This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at City London chapter.
The days when women would sit around waiting to be invited for a date are long gone, and have left them with the challenge to impress men with a first (or second or third,…) date. As we all know, men are different from women, and while he may appreciate tickets to his favourite football team’s game, he may not associate that with romance. Result? You’ll end up looking bored to death instead of radiating sophisticated sexiness.
The perfect date shows that you’ve taken his interests into account by not choosing something overly girly like taking him to a cupcake shop, but still feels like a date rather than a lad’s night out with you as a substitute for the guys. Here are some ideas that have worked for me in the past:
- 1. Take him to best steak restaurant/place in town (unless he is vegetarian, of course)Most men love steak and will appreciate the fact that you do too. The last guy I invited to a steak restaurant actually told me that this was the best date he was ever invited to by a girl. If you feel that steak is a little bit too fancy, you could also try a good burger place.
- 2. Take him to a sophisticated beer-bar (the ones that give you a choice of at least 30 different kinds and have nice interiors)Most men love beer but the fact that this is a more sophisticated place won’t remind him of downing a six-pack during a football-match or a night out with the lads – plus you can still wear a nice dress and high heels without being overdressed. It gives him the impression that you are not one of these arrogant, hysterical champagne-drinking girls that demand a designer bag for a sleep-over but someone they will have fun with in the long run.
- 3. Take him to something that interests himThis is more suitable if you know him a little bit better. If he is into films, you could invite him to a rooftop screening of an independent production (veeery romantic), to one of the secret cinema events or to a special film night with fancy dress. Don’t just invite him to a normal cinema: it doesn’t portray you as very creative and it doesn’t set the bar high for him to organise a good date next time. Other options would be to take him to a car or boat show if he’s interested in one of them, or to a shop/market/exhibition of something he likes (books, maps, …).
- 4. Take him to a superlative bar/restaurant or somewhere memorableMen love superlatives and world records (don’t ask me why). It will impress him more if you take him to the bar with the highest ceiling in the world or the bar that invented the long-island iced tea than if you know everything about car engines. Don’t tell him before you go, drop it casually in the conversation and you will always be the girl who took him to this awesome bar with xy. He will probably also think that you’re an interesting person to hang out with and wonder about all the other potential interesting things you could do together.
- 5. Take him to a show/theatre play that includes skimpy dressed girls (no strip-club, of course)Depending on how confident you feel about your own body you can take him to a dance theatre with lots of girls in tight bodies (and a few half-naked men in between for you). Men don’t take other men to things like that, his parents won’t take him and his female friends probably wouldn’t either and if he would invite you he risks looking a bit gay, which means you inviting him is the only scenario when he can get away with doing it. He will appreciate it very much, though he would never admit it openly. It also gives him the impression that you are relaxed about things like semi-nudity, which most men will interpret as sexual openness and get them fantasies about you (and hopefully not about one of the dancers). Don’t forget to also dress the part.
- 6. Take him to an edgy place with a viewInviting him to the Empire State building is boring but if you know a nice bar/pub on the top-floor of a building this is an excellent idea if you want to be kissed in a romantic setting, especially if he is a bit shy. The setting won’t leave much doubt for him that you really like him, but doesn’t make you look desperate either. Don’t overdo it by going to a really fancy place. A lot of men find that intimidating.
Photo Credit: iStock/Maica