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Fancy a great date night this Friday but not sure of what to do due to the dropping temperatures and rising prices? Here are our Free and Single ideas for indoor dates;

 

Get back in touch with your heritage

If you have been on a few dates now and really trust each other (Stay Safe Online Dating!) then it might be a good idea to try staying in and cooking a meal. There are loads of variations on this, but why not try each bringing a dish from your respective family origin and teach each other about what makes you you. Our Asian Free and Singles could try dishes from different regions of Asia and our Black Free and Singles could discover differences from Barbadian cuisine to African specialities.

 

Get in the holiday mood

If your faith is an important part of your life, you need your date to understand that and the holidays are the perfect time to introduce someone you are interested in to your community. Why not head to a carol concert at your church, Christian Free and Singles and enjoy singing together? Don’t forget to stay afterwards for mulled wine and mince pies while chatting with other members of your congregation.

 

Try something that is simply fun

As we approach the festivities of December, it’s time to get back to the innocent delight in the season – remember when Christmas was fun and exciting? You didn’t have to worry about being the single one at the family ‘do or about what to wear to the Office party. Cuddly Free and Singles and Divorced Free and Singles, get ye to your nearest ice rink and have an awesome time with your date, whether you are whizzing around the centre of the rink or clinging onto the side.

 

Stay in touch with the next generation

For our Mature Free and Singles, many of you will have grandchildren you may be looking to spend more time with and for our Free and Single Parents, it’s good to have some time just hanging out with your kids instead of having to actively parent them. Choose an activity you can all do together without distractions, like baking and decorating cupcakes or playing some good old fashioned board games like Monopoly or Cluedo.

 

Push your boundaries

Here’s a good’un for our Professional Free and Singles which our Wealthy Free and Singles should enjoy too. Head to your nearest theater and buy tickets for the next showing of whatever is on – be it the Vagina Monologues, Shakespeare’s Midsummer Nights Dream or a production of Calendar Girls. You get out of it if you have seen it before, but otherwise this is a great way to spark of a discussion and find out about something you wouldn’t have otherwise tried.

 

Try something new outside your comfort zone

This one is perfect for both out Young Free and Singles who are still looking to define what they want out of a relationship and our Fit Free and Singles who are up for some fitness-based fun. Head to the gym this weekend and bond with each other by trialing a new class together. You’ll help to motivate each other and push each other to be better – if it all goes horribly wrong, you’ll be there at the end to pick each other back up and try something else next time!

Summer fling or blossom into a full relationship?

 

While Summer has not exactly been a blast of hot air this year (more of a damp squib!) there are still great things you can plan to make your days off from the daily grind that bit more exciting. How best to experience new adventures, than with a new person to help explore and shine a new perspective on things?

 

For the health nut who likes to check on Fit Free and Single, why not charm a skittish athlete into discovering the joys of an early morning run? Indeed, a day trip could be created to visit a new area, take in a view, play Frisbee or mini golf and then partake in a tasty, well-balanced picnic. Even if the weather backs out on you, I find nothing can bring together new people like competition. Head to an indoor leisure centre for a frolic in the pool, a friendly battle in the squash courts or even head to the pub for a game of snooker or darts.

 

Summer for the Mature Free and Single can open up a whole world of opportunities. When you know there are places you wish to visit, but the appeal lessens without someone to accompany you? Find a likely compatriot on Free and Single and you can spend the entire season, (and beyond!) exploring new ground and reminiscing about previous adventures. I think a stroll along the coast in Cornwall or Kent, followed by fresh seafood and leisurely drinks is a sure fire way to entertain. Maybe you would prefer something even more cultural and could take a day trip to a local gallery or a hands-on craft activity such as pottery painting?

 

Come back for part two where I muse on date ideas for Young Free and Singles and Free and Single Parents!

It can make you nervous, but you have everything to gain in looking for love later in life

So you’ve been out of the game for a while.

 

Maybe you were married, maybe you have been busy raising kids or maybe you were looking into becoming one with the universe. Either way you have now made a choice to start the intriguing, sometimes painful and often highly entertaining path of looking for a new partner in the online dating world.   Thing is, you may be older and wiser now but it still feels like you have never dated before in your life. For some of our more mature denizens, that may even be true – different times, different traditions!

 

Whether dipping your toes into the pool for the first time or after an extended break from relationships, it doesn’t have to be the scary rip tide you are expecting. Instead, let yourself approach it as you would a holiday. Let yourself relax, and get ready to try new things.

 

People always say that by the time you are older you have discovered what and who you like, you know more about yourself than you ever did before and you are more confident in every aspect of your life. This could be true, but I defy anyone not to feel at least a slight twinge of nervousness before embarking on a new date, or even submitting a profile to Free and Single for the first time!

 

However, I would encourage you to enjoy the nervous flutters, to let yourself be excited and to discover whether you and your date have chemistry, are going to end up just friends or whether you just downright loathe each other on sight! After all, at the end of the day its another tale to add to your story and the anecdote, good or bad, will make for fabulous retelling at a dinner party or reunion event.

 

Excellent, having decided to take the leap, lets discuss venues. Dinner a deux is a classic of course, but a tad extreme if you are really nervous to put yourself right into the conversational gambit mode! May I suggest an activity to ensure a topic to talk about should all else fail you? You could visit a vineyard or a cidery and have a tasting, you could visit an aquarium to point at strange underwater creatures and shudder at sharks or you could hire vespas and take a tour of the town before stopping at a roadside inn to discuss the views and the people you passed.

 

I’m a big fan of alternative dates where imagination is key and just letting yourself enjoy it comes first, so put those thinking caps on! I’d love to hear your ideas too, so please tweet me @freeandsingle and have a look at Free and Single Parent or Mature Free and Single to find others in similar positions.