Lunch dates like hiking, carpet picnics, and beach outings allow you and your date to mix light-hearted fun with a little romance.

© Cherie Burbach

Meeting a date for lunch can be a fun and relaxing way to get to know each other. After all, when you meet during the day the mood becomes automatically light and less serious. Whether the two of you are being set up through a lunch dating service or making a date on your own, here are a few ideas to help make your time unique.

Hiking

Who says you need to eat a big meal during a lunch date? If the two of you love nature, why not take a gentle hike through the woods? Bring a bag lunch with healthy snacks such as granola bars, juice, and trail mix.
Park

When the weather is nice, pack a picnic lunch and head to the park. Better yet, stop off at a local deli so you can each choose the sandwich and soda of your choice. Don’t forget a sampling of dessert to complete the meal.

Beach Lunch

If you’re lucky enough to live near a beach, use it to your advantage. Pack a blanket, some sunscreen, and a big umbrella. Then stake your spot in the sand. The nearby waves will provide the perfect backdrop to a romantic afternoon.

Sitcom Lunch

If you and your date both have a favorite TV show, grab a DVD and play it during lunch. You might only get through an episode or two, but a comedy will help ease any first date nerves and also give you something to talk about. Add some “movie foods” like popcorn, large sized candy bars, and nachos.

Potluck Lunch

If you and your partner are great cooks, why not show off those culinary skills with a potluck lunch? Choose a theme to follow or create your own recipes. Use the choices you made in creating lunch as a catalyst for engaging conversation.

Zoo

A short afternoon at the zoo allows you to take a stroll, view interesting animals, and have a variety of foods available from the vendors around the park. Many zoos have luncheon areas primed with the most beautiful scenery on the premises. Take advantages of this relaxed atmosphere to get to know your date.

Carpet Picnic

Use this plan as your backup if the weather turns sour. Take all the elements you’d normally have with an outside lunch and bring it indoors. Grab a blanket, basket, and plenty of great picnic foods like fried chicken, sandwiches, or fruit. Who says you need to eat a picnic lunch outside?

Q&A Lunch Date

Have your partner write down a list of questions and you do the same. Then, as the meal progresses, pull out a slip of paper and answer the questions between bites. It’s a fun way of getting to know your date without feeling like you are interrogating them with constant questions.

Playground Date

Keep things very light with a date at a local playground. Bring some hotdogs and eat at a picnic table while you reminisce about your childhoods. Take turns on the swings while you discuss favorite books, movies, and memories.

Weekend Brunch

Lunch doesn’t have to be right at noon. A weekend brunch date can search as the perfect starter date. The atmosphere can be more formal than a regular lunch, so you can both dress up and look your very best. Top off your date with a glass of champagne and an indulgent dessert.

The key to any successful date is planning. So don’t just “wing it.” Think ahead so you can your date can just relax and enjoy each other’s company and remember to engage in good lunch dating behavior. Lunch dating is one of the best ways to get to know someone new. It promotes a laid back hour or two of conversation and flirting. Enjoy it!

Image: sxc.hu

Confidently meet your midday match.

© Cherie Burbach

For busy singles today, lunch dating is a great alternative to other methods of meeting new people. To ensure success with your noontime date, here are a few points to consider.

Follow First Date Etiquette
Like any initial meeting, be kind and thoughtful. Arrive on time, don’t make nasty remarks, and be gracious. Even if you walk in the restaurant and immediately know that you’re not attracted to the person, follow through with your date and behave in a polite and respectful manner. Why add to any negative dating karma that may come back to you down the road?

Soft Drinks Only
Even if it’s a Friday and you’re taking off for the rest of the day, forgo any wine, beer, or hard liquor. If you two decide to hook up again at some point, feel free to imbibe, but on a lunch date drinking is off-limits. First of all, you want to maintain your senses so you can decide if you’d like to see this person again. Second, it’s just bad manners to get ripped the first time you meet someone.

Conversation Is Key
A lunch date is very similar to a coffee date, in that the goal is simply to figure out if you like this person enough to want to go out with them again. So use good first date conversation skills, keep it fun, but also try and get a sense if you’d be compatible. You don’t have to determine if you the person in front of you is marriage material, but you do have to know if they are worth your time for a second date.

Enjoy the Meal
Most lunch dating organizations arrange not only a nice date, but also a great meal. They organize dates at the best restaurants in town, and many of these are places you probably wouldn’t just pop into on your regular lunch break. So enjoy it. Take the time to appreciate the atmosphere, the food, and the fact that no matter what, you are out of the office and doing something fun.

Be Prepared With Your Number
If things do work out well with your date, you will naturally exchange phone numbers. Don’t wait until the last minute, then scramble looking for a pen and paper (or napkin!) in which to scribe down your digits. Plan ahead. Write your home phone and email down on the back of one of your business cards and bring it along. Or, if you prefer, have your name and number printed up on a card you can hand out at the end of the meal. This will ensure a smooth ending to a pleasant date.

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Even if you’re too busy to meet people, you’ve still got to eat. Why not join a lunch dating service and take care of both?

© Cherie Burbach

For the busy professional, the thought of finding time to meet new people can be as daunting as the next work project. That’s where Lunch Dating comes to the rescue. Meet other busy working singles while you break for a quick meal or drink after work. Lunch dating services take the pressure off finding other singles just like you, who just haven’t had time to meet the right person yet. If you’re considering lunch dating, here are a few sites to check out:

It’s Just Lunch
• Dating for busy professionals.
• By far the largest lunch dating franchise, It’s Just Lunch was founded by a Chicago woman who’s engagement was suddenly called off in 1991. They now have over 80 offices throughout the globe, 30,000 members worldwide, and arrange 50,000 dates each month. They call themselves the “first date specialists” and put together dates over brunch, drinks after work, and of course, lunch.

Only Lunch
• The lunch and dinner dating agency.
• Located in London, Only Lunch encourages singles to “come in for a first meeting over coffee.” This first appointment will take about 45 minutes and give Only Lunch an idea of the type of likes and dislikes each applicant has. Then they search their database for compatible singles, book a table for lunch, and let the date proceed. After taking time to get to know the applicant, they “hand-pick” their matches using “good old fashioned gut feelings.”

Lunch Actually
• Asia’s premiere dating company.
• With locations in Malaysia and Singapore, Lunch Actually arranges “dates for busy and active single professionals in a discreet, fun and no pressure environment.” They specialize in handling business-minded singles looking for a serious relationship. Their clients are people with busy schedules, and include “open-minded managers, executives, directors, administrators, lawyers, accountants, doctors, and entrepreneurs who are now looking to get more from life than just work.”

Lunch Appeal
• CNY’s most talked of matchmaking service.
• Located in Liverpool, New York, Lunch Appeal screens every applicant in an effort to “maintain quality clientele.” They do not use computers to pick matches; rather, their “certified matchmaking consultants” meet with each applicant and then match up people from a personality questionnaire. Once they have a twosome they think will fit, they set up the entire first date.

Eurolunch
• Business and pleasure.
• Serving clients throughout Europe, Eurolunch was created by a groupof professionals with “plenty of experience in fields like PR, networking, lifestyle-coaching, restaurants, dating and more.” Eurolunch’s clients include people living in Europe as well as frequent travelers to the area. Unlike other lunch dating organizations, Eurolunch gets people together for “business networking, dating purposes, or simple friendship.”

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300 Creative Date Ideas!