Love may be free but romance can cost a pretty penny.
All too often, major relationships fail to form because a cheap date sends the wrong message. Or a fun few weeks is lost to too pricey a night out and the expectations that dressing up can bring. Here is a basic look at what you should be spending on a date depending on what you are looking to get out of it.
First Date
Perhaps the most exciting time in any relationship’s course is right before it ever begins. When preparing to embark on your first date, keep the following in mind:
You May Not Be Expected to Pay…But Be Prepared to Pay: No matter your gender or the gender of your budding buddy, you may not be expected to pay. It’s best to go into any first date expecting to pay for everything (unless you two have expressly discussed the matter before hand). In this mindset, you’ll manage to avoid both the potential letdown of finding out your dinner was not free and the slap-in-the-face of being coddled. Look, some women take offense if the man pays for all of it, and some men want a woman who can take care of herself. There’s no judgment in this – just go into your date being prepared to foot the bill.
No Ties, No Tiaras: Wherever it is that you two end up going on your first date (here is our handy dandy guide for potential dating activities) you should make sure to keep it relatively low key. Which is not to say that you should be in flip-flops headed to the local Burger King, but you don’t want to overwhelm anyone right off of the bat. Provided that you are interested in having a relationship work out in the long term, you want to keep the cart before the horse. No ties, no tiaras, no tuxedos should be necessary on the first date.
Meal, Motion and Money: In the case of most first dates (or dates in general), you’re looking at some sort of meal/coffee and some sort of activity. Even if you opt for coffee, expect to fork over at least $10 for two drinks and a scone or baked good. If you opt for a meal proper, don’t go to any place where two meals, two drinks and dessert would be more than $60-70. This is because you don’t know where your date is coming from economically and you don’t want to set them down in front of a menu with multiple $20+ entrees – that can be intimidating. That would be ‘intimidating’ not ‘impressive.’ Remember when you’re not the one paying for the evening, you can feel obliged to reciprocate the money spent on you in some other way. And if the date doesn’t feel comfortable with you yet or has rules about what they do and do not do on first dates, then they are going to be in a bind. Bind = bad first date place. All told, a first date should not cost more than $100 and not less than $15.
Read Part 2 of How Much Should a Good Date Cost? for a pricing guide on more dating activities including appropriate gift giving.
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