Dating can be pretty scary. Especially first dates. There's always a chance the other person might be insane, and it could be the worst date ever. But sometimes, that's not the case. First dates can go so well, there's a second and third date. Maybe, even a marriage.
Women on Reddit share their cute first date stories. Content has been edited for clarity.
He Was So Subtle
“After having some extremely terrible ‘first dates’ I told the guy I was talking to that I wasn’t really comfortable going on a date. One night he asks if I’d like to run a couple of errands with him. He took me to a store where he bought a bunch of candy, and after leaving the store he pointed to this really old and small theater and asks, if I would like to check it out. After the movie, he asks me if I was as hungry as he was and proceeded to treat me to a great dinner.
The guy tricked me into a perfect date night.”
“Wouldn’t Trade It For The World”
“One of my cutest first dates was with a guy who took me out to the country area he and his family lived to go stargazing away from light pollution. We laid down on a big fluffy blanket and he pointed out the various constellations and told me their myths and which were his favorite… he was really into astronomy.
My first date with my fiance he picked me up and we went out to lunch at a local restaurant and talked. Then we stopped by the gas station, bought drinks and went home. We drank and watched B-flick movies laughing and joking about all the filming/acting mistakes. Wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
The Best Dates Don’t Take A Lot Of Effort
“One date, we were blindfolded and dueled with paint brushes (dipped in paint of course). Then it ended in an all-out brawl with and water balloons.
I’ve been on a group date where we played silent hide and seek/tag in a massive library. We were all wearing ugly Christmas sweaters for some reason? It wasn’t Christmas. We had the hardest time trying to be quiet in the library when we were all dying of laughter.
For another date, a guy I knew was super into my roommate. He and his two roommates asked out myself, that girl, and one of our other roommates. We all dressed up like the characters from the board game Clue and the guys set their house up like the game board, complete with a mannequin ‘victim.’ We all ran through the house playing live-action Clue, wielding a rope and a pipe and a banana with ‘weapon’ written on it in sharpie. That guy and girl are now married with two kids.
One of my early dates with my boyfriend, we went to Goodwill and had 5 minutes each to pick out the ugliest outfit we could find for the other person. Then we put on our outfits and went to see the movie with the lowest score on Rotten Tomatoes, which at the time was 50 Shades of Grey.”
Why Not Have Fun With It?
“We were all broke college kids. We went to McDonalds but the guys turned themselves into fancy restaurant wait staff which was so funny. They put a tablecloth down and one had a towel on his arm and took our order. Then they brought the food poured our drinks..and served it like at a fancy restaurant before sitting down with us. Then they asked if we’d like to see the dessert tray at the end. It was just so fun and the other people at the restaurant were jealous I’m sure.”
A Great Keepsake
“My boyfriend and I went to the park for our first date and we painted pictures together. The original plan was to do like a Painting With a Twist thing, but sans drinking and in the park so we didn’t have to pay $35 each. I thought we’d be able to watch YouTube tutorials and paint something.
It ended up getting way dark and we just kind of free painted something. We still have them, he has the one I painted and I have the one he painted.”
A Memorable First Date
“My first date with my fiancé was a breakfast date to this little pancake house I liked. We were going to part ways after so I could get back to my kids, but it went so well that my mom babysat a little longer. He then invited me back to his place to check out his records. Little did I know he had just moved in and had NO FURNITURE at all, so we sat on the floor, listened to records and suggested we browse through the Ikea site so I could help him decorate. It was definitely smooth. After I got over my initial fear of being murdered, I realized he honestly had no intention of bringing me back, but didn’t have any idea what to do after his 8 year dry spell.”
“I Loved Every Minute Of It”
“My boyfriend for our first date took me on a little hike to this fantastic view. I had never been to the view, before even though we live fairly close to it. It was very peaceful and we really got know each other. And then we drove around looking at the various viewing spots. We also drove to spots around town .Then we went to IHOP and had breakfast for dinner. It was really adorable.
I think for first dates (granted every girl is different) it is good to have something simple and sweet. It was something I had never done before but it was just really serene and it just gave us a good opportunity to talk and enjoy each others company. I loved every minute of it.”
“We Clicked Instantly”
“My boyfriend and I met on Facebook through my sister, who knew him through past coworkers she interned with at his job which is the local tv news station (so he’s is one of the news reporters in town). So I added him on Facebook because she said we had things in common. He added me back, but we never said a word to each other for a whole month. So any interaction we gave each other was liking memes and posts we posted on our timelines.
So one day he asks any local people which state fair is better Iowa or Minnesota (we are in Iowa). So I felt not to only make this our ice breaker, but also helping out a person who’s not from the area.
I told him ‘Iowa is better but I’ve never been to Minnesota’s so don’t word for it.’
Then he replied jokingly about how ‘I was being a little biased.’
When my sister saw our messages, she got so excite she took my phone and made a date for us the next day.
So we went to the local brewery just to sit down and chat. I told him I couldn’t stay long because I had a family reunion going on in the neighboring town over and he understood. And we clicked instantly. We found out we had so many things in common, we couldn’t stop laughing. We eventually left because it was getting too loud, and we couldn’t hear each other. He also has high functioning autism, and the crowd and music was getting too much for him. So we walked outside and talked some more. We walked around downtown, the little park in the middle of the town, and then he walked me to my car. We just kept talking as if we were just long lost friends catching up. Sometimes we would just stop, and he would look at me and do that half smile chuckle you see in the movies when the character is starting to fall in love with the other character. When we got to my car, we exchanged phone numbers and he asked me if I could be his date to one of the sports news anchor’s going away party the next day. So I agreed. At this point it was so late we spent 3 and a half hours just talking, but my family was pretty cool with it because my last relationship consisted me being left at the altar. So they were pretty excited and could tell I liked him too
Next day came, and I was anxious as heck. It was awkward as heck when I got there, because it was all these news people I watched growing up and it was just surreal. When the guest of honor left, we walked out and he walked me to my car and talked just the two of us for another hour. We hugged and took our first picture. From then on, we kept texting each other whenever we could (I even helped on a news story), and about a week later we became a couple.
Our 1 year anniversary is coming up. Since then, we’ve gone to the Minnesota state fair, our first trip to the Mall of America, 3 baseball games, 5 states, spent the weekend in Canada for a hockey game, and we are in the current planning on going to Seattle for our anniversary. We are pretty lucky to be doing all of this within one year, but if we couldn’t I would be okay with it cause he’s been my new favorite adventure.”
“I Felt Like It Was The Best”
“My now-husband took me to a lighted boat parade (where people decorate their boats with Christmas lights and sail around so people along the river can see them) for our first date. The cost was a simple donation of canned goods. When we got to the given address, we saw the boats getting ready to set sail and we stood there waiting. Once the parade started, it took about ten minutes before we realized all of the boats were literally sailing away from us.
We only got to watch them leave. To this day he claims it was the worst first date ever but to be honest, I feel like it was the best. Rather than being distracted by a movie or food or whatever other activity, we were able to talk and get to know each other. I always recommend little local activities or events when people ask for date ideas because you never know when that art festival or carnival could become the best night of your life.”
He Did A Lot With A Little
“Back in high school, I was dating this guy and he was feeling pretty bad because he had just been replaced the pizza place where he worked. He was determined to take me somewhere and have our first date, but he was low on money. He called one night and told me to get ready, and said he was taking me somewhere.
I kept asking where we were going and he wouldn’t tell me. He pulled up at a beautiful lake where we live and put out a huge blanket and pillows next to the water. Then got out some containers with chicken and dumplings in it (which is my favorite and he knew it) and other foods. He had made the food himself which I thought was cute. After we ate, he turned the radio on in his truck and turned it up where we could hear it. We then went swimming, then laid on the blanket and pillows and talked forever. I ended up marrying him later on after highschool.”
A Happy Memory
“We were supposed to meet for lunch, but decided on ice cream instead. Had some ice cream, walked around his college campus (in hot as balls August), then went back to his place to play N64. He won 4 out of our 5 Goldeneye battles and then made me dinner.
That was almost 3 years ago and I can’t imagine my life without him. We still go to the same ice cream place on occasion for nostalgic purposes.”
So Many Tricks Up His Sleeve
“My boyfriend took me on an epic first date. We had been texting for about a week after I was his waitress. We would talk about the usual things to get to know each other, turns out we both love horror films and Halloween, and it just so happened to be October.
He also asked me what I looked like with no makeup on and I responded, ‘Like a potato.’
So he comes to pick me up from my house, and I asked what we were going to do. He told me we would go to the next town over and grab dinner, and then we were going in kind of a loop. From that town, we were going to another town on the way home. In that town, they do a haunted prison tour every year so I was pretty excited. On the way to dinner it was kinda awkwardly we were trying to break the ice when he tells me he got me something. He reaches behind my seat and hands me something rolled up in newspaper twisted at each end like a piece of candy. I open it, it’s a potato.
He wrote on it with sharpie and it said ‘You’re one hot potato.’
I laughed so hard.
He was glad we both had the same sense of humor and said, ‘Incase that didn’t make you laugh, I got you this.’
It’s a tiny blueberry flavored drink, and so I cracked it and we were taking drinks of it.
As we were finishing up the bottle, he looks at me and says ‘I also got you this.’
He then pulled out a flower in a vase. I was floored with how much thought he had put into this. We had a lovely dinner and had a blast at the haunted prison. When we got home, we just sat in the car and talked for what seems like hours. We celebrate three years together this October. Take a risk and be a little cheesy, it might just work.”