.

Blind Dating – is true love blind?

The practice of blind dating is something which has been popular in many societies for many years now. TV shows have been based on the concept. It forms a staple part of the entertainment industry, with many sitcoms featuring a blind date, usually an extremely bad one, on average once every couple of series. It is still reasonably common practice, however, because individuals often enjoy match making between single friends who do not know each other. It starts with “I think x would really like y, they have so much in common”, and can end in wedding bells or bitter tears – or many points in between.

The premise behind blind dating is that a mutual friend sees two of their friends who are single and available and unlucky in love. They seem to have interests in common and personalities that are – more or less – compatible. None of this guarantees that the couple will hit it off, of course. A relationship needs to have the “X” factor, a little touch of chemistry that makes the conversation flow naturally, makes each joke funny and lets a connection happen without being forced.

The “blind” aspect of the date is that, usually, the individuals will not have met before, or even seen one another, except possibly in photographs. Despite having a friend in common, there is no guarantee that they will get along. If they do get along, however, it works out well for their friends, who get to spend time with two people they like without having to travel as much.

Disadvantages of speed dating

Looking for the right partner can be an incredibly tricky process. There are many people who think that there is one perfect person for all of us in the world – so if you never meet that person, or you meet them and it goes wrong, you have no hope. This is plainly wrong, though, because the world simply is not that ordered. It still does not stop a lot of people from losing hope, and this is why even targeted dating services can be more hindrance than help in many ways. Thinking about it realistically, how certain can you be that attending a speed dating event will bring you into contact with someone you will love, and who loves you?

Attending a speed dating event can bring you into contact with a wide range of people, some of whom you may get along with. However, looking at it objectively, there is no reason why the ideal person for you, or one of them, will be among a field that can be as small as five people. Coming back from a speed dating event not having met anyone you would want to see again – or finding that the one or more that you had a good feeling about did not reciprocate that feeling – can be pretty upsetting.

In the end, is a period of time that can be as little as three minutes long really enough time to get a feel for what someone is really like? The event can fall on a day when you simply were not at your best, so if it doesn’t happen for you, you should not lose faith in yourself.

Top 10 Blind Dating Tips

Going on a blind date? Here are a few tips for making the most of your blind dating experience:

• The best time for a blind date is lunch, or if it must be in the evening meet for drinks or coffee rather than dinner. If the meeting is scheduled to be short and casual, you’ll find far less pressure put on your blind date. You also won’t have to be concerned about the propriety of who is to pay for the dinner.
• Choose someplace quiet and someplace where you won’t run into several friends who stop and say hello. This is the time to pay attention to your date, not everyone else.
• Etiquette is an important part of your best blind date and an important tip. Avoid sarcasm, talking badly about other people, telling rude or crude jokes, using racial or ethnic slurs, and making suggestive comments. Especially if you are the male, the latter will make a very nervous blind date – and one probably not destined to see you again.
• Avoid controversial topics. A blind date isn’t the place to discuss how much you hate organized religion or how liberal your politics are. The exception is if this blind date is made after you are brought together online or otherwise and have determined that you have these attitudes in common.
• Courtesy, above all, is the rule for a blind date, no matter how disappointed you might be at the person sitting across the table from you.
• Ignore your cell phone calls. Better yet, you should turn your cell phone off, unless you are prohibited. The latter might be a physician on call, a police officer and so forth. If that is the case, the first thing you’ll want to do is explain that you might have to respond to some emergency call, but you’ll ignore all others.
• Your blind date shouldn’t be the one night search for your true love. Talk about pressure! Our tip is to avoid that kind of stress by telling yourself that this meeting is the chance to go out and have a good time and maybe meet somebody nice. Perhaps you won’t find your perfect mate, but you just might meet a new friend.
• Listen to your blind date – that’s an important tip. Listening at the first meeting is much more important than talking. Don’t avoid disclosing enough about yourself to seem open and honest, but don’t monopolize the conversation.
• Come armed with questions to keep the conversation flowing. These questions should be open-ended, to get your blind date talking. Asking, “What brought you to Boston?” could elicit a lot more conversation than, “How many years have you been in Boston?”
• While you might be dating someone that your friends know, don’t ask too many questions before you actually meet. Make your own decisions, rather than letting someone else’ biases negatively coloring your opinion before the blind date even happens.