What makes a good first date? I think there are a lot of factors that go into answering that question. It all depends on you and your personality. However, when it comes to dating, there are a few almost universal rules that determine whether or not a date was \”good\” by society’s standards anyway.

Bad signs include being late, poorly or inappropriately dressed, or rude. If your date is putting his or her best foot forward, that’s a good sign. If he or she doesn’t care enough to clean up and use their company manners, the rest of the night will probably not be fun.

Fun, on a first date, should ideally be low-key and give you a chance to talk to each other. Any activity that lets you and your date interact easily and which you both like will do: dinner, coffee and desert in a cafe, an early-evening walk in a park, a museum event or gallery opening, or your city and social group’s equivalents. Noisy, crowed atmospheres don’t make for good first dates, so leave bars, concerts, and anything too structured to let you chat for later.

Doing an activity can be really good too. It lightens the mood up a bit. Most people are less nervous playing mini golf that they are stuck at a dinner table. If this is true for you, plan an activity such as bowling, going to a carnival or something similar. That way you have an ice breaker, and even if you don’t have a perfect love match, you may have some fun anyhow.

What kind of conversation you have will probably determine if you have a good time. Discussing politics and religion is generally thought of as a bad idea. Getting into the abortion debate on a date would not be fun. On the other hand, if you get into the \”deep\” subjects and you agree,you may have found some great common ground.

One exception here is that it is a good idea for both parties to give the other a general idea of what they’re looking or hoping for from a potential romantic connection. If one of you is marriage-minded and the other is planning a cross-country move soon, that’s ground you ought to cover. Similarly, if one of you is separated-but-not-yet-divorced, or already dating six other people but looking to fill that Tuesday hole in your schedule, that’s not something you ought to leave for later.

On that note, I would not go and start planning your wedding, how many kids you will have or picking out china patterns just yet. That is not the point. The point really is just to make sure you have similar plans and ideas. If one of you plans to move to Russia in the next two weeks and the other hates Russia, well it may not be a love match.

What Makes a Good First Date? It really does depend on the people, but communication, sanity, good manners and cleanliness are probably all indicators of an outing that was not terribly unsuccessful. There is probably no such thing as a perfect date, but at least you can try to have fun and get to know someone while doing so!