It’s that time of the year. You find yourself single, while all your friends seem to have plans. And, the New Year’s Eve is hurtling towards you faster than you thought. If your New Year’s resolution was ‘not be date-less on New Year’s Eve’ and it has not fructified yet, then hold on, it isn’t all that bad. There are still a few weeks to go and many nights and days to set the ball rolling by being in the right place.
Here are a few ways to get yourself a date:
- Make socialising a priority. Take the opportunity to attend every social gig you are invited to. The more invitations you accept and go to, higher are the chances of meeting new people.
- Throw your own party and ask your friends to bring along a friend. The best way to meet more new people is to get your social network to invite people in their network. The possibility of meeting someone new or being introduced to someone, expands and all of this at your own party.
- Tap into your own social network. If you notice someone who is always on your timeline and is supporting your posts with great comments or likes the same things you do and you have a liking for them, perhaps meeting them offline may not be a bad idea. Try a coffee meet-up so you get to know each other better and then take it ahead either ways from thereon.
- Become a regular at a coffee shop. There are many people hanging out at cafes or operating their business from there. Schedule a specific time to become a regular, be it for a fortnight or a week. I’ve seen strangers becoming familiar when you’ve seen them a few times. It prompts conversations and possibly the development of a new friendship. Take the time to reach out and get to know someone.
- Dive into online dating. Where can you can meet men and women 24/7? The ‘cuffing season” or the period between December and January sees peak traffic in the online dating scene. Choose apps that have the most traffic like Tinder, Match, Plentyoffish, or OKCupid. A word of caution, though talk to them before meeting. Go with your intuition if something seems off about a profile or the person.
- Use Matchmakers. In case you are wary of online dating then apps such as OkSasha and Three Day Rule could help where the matchmakers meet you in person at singles events and operate on setting you up using the traditional and personalized methods. Tawkify picks your matches, using algorithms and when you become a client, they pair you with a personal matchmaker who will help assess the compatibility for dates.
Once you have established a relationship of sorts, when you ask what they are doing for New Year’s, you are likely to get one of the three answers.
- They have set plans like heading to Goa or London. In which case, you can move on.
- They don’t have any plans. That is your cue to suggest if you both could do something together. Why waste an opportunity?
- They have plans which are fluid. Which means the probability of you being invited along are high!
While these are a few ways to hitch yourself a date, if you feel the tug of resistance, I’d recommend you hang out with your closest buddies. Most of them don’t care whether you come along with a date or not. They would be more than happy to be with you.
And, if that still doesn’t vibe. Date yourself. It’s the best thing you can gift yourself and release the pressure to perform for the sake of some ‘societal norm’.
There is no law stating that you have to have a date for New Year’s Eve.