After reading the post Is taking a shidduch to Starbucks too cliche? on the frumsatire blog, I decided to write up a list of 10 things you can do on a date that are relatively cheap. I think that Starbucks is a good idea, but I guess that can get old. Here is a list of ideas:
1) Dunkin Donuts instead of Starbucks (ok, I'm being corny, but I had too!)
2) go to F.A.O. Schwartz. That's alot of fun. I've been there on a date, and I had alot of fun. The enormous toys and the cute children were great conversation starters. I told about a million babysitting stories and stories about how much I used to love barbies. :). Also, this would be a great place to bring up the question "what would you do if you had all the money in the world" !
3) Take your date to Coldstone Creamery. The place has incredibly amazing ice cream. Its the same thing as Starbucks but instead of coffee, ice cream, which is greatly appreciated (except by the girls on diets, but who really cares about them?!).
4) Go Bowling. This may be an annoying issue because of the whole wearing other people's shoes thing.
5) ESPN Zone. I ALWAYS wanted to be taken to an arcade on a date. Its not expensive, its alot of fun, and casual!
6) If in the summer go boating in Prospect Park or for a Nature walk at Marine Park (never been, but heard it was absolutely gorgeous. Just make sure she knows and wears comfy shoes!)
7) Brooklyn Botanical Garden/NY Acquarium/Bronx Zoo
8) Ice Skating is alot of fun...make sure she knows in advnaced that you're taking her ice skating, so she knows to take socks.
9) Miniature golf. There are some indoor places around the city (I heard) so this should be ok for all seasons.
10) Go Painting at Plaster Gallery, or go to a place in the city like My Name is Mud (is it still open?)
11) This isn't an "original" idea, but a great place to take a date, is to Benny's Glatt on Ave M and Ocean Ave...OMG...that place is amazingly delicious, and really inexpensive. The shish kabobs are to die for!!
12) Target shooting. Yes, its guns, but oh how much fun that would be!!!!! (says me, whose never been shooting, lol) I have no idea if this is expensive or not, but its definitly original and probably alot of fun...will probably also lead to interesting discussions on people who are being imagined while shooting ;).
Any other ideas? I do sometimes get asked what to do, and I never know!
19 comments:
wish i could give you some info as to what to do in NY on a date, however on most of my dates we go out to eat (even on the first shidduch date) and well i can tell you of some great restaurants that are up and down coney island ave. in bklyn! as for the coldstone creamery, yes i will admit that it is an awesome place however you should be aware that the one that was open in bklyn on 86th st. is no longer open i believe now the only one open and kosher is the one out in long island (im not sure about this so dont quote me on it). as for dates i wouldnt recommend going to the movies since it really gives you no opportunity to talk unless you go out to dinner after and then you can talk about the movie, however please make sure that the girl goes to the movie theaters because in the shidduch world it is not so normal for a girl to go to the movie theater.
frustrated frummie: Thanks for the coldstone info, I was unaware that it closed...so sad :(
About it not being normal for girls to go to movie theaters...who are you kidding? LOL...many DO go, but wouldn't admit it on a date...doesn't matter, dont think a movie is a good date anyway.
Those sound like fun ideas for dates, everybody makes it out to sound as if dates only take you to lounges.
Bowling is a fun thing, only thing is, I heard its a problem, cause its not tznius when you bend over to bowl or something, so maybe for a later date then. I don't think anything is wrong with it though.
Marine Park is nice, I go there all the time to rollerblade (in nice weather) and once in a while I see couples on dates taking walks.
The plaster gallery near me seems to be just for little kids, but if there's an adult one that could be cool. But then you might be so busy with painting that you can't concentrate on what the other person is saying.
o, and speaking of dating, I heard that to better get to know the person, long dates are good so you get to see them, what their really like, and that hikes are good, so you get to see what their like when their hungry and tired to see if they get angry...
umm,
1. I am personally at odds with the 'haredi' method of dating, which involves expensive food, which a. can prove to be very expensive after a while, and b. I don't think 'stuffing your face' is a good position to be in when talking to someone for the first time, and trying to make a good impression.
2. Even besides the 'haredi' aspect, some of your dating ideas are a little too male (shooting? arcades?)and a little too 'un-universal' (I don't know how to skate, and don't eat 'chalav 'stam' '.
3. I do want to mention about the bowling though, that I once went bowling with a girl, and actually sort of 'fell in love' with the way she bent over when bowling- I actually was looking at her, and she contorted herself in a way that the bowl did go through, but because she wasn't really bending, it sort of lessened her aim, which is why I won! Yay! (almost like Rivka, I heard (from a reliable source) that there is a Midrash that Rivka din't bend over when doing things like laying down the heavy buckets, which was one of the main reasons Eliezer chose her. But it is well know that guys find ann attraction to modest girls, and girls find an attraction to guys are are 'not just interested in their body, or sex'.
And of course; movies are not a good way to date (unless it's some kind of presentation in a museum or something), you want to get to know each other, not actors..
say that the best part of bowling is the fact you can check out the girl from the behind, you can note obscure things like panty lines and you can see if they can stretch. That does sound a bit untznius doesn't it. I went bowling in the five towns once and two games was like 40 bucks- not cheap at all.
Anita- shooting huh...my kind of date and my friends who are not cheap like me and actually go to gun clubs have taken dates there. I unfortunately do my shooting in junkyards with lots of beer bottles and abandoned cars.
on bowling & tznious issue with that: Ok, so I found that guys will find a way to gaze no matter what. I have no idea how they do it. Its like you guys have xray vision of something...its unbeleivable..
I was out on a date once, totally tznious. Nothing tight or revealing. Anyway, there was this silence (I wouldn't say it was awkward) and the guy broke it with "Did you hear Rush Limbaugh was discussing a study that found if women do housework they have less chances of getting breast cancer"
Its like...what was he thinking about? And it was a total slip, I dont even think he was conscience of what he said or anything. And the only thing we did that date was sit across each other and eat dessert! How much worse can bowling be?
Hesh: I think bowling only costs that much over the weekend. I beleive weeknights are alot cheaper.
This may not seem rational, but I would not target shoot outside because for some reason I feel that is not as "safe" as an indoor place...lol. Mind you, the only gun I've ever held was a water gun. But it does seem awesome to try a real one.
Babysitter: I love marine park and everything, but I meant the nature walk there. Its by the water (across the street from the actual park area). I heard it was really nice...and totally free... I guess it would be nice if you get ice cream or something as you walk (will be real funny when it starts to drip all over). lol.
Rollarblading in Marine park= :)
o, right, saltmarsh I forgot about that. yea, that is a nice place, (I walk there when I have a stomach ache and it helps to sit by the water...)
lol, there might be an issue with licking the ice cream...
;-)
Babysitter: LOL!!!
well the marine park nature walk is ok i have gone there to exercise during nice weather and i even have a friend who was proposed to there however i do not recommend it as a first date most likely the girl would not appreciate having to walk on gravel or sweat or anything of the sort. but ill agree with babysitter on the fact that long dates are great because you actually get to see what the person is like. i know that i once went on a date where we were kicked out of the restaurant for staying too long so we decided to take a walk (mind you it was about 12-1 am) anyway we were walking and two guys decided it would be fun to throw eggs at us! no it was not halloween if that is what you were thinking. but lets just say that i got to see how he would react in a surprising situation. as for the shooting range anyone of my friends know me and taking me to a shooting range would be the most amazing date i would have tons of fun even though i have never been!!
I took a girl bowling on our second date. Bad idea. It was always either her turn or my turn. Bowling with just two people means that you don't get much face-to-face time with each other. You can check out the other person's back, but if you really want to get to know them, bowling is the wrong kind of date.
Luckily, this girl & I really liked each other and went out on a third date anyway. She's now my wife of 5 years.
> I was out on a date once, totally tznious. Nothing tight or revealing. Anyway, there was this silence (I wouldn't say it was awkward) and the guy broke it with "Did you hear Rush Limbaugh was discussing a study that found if women do housework they have less chances of getting breast cancer"
Do you really want to date someone who listens to Rush Limbuagh anyway?
YH: "Do you really want to date someone who listens to Rush Limbuagh anyway?"
Lol. I love men interested in Politics :). Why not listen to Rush Limbaugh if they are?
YH: "Do you really want to date someone who listens to Rush Limbuagh anyway?"
It depends. If you are interested in meeting someone who only wants to hear specious, factual-error filled arguments supporing only what he already agrees with, he's your guy.
I never took a girl bowling, word on da street was that most hate that activity on a date.
I went on dates in Chelsea piers, went to the golf course. That way I got to check "the form" :P .
Its not real golf, you just putt the ball as far as u can.
I also took my dates to jazz clubs, that was to see whether the girl was cool enough to hang with Da Jew.
FrumSkeptic: want to hear something incredibly hilariously funny and cool?
now should I make you guess or not...
you'll never get it if I don't tell you.
I just came home and was checking my e-mail and guess what I see? an e-mail with a link to this post. It's from my father, so I'm wondering, what in the world, then I see he wrote in a message, "Want to go to #11 Rosh Chodesh?"
Every Rosh Chodesh we go to different restaurants, so he's asking me if I want to go to that one, now looking at what you said, since you wrote such a positive review I'll say yes.
I wonder if he even looked at the comments and realized that I commented and that I read your blog, I suppose he didn't realize. But that is hysterical. Perhaps your blog came up in google when he searched for restaurants to go to in NY.
ok, now I know how he got to it. If you search for Benny's Glatt you get "... 11) This isn't an "original" idea, but a great place to take a date, is to Benny's Glatt on Ave M and Ocean Ave. ..." a quote from your blog.
The reason why he picked that place and searched for it was because with his credit card he's gonna earn 1,500 bonus advantage miles for eating there before 11/30/08.
waaaaay cool :-)
yea :-)
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