Every single single person I know falls in and out of love with dating websites and apps. A bad experience turns them off enough to take a break from it altogether. And then after a long enough time away, they come roaring back, ready to try again. After all is said and done, an app or site does offer the steadiest stream of new love prospects so it has a numbers victory going for it, if not a quality one.
But what if digital dating was taken off the table? Especially as the holiday season and the new year approaches, I feel emboldened, willing to try new tactics. Another year gone by makes me want to tinker, experiment and learn skills beyond my current knowledge level.
Plus, I figure, if I can meet great people while partaking in activities … even better.
Based off of conversations with friends and suggestions by dating experts, here are some to try this winter season and how well I think they would do (on a scale of 1 to 10) as a means to meet mates.
Improv class
Laughter, they say, is the best medicine. In my mind, it’s also a great aphrodisiac. Learning to be funny and spontaneous is never a bad thing, and a class that revolves around it, allows you to weed out the humorless (Although wha humorless person even signs up for an improv class)
Mate-meeting potential: 9
Playing bridge
This was not the first idea that my brain conjured up. Personally I wasn’t aware that anyone under 60 was even allowed to play bridge. But a pal mentioned taking up a class devoted to this game as something she’s doing. And, might I add, she’s only halfway to senior citizen-dom. How many eligible, fantastic young gents were also anxious to learn bridge? About two, in her estimation.
Mate-meeting potential: 2 (If you switch to poker, I’d guess your odds go to up a 6 or 7)
Skating lessons
Primo winter activity, check. Association with the adorable first date between Rocky and Adrian, check. Skating can be romantic as a date and learning to do it seems like it can be frocked with chances to fall yet also for possibilities. In particular, locally, I’m a fan of the Kettler Ice Risk in Ballston.
Mate-meeting potential: 9 or 10
Sports leagues
Who, as a resident of Northern Virginia or Washington, has not played kickball, bocce, softball or perhaps even all three in a league of some sort? In this area it’s almost difficult not to. There’s the flip cup and other alcoholic games factor. This also, by the way, works in favor of breaking the ice. The trouble is to form any kind of a lasting connection ain’t guaranteed. And are you learning a skill persee? Not so much.
Mate-meeting potential: 5 (Hookup potential: 9)
Fast casual lunch spots
One website I found discussing this topic cited Chipotle as an almost lovers den. Apparently a line filled with burrito items can really set the mood. I don’t quite see it. Maybe that’s because if I’m getting a pick-your-ingredient pizza or salad or taco or whatever else, I’m doing it focused on my food first and my external surroundings distantly second.
Mate-meeting potential: 3 or 4 (Learning to cook: at least double the score)
Drink-making courses
Similarly, gaining some insights into cocktail concoctions is an activity gaining in popularity as quickly as imbibing is. Classes run the gamut from appreciating specific, lesser-known drinks (say absinthe 101) to pairings (beer to food, for example). Everyone gets loose and learns about adult beverages. Sign me up.
Mate-meeting potential: 8 plus
Snowball fight!
Not a class but a good-old-fashioned winter pursuit that’s highly social and, in the D.C. area, organized courtesy of a snowball figh-focused group that lets residents know where and when to show.
Mate-meeting potential: 6 but hell of a lot more fun
-Dena