1. An artistic escape on a first date.
"On a first date, we went around to various art galleries with free wine/cheese and artists speaking. It wasn't really my scene, but I didn't want to give it away. Turns out, my date was feeling the same way, so during one of the artists' speeches, he mouthed, 'Let's leave and go to a bar.' As we left, I slipped on the floor and fell headfirst into a glass door. The entire gallery turned around, and the artist stopped speaking to stare. My date and I were laughing so hard we couldn't even apologize, and we just stumbled out. Anyway, we are married now and haven't been back to an art gallery since."
—Maggie
2. Never underestimate the power of a rose.
"I went on a date with this cute guy who was visiting NYC from Chicago for the winter holidays. We bonded and promised each other we would meet again. In February, I saw a coupon for flowers, so I sent a bouquet of roses to his office, and apparently it made a scene. Whoops! For our second date, I flew all the way to Chicago, even though I didn’t have any valid ID — just a college ID. (Yes, that actually happened.) We met, but we realized we weren't a good match."
—Frank
3. Dinosaurs are a great way to break the ice.
"I'm a goofy guy, and I was immediately drawn to this girl whose main dating app pic was of her in one of those massive inflatable T. rex costumes. I loved it; it told me she didn't take herself too seriously and that she likes to explore and have fun. We really hit it off and made plans for a date. I joked and said I would leave the date if she didn't show up in the dino costume. She did. She showed up to brunch in a dang dinosaur costume, and now I know what true love feels like."
—Colin
4. Most eligible bachelor...for two.
"I went to get drinks with this guy at 7 p.m. near my office, and it went pretty well. Afterward, I had to go back to the office to do more work, and he walked me back. As we were walking up to the office, my coworker walked out. The next morning, that coworker showed me a list of a dating app's Most Eligible Bachelors for Pride Month and pointed to a guy on the list with whom he'd gone on a date and said they had a great time and made out and it was awesome.
"THAT WAS MY GUY. We laughed, snapped a pic, and both sent it to that dude. We didn't end up together, but my coworker and I bonded over the hilarious coincidence and have been best friends ever since."
—Krishan
5. Make it cute, but DON'T duck it up.
"I was on a date with this girl I was ready to ask to be my girlfriend. I thought I would be creative when we fed the ducks by trying to write 'girlfriend' on a piece of bread. I put it back in the loaf so she would pull it out and be like, 'Aw, how sweet.' The reality of what happened was permanent marker doesn't mix well with gluten, and she pulled out the bread, thought it was mold, and quickly threw it in the water. I still feel bad for accidentally feeding a duck ink — but, hey, it must've worked, because she married me."
—Tim
6. This double date switcheroo is wild.
"I had a date scheduled for after work at this popular wine bar in town. So, I walk in, and I see two guys who look like they COULD be my guy sitting there, and I'm freaking out, like, which guy is my date?! I end up saying hi to the wrong guy, but we figured it out in two minutes and all laughed about it. Three minutes later, this other girl walks in to meet the guy I originally said hi to. I made a joke about how I accidentally said hi to her date, and we laughed about how we were all there on online dates.
All four of us ended up chatting, and it became a group date. Well, ten minutes in it became pretty obvious that I had WAY more in common with the other guy, and she was into my guy. It was SO awkward. The two of us went to the bathroom together about 20 minutes later, and I just had to say something. "So...this is awkward, but..." She literally finished my sentence asking if I wanted to switch dates. We cracked up and pow-wowed on how to non-awkwardly bring this up to the guys. Thank God one of the guys said something when we got back. We ended up switching dates (no joke...). It didn't work out for me and my guy, but I stayed friends with the girl and she is still dating her guy, six months later!"
— Claire
7. Down to clown when the circus is in town.
"One of the craziest dates I ever went on was with a Cirque du Soleil performer. I'm not kidding, this guy was in "O" and had broken his wrist, which is why he was home recovering. We met at a bar and after one drink, I was a little too confident, so I asked him to show me a trick. He suggested going to a park together so he could teach me some moves. We ended up leaving the bar, buying a bottle of a wine, and hanging out the rest of the night at a playground, with him showing me all these insane tricks, which apparently he could still do with a broken wrist. Never saw him again (he went back to the circus) but was one of the weirdest, most memorable, fun dates I've been on."
— Meagan
8. And finally, when the date is too over the top...because dogs.
"I had a first date with a Greek guy. When I met him, I found out his last name was the same as his first name, and I was so entertained by this, and it was already weirding him out. I was getting over an ex-lover and trying to get back 'out there,' but it was a bit too soon. We ended up having too many drinks, went outside, sat on a bench, and talked for a while. A dog and his owner came by, and I was majorly loving on the dog (as a drunk girl would) and because the owner let me. That's when it hit me: I live in a big city, and I would probably never see this dog again. So I told the guy that it was crazy I would probably never see the dog again. Then I burst into tears and kept talking about how I really felt a connection to the dog. He was very freaked out but polite enough to call me the next day and ask me if I was OK. 'NO' was the correct answer to that."
—Raashi