What to Talk About on a Date
Sunday, June 12th, 2016
Ideally first date conversation should flow freely (with a few comfortable silences) from saying “hello” right through to the goodnight kiss. However, most people experience some awkward pauses that can be broken up with some simple and safe discussion topics.
Have you had a good week/end?
After asking “How are you?”, the next sensible thing is to ask your date about their week or weekend. Hopefully it will lead to something more than “good thanks” and will open up the conversation.
Travelling
You don’t need to have backpacked across Asia, staying in hostels and ‘living like a local’ to be able to discuss travelling with your date. Talking about travelling gives you the chance to talk about shared experiences and places where you would both like to visit.
It also tends to be a topic that people enjoy talking about, so it shows your upbeat side and even a bad travelling experience can become an interesting story with hindsight.
Hobbies
Hobbies are another upbeat topic, which show your passions in life and demonstrate that you don’t just spend your time at work and watching TV.
Just don’t go into extreme detail about your hobby if your date doesn’t share your passion, unless of course they are keen to learn more about it and are asking you lots of questions.
Family
How you are with your family reveals a lot about how you will be in a relationship (not to sound too much like Freud), so it’s interesting to listen to what your date says about their family.
Instead of asking “Do you get on with your family?”, which is too intense for a first date, you could ask “Do your family live nearby?”, which will open up the topic of family members.
Pets
Talking about pets is another way to bond over a shared experience if you both grew up with spaniels, or both had a cat called Tiger. It’s also fun to speak about all the weird things your pet does, like drinking from muddy puddles instead of the fresh water that you put down for them. It’s also a great way to establish whether your date will like your pet or not, or whether you will like their’s if you’re not a pet person yourself.
