A Girls Night in with Tinder... What Could Go Wrong?!

I have been known to do a crazy thing now and again but I think last night was the craziest of them all so far!

Saturday night was Tinder night at my friend L's house. A bunch of ladies got together for a night in with some very food, a good old giggle and a Tinder account or 3.

It's where all the cool kids hang out!

Our instructions from our host were this:

• Bring food and drink
• Set up a brand new Tinder account - if you currently have one then delete it so you can start fresh
• Do not touch new Tinder account... don't even take a sneaky peek at it!

We all arrived at L's house with our instructions completed. The next instruction was to give your phone/iPad with new Tinder account on it to another lady to use on your behalf. Yes, you read that right, I had to give my iPad to someone else to be me!

The aim of the night was to swipe right (for like) or swipe left (for no way!) for your friend and get as many matches as possible while making sure you only swipe right for people who you would actually want her to date. The first person to set up 3 meets* for her friend was the winner and hopefully the Tinder account owner gets to meet some nice guys.

*A 'meet' is not a first date, it's just a coffee for an hour or so to see if you get on. After this you either arrange a first date or change your identity. Back in the olden days you would see someone in a pub, have a chat and then arrange a first date, you wouldn't class your first encounter as a first date. Same in the online world and it takes the pressure off.

Calm down Oprah!

L and T grabbed my iPad and I grabbed T's iPhone! Now this is where you probably think we're crazy and usually I would agree but, to be perfectly honest, how much worse could their choices be for me? I've not exactly picked the best men to date so why not put my love life in someone else's hands. Perfectly logical!

My thoughts exactly!

The evening started with us sitting around the table in the conservatory, L had prepared meats, prawns and veggies for us to cook on a table top grill - it was great and meant L could relax and not have to keep an eye on the cooker (although the sweet potato fries in the actifry gadget ended up cremated!) 

I see T and L a lot so they know me pretty well, they know my 2 non-negotiables are 6ft and above and a non-smoker. I wasn't quite sure that they were remembering these 2 vital facts especially when evil laughs and hysterical laughter could be heard for miles around.

He's probably not that short!

Clearly a romantic!

Pretty sure this is Dave, 43 from Porthcawl

Soon the matches started to flood in and it was time to message with our admirers. We kept it simple and we kept to the facts (ish) so that the Tinder account owner could pick up the conversation if she was interested in the man we had chosen for her. 

This rule was kept to with all messages except one. That one exception was a guy we will call Creepy. He was clearly not a gentleman and was matched with myself and T so we decided to have a little fun with Creepy and see how long it took for us to get busted. 

We started off asking and answering questions in a similar way. It turned out that Creepy wasn't talking to anybody else on Tinder except for me... apparently. Now we're all grown ups and we all know that you talk to numerous people at once until you start actually dating someone so why the lie? Without going into details, Creepy was well and truly earning his nickname by the end of the messaging and we had to be very blatant before he realised what was going on and we were busted. 

So long sucker!

Online dating can be a hard and soul destroying thing to do. I've tried it a few times and met some lovely guys but the percentage of creeps/weirdos usually outweighs the good ones. Swiping left and right and is much more fun when done with a group of friends then sitting on your sofa at home alone. We had such a giggle. The night was a great success, we might not have scored the 3 meets each but we had so much fun trying. I highly recommend having your own Tinder night in!

Dating in The 'Diff

I have been single and living in Cardiff for 8 months now. I'm close enough for the city life when I want to hit the shops, restaurants and pubs but also close enough for hiking in the mountains of Brecon Beacons. I have got the best of both worlds and I love it.

An hour away from my house

I haven't been dating for over 9 years so thought I'd give it a go, the only problem is that I had no idea what to do. I dabbled a few months ago on Match.com and met someone within less than a week of setting up my profile but that has now come to an end. I have gained a friendship from it which is great but it's time to get back out there.

I have recently discovered Tinder. Wow! It is so much fun. You basically judge each other on looks and a 500 character profile. Swipe right for 'interested' or swipe left for 'not a hope in hell!'  

*swipes right and dribbles*

Now it's easy to get carried away and swipe the wrong way. I did this earlier and there is no getting that person back!

*sighs... moves onto next photo*

I have just one bit of feedback for the male users of Tinder. Check which photos Tinder has imported from your Facebook account and make sure you actually feature in 1 or 2 of them... it helps us to decide if we like you or not!

Funny but always going to get a swipe left!

Dating in Cardiff is a bit more difficult if you are a tall girl who likes to wear heels and still not be the taller one of the couple. Most men in Wales seems to be shorter than your average British guy (sorry Welsh men but it's true!). It's even harder when you don't want to date someone with kids, or who wants kids. Then there is the non-smoker rule. You see, I have 3 non-negotiables; non-smoker, tall and no kids. I didn't think it was a lot to ask when I set up some online dating profile but apparently it is.

In the meantime, I'm going to have fun and try to dodge the weirdos

Well wish me luck as I enter this crazy world of dating in the 'Diff!

#PushingBackHarder