Double Dates: Rules for First-time Friends

Sweaty hands, nervous laugh and a barrage of funny stories to entertain. Everyone can relate to the frenzy of excitement, anxiety and uncertainty of a first date. But what if it’s a first double date? You have your friends, he has his and at certain times of the year, these worlds collides and there is an overlap. Stressful at first then petering out to only a minor blip on the radar after a while. You relax - both sets know each other well enough to ask the work question, the kids question and the general holiday question.

But then there is the other category. New “together” friends. Friends that you make together as a couple, neither his or hers; the new neighbours, little Jimmy from school parents’, the cute couple who force there sensitive kid to play ball on Saturday mornings or the short couple who you meet at dance class. You talk once, you meet again and share news, it becomes a weekly/ daily exchange and before you know it, you’re invited for dinner and stressing over the prospect of a double date with “your friends” and wondering if the green halter neck might give the impression you’re a home wrecker or the floral print is too mumsy. It’s a whole new ball game and there are a whole set of unwritten rules to follow. Here s the heads up….

1. Make the first date on neutral territory so as no one is going to giving off home / Garden/ sofa / car envy
2. There is nothing worse than thinking you’ve made friends with like minded people to then realise that they are actually millionaires / red necks / vampires. See if you can google them beforehand to check for previous convictions / memberships of illegal cults etc
3. Leave the green halter neck at home and go for a relaxed look, unless you are in fact a serial swinger / husband collector in which case make sure you work the whole bootilicious look
4. Don’t consume too much alcohol on the first date. You may be nervous and sporting sick on your green halter neck is never a good look.
5. Check that the new lady friend isn’t a husband snatching swinger prior to any agreed meeting
6. and lastly, don’t agree to a first date that lasts longer than there hours. Couples who have interesting chat in the gym may in fact be the most boring folks on the planet.