The gold-digging starts here!

[miss_squiddy]

According to a recent survey, the average cost of a first date is £200.

"Love doesn't come cheap in Britain where the typical date costs £200, according to a survey of some of the nation's 8.6 million 'singletons'. On average, the single British man or woman goes out on a date five times a year, with the Welsh the keenest date hunters, spending more on looking for that someone special in bars and clubs."^*

Two hundred pounds? What??? Where are these people? A typical date for me is normally:

Ticket to the cinema/bowling alley (using out-of-date student card) - £3.50

Couple of pints in nearby pub - £5

Disgusting fried animal from dodgy takeaway - £3.95

Video hire - £2.50

That's £25 for two - and you'd have to fight me to get away with paying for everything by yourself. Admittedly, I'd be much happier to be taken go-karting or paintballing or monster-trucking or somewhere else loud, mucky and painful, but I still reckon that's got to be £80 to £100 tops. I'm interested now: what's your typical first date like? How much do you spend/is spent on you?

I have to stop going out with students and recently graduated call-centre operatives.

Actually, you know what? YouGov, the company who ran the survey do a lot of interesting stuff. Their website should be pretty good reading for politics and sociology students (and bored people who like filling out polls).

^*You can see the full article here. It's the only place I could find it.

Comments

[darkapotheosis.livejournal.com]

sod that they could have a packet of crisps and their busfare home as long as they didn't want the Salt n vinegar crisps that is!

[miss_squiddy]

10p crisps? Or are all varieties of 10p crisps off-limits?

[darkapotheosis.livejournal.com]

no b***h is getting her grubby hands on my 10p crisps it's Walkers or nothing for them and probably some Skanky flavour like Spring Onion of Barbecue!

[miss_squiddy]

Heh heh heh.

[nibber.livejournal.com]

depends on who's supplying the rohitnol...
but seriously, 200 quid,
50 tops for a cheapish, but good meal and a few drinks.
does that imply then that only the fiscally secure go on dates while us paupers hang around in gutters for drunken slappers outside ritzy's????
hmmm

[miss_squiddy]

I think the £200 includes buying something new to wear on the date, plus transport and all of that.

[nicnac.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I figured it would probably include new outfits for both. I don't think I've ever really been on a date as such. Usually it was a case of fall into darkened room, shag wildly for several weeks then move in together.

[recursived.livejournal.com]

MySociety are a handy bunch of people. They don't have much about dates though.

[fuzzygoth.livejournal.com]

Usually for me its like film/meal/some generic activity like that followed
but a few drinks/coffee etc but then i preffer something where i get to
talk to the person i am on the date with so i'd say tops at the absolute
max for a really expensive meal say and drinks etc maybe £60-70 quid
and thats if i was paying for everything.

[evilpixielady.livejournal.com]

I've done both ends of the spectrum. Though my usual style (can you call it that) tends to bypass first dates ;>...ooppps!
too be honest i think i prefer a few quite drinks and some sort of silly activity, something that doesn't cost that much....people spending too much money on me makes me uncomfortable.....

[miss_squiddy]

Actually, when I heard about the £200 spend this morning, my first thought was that you are one of the only people I know to have been on some dates that might have cost that much.

[evilpixielady.livejournal.com]

but i am sooooooo worth the money ;> .....kidding!.

True i have been on some xpensive excursions (i have also taken people on some equally expensive ones...fairs fair and all that)...but they make me uncomfortable. Too much money being splashed around blah!!!
best date ever we both stayed in, cooked a posh (ish meal) and got wasted on Jack (classy lady see), being taken absailing comes a close second though

[miss_squiddy]

You are quality.

I like being cooked for too. Anything but potato in sauce (or nutroast). Heh heh heh. Thought and effort is much more appreciated than expensive generic tat.

[evilpixielady.livejournal.com]

in your 'anything but' you missed out anything that has been 'lemoned'. If i were you the thought of eatting anything even vaugely lomoned ever again woudl make me green...blurgh...

[miss_squiddy]

I can't remember the lemoning. Who did that?

[evilpixielady.livejournal.com]

i cant actually tell if this is sarcasm or not...lemon potatoes, lemon chicken, lemon gravy...welll lemon everything really.

[miss_squiddy]

Oh yeah. I had actually blocked that memory out of my head completely. Thanks for reminding me.

[miss_squiddy]

As a London person, your date is going to be 50% more expensive than anyone else's. I still think these costs have to be hideously over-exaggerated - or skewed out of all proportion by a few millionaires.

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

Maybe they meant a date with a prostitute?

[miss_squiddy]

Classy.

What would you get for that?

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

I dunno - a lifetime subscription to Beano?

[miss_squiddy]

You have some weird fetishes.

[poggs.livejournal.com]

I took stephmog out for the fanciest dinner I could lay my hands on in Whitby (Greens - it's near The Dolphin and apart from the 'estate agent ceiling' as my other half so delicately put it, is lush) and it came to £80. And that was *really* pushing the boat out.

Maybe the 'average' date involves spewing in a taxi, bumping up the cost by £100. Oh, and alcopops in some overly trendy bar.

[miss_squiddy]

Woo. That's supposed to be a fab place. I don't think many people budget for vomming in taxis, so perhaps the extra £120 is for a new outfit? In which case, the five dates a year average means that I have a lot of backdated shopping to catch up on.

[poggs.livejournal.com]

Greens is top. And Joshua's, over the other side near the station. Two places I wanted to go to, but only made the former due to our holiday cut short at 36 hours, grmbl.

I've never called Europe in a taxi before, but working with the people I do, I hear stories about exactly how much it costs.

Assuming it's a black cab, and your technicolour rainbow misses your clothing, the other £120 may be broken up as £60 each. That's a trip to the cinema (£7 each or something) and a small box of popcorn (£53).

[miss_squiddy]

Black Books +++

"Excuse me. There seems to be some sort of mistake. I bought a drink and some popcorn and now I have no money. "
"That's how much it costs."
"Why? Is it special popcorn? Does it produce some kind of dizzying high?"

[nibber.livejournal.com]

yeah, i've been to greens. its very bloody good. def go there if you can.

[cdpurplelady.livejournal.com]

I read an article about this while on the train coming to work this morning.

It does seem an extortionate amount of money to pay and i can't see anyone wanting to pay that amount, but as some commentees have said i guess new outfit/travel etc soon adds up - but surely not to £200!!!!

I think some people have got more money than sense if they are going to spend that kind of money. Surely it doesn't matter how much is spent on the date as long as you are having fun.

I have always liked to go somewhere where we can talk and get to know one another.

[faggy-no-oats.livejournal.com]

Pub! That's all you need for a first date, just somewhere to talk (if you don't just want their hot bod).

[miss_squiddy]

And for £200, you could get 40 pints each. Result!

[mrscruff.livejournal.com]

I've been on ONE first date in this ballpark, & technically that weekend cost me close to £300. I really don't think meeting @ Reading Festival counts though.

Has to be said, it must've worked cause it took a year for us to get bored of each other!

I'm pretty damn sure i've been on 1st dates that we're completely free..

[miss_squiddy]

I don't think that counts either - unless you paid for her to be there with you in some kind of weird internet thing...

[mrscruff.livejournal.com]

Haha no. We we're just both going. I probably did spend £60 plying her with booze the 1st weekend. For devious purposes..

Although i was a complete retard the year after, she had a bloke & we we're still quite good friends. I ended up paying for his ticket, and the bint never paid me back cause we all had a big argument.

[felishumanus.livejournal.com]

msut admit that was preety much my reaction...

[-lexx.livejournal.com]

SqueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeDeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[miss_squiddy]

Odieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! You're alive! Hello!