First dates can be hit-or-miss scenarios, and where your date takes you for your earliest outing sets the tone for how the occasion may go. Some potential partners could choose a traditional, romantic setting ...
While others might select an unusual place you really would rather not be for the first (or any) date, which can quickly make things uncomfortable.
Conversely, in rarer cases, a first date that occurs at an offbeat site may actually lead to a love connection.
I recently asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to share the craziest locations they've ever been brought to for first dates. In addition, redditor u/lovethatsnail asked users to offer their strangest first date experiences. Here are some of the jaw-dropping responses that were submitted.
1. "I have a couple. One I met on Tinder, and we had planned to hang out at his apartment. He told me later we couldn’t hang out there because his roommates would be home and too loud. So, he ended up taking me to his mom's house, where he had his old room in the basement. I’m convinced he never had an apartment and was still living in his mom's basement. I never saw him again. The other one was a ghost-hunting tour around Portland. The group leader offered to marry us on the first date. We ended up dating for three years, though, so it kind of worked out okay."
2. "We had met on Tinder — no big deal. But he took me to meet his grandma, and it was like I had to interview with her before we went to dinner. Sweet lady but very awkward, especially since I didn’t talk to him again after that date."
3. "He had to do some shopping at Walmart for a BBQ he was having that weekend. Why I didn't just get back in my car and leave instead of following him around, I don't know. Guess I didn't want to come across as being rude."
—ILikeMyBlueEyes via Reddit
4. "He asked me to go to his childhood home (45 minutes away) to see it one last time before his family sold it. Sounds weird, but we played in the yard and the game room like little kids for eight hours that day and had a picnic in the empty living room. I could tell it meant a lot to him to spend one more day there. We’re married now!"
5. "I went axe throwing. It was pretty fun, but the guy was…interesting."
6. "Had a lovely evening with a beautiful dinner and a romantic walk in the park. While sitting on the park bench imagining our second date, he asked me to go to one more place — home to meet his wife. They were swingers. I'm out!"
7. "I met a guy on Bumble, and when he asked me out, I suggested something small and casual like grabbing coffee together. He was totally on board, and we settled on a day and time. The day comes, and suddenly, he says he planned out a bar crawl for us! He wanted to hit three bars for drinks, then go to a fourth one and have dinner! It was a cold, rainy day, and the bars were scattered all over town. Not to mention I was struggling with sobriety at the time. We never did have that first date lol."
8. "Parking lot of a school and Taco Bell — he wanted to score, I wanted to eat. Thanked him for the food and left."
9. "I had a guy ask me out, and he wanted to take me to a place where he knew the 'chef' and the food was really good. It was a strip club that served dinner. I had never been in a strip club before. It was horrible. I was so young and naive that I tried to be cool with it, but the girls were completely nude, so as I was trying to eat a steak, I was looking at full-blown genitalia. I stuck it out for about an hour and told the guy, 'Yeah, I can’t do this,' and walked out. He had the audacity to call me the next day to ask me out again."
10. "I was invited to go to lunch, and instead, he drove to a nudist camp. He took his clothes off at the pool. I didn’t. Lol. He wasn’t pushy about it and didn’t try to force anything, thankfully. I was shocked by the whole situation, to say the least."
11. "Guy I met at work — we met up at his place and hung out for a bit. He got agitated about something but asked if I wanted to go and get something to eat. Sure, great. He then says he needs to run an errand first. Takes me to Walmart (where I used to work for seven years!) to buy cleaning supplies. ... He got agitated again when they didn't have his brand in stock, and I suggested something different. During this time, I ran into my nosey cousin, so that was also great."
12. "Met a guy at the skate park when I was 14. He asked if I'd go out with him the next day. I thought he was gorgeous, and when he said I should dress up, I expected something special. He took me to his little sister's funeral."
—via Reddit
13. "First and LAST date. I went out to dinner with a man I met when we were coworkers. While we were having dessert, his parents showed up. They invited me back to see their home. So, I went, got the tour, saw their honeymoon car in the garage, and they sat me down in the living room and started asking me about details regarding my wedding to their son. I had driven my own car to the date. I drove the hell out of there at light speed. No. No, no, no."
14. "He took me to dinner, then to his friend's house for a 'party.' It turned out to be recruitment for some pyramid marketing scheme. I got out ASAP, and he wouldn't stop calling me after that. Fool me once, shame on him, but fool me twice?? I ain't no schmuck."
15. "Had a guy take me to his father's magic show...and we then stayed in the hotel room his father had rented us in the hotel that the magic show was at."
—anthropomorphisis via Reddit
16. "Girl took me to go see where Ted Bundy supposedly hid the bodies of his victims."
17. "A pool party. A nudist pool party."
18. "Not the first one, but one of the first dates we had: into the forest by his family farm, sat next to the lake, he pulled a rabbit from a trap, made a fire, and proceeded to clean and cook the rabbit for us. As a city girl, I was first disgusted, then intrigued, and then blown away by how tasty the damn thing was. Reader, I married him."
19. Lastly, "So, a few years ago, I met this amazing guy online. Everything about him was everything I wanted. Only downside was that he lived in Dubai...and I lived in New Haven, Connecticut. Well, after a super intense week and a half, we both felt we had to meet in person. So, he sent me a plane ticket for a three-week-long first date, and I was leaving in three days. So, I went, and we had a mind-blowing first week. Then, he proposed!"
Note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and/or clarity.