Forum user estimates dating costs €200 per date in Spain
A Spanish forum user argues that a mid-range restaurant, drinks, and aperitif push the cost of a first date to €200.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Forum user estimates dating costs €200 per date
A user on a Spanish forum claims that a decent restaurant costs at least €70 per person. Add a pre-date aperitif and a post-date drink, and by their calculation, a first date hits €200. This estimate circulated through a discussion where several participants noted that coffee and walks have lost ground to dinner. It is not an isolated complaint: some treat it as a fixed budget.
The initial premise suggests that dating has become commodified. The author asserts that some women only agree to meet if a restaurant is involved, rejecting certain venues because they spend heavily on makeup and appearance only to end up drinking decaf at a bar. The majority response does not deny the phenomenon; it justifies, quantifies, or extends it.
How much a first date costs according to this calculation
One participant breaks it down like this: dinner at a mid-to-high-end restaurant, an aperitif beforehand, and a drink afterward. Total: €200. With that figure on the table, comparisons with paid services appear naturally in several posts: for that money, they argue, there are alternatives with guaranteed results and no uncertainty. Dinner, conversely, allows for scenarios where nothing happens.
Some lower the stakes and propose a low-risk format: drinks only, at a place where you pay upon service, so if conversation fails, one can simply leave. The logic mirrors express due diligence. A dinner with unbearable company can feel endless; a coffee is drained quickly even if it burns your throat.
Splitting the bill and the 50/50 trap
The most awkward piece of the puzzle is paying. As discussed, if the date goes poorly and the inviter suspects there will be no trinc-up, splitting the bill becomes an option. That breaks the balance: the party expecting to be treated faces an unbudgeted invoice. The risk is symmetric, yet neither signed up for it.
Critics argue that demanding to be treated clashes with narratives of economic independence. The repeated critique: equality is demanded in the labor market, but provider roles are maintained at the table. Hypergamy, they say, is inherited, not negotiated. And those who do not pay, do not play.
Why coffee works better than dinner
Against restaurants, short formats have practical defenders. Fifteen minutes suffice to gauge compatibility. If there is none, a fake phone call solves the exit. Dinner, however, forces sharing a table for over an hour with a potential stranger.
The counterargument is standard: if someone spent two hours getting ready, trying to close the date with a coffee is, at minimum, a statement of intent. Time and image investment are also costs. The debate on who pays what always ends in the same place: how much the other’s time is worth.
The outcome nobody signs up for
The conversation drifts into harsher territory. The idea emerges that the market has segmented: some pay for dinner, others pay nothing. Underlying this is a current arguing that the solution is not to play at all: better alone, they say, than badly accompanied with an open wallet.
The question hangs in the air. If a first date costs a tenth of an average salary and the result is uncertain, why is there still a queue to book a table?
A user on a Spanish forum claims that a decent restaurant costs at least €70 per person. Add a pre-date aperitif and a post-date drink, and by their calculation, a first date hits €200. This estimate circulated through a discussion where several participants noted that coffee and walks have lost ground to dinner. It is not an isolated complaint: some treat it as a fixed budget.
The initial premise suggests that dating has become commodified. The author asserts that some women only agree to meet if a restaurant is involved, rejecting certain venues because they spend heavily on makeup and appearance only to end up drinking decaf at a bar. The majority response does not deny the phenomenon; it justifies, quantifies, or extends it.
How much a first date costs according to this calculation
One participant breaks it down like this: dinner at a mid-to-high-end restaurant, an aperitif beforehand, and a drink afterward. Total: €200. With that figure on the table, comparisons with paid services appear naturally in several posts: for that money, they argue, there are alternatives with guaranteed results and no uncertainty. Dinner, conversely, allows for scenarios where nothing happens.
Some lower the stakes and propose a low-risk format: drinks only, at a place where you pay upon service, so if conversation fails, one can simply leave. The logic mirrors express due diligence. A dinner with unbearable company can feel endless; a coffee is drained quickly even if it burns your throat.
Splitting the bill and the 50/50 trap
The most awkward piece of the puzzle is paying. As discussed, if the date goes poorly and the inviter suspects there will be no trinc-up, splitting the bill becomes an option. That breaks the balance: the party expecting to be treated faces an unbudgeted invoice. The risk is symmetric, yet neither signed up for it.
Critics argue that demanding to be treated clashes with narratives of economic independence. The repeated critique: equality is demanded in the labor market, but provider roles are maintained at the table. Hypergamy, they say, is inherited, not negotiated. And those who do not pay, do not play.
Why coffee works better than dinner
Against restaurants, short formats have practical defenders. Fifteen minutes suffice to gauge compatibility. If there is none, a fake phone call solves the exit. Dinner, however, forces sharing a table for over an hour with a potential stranger.
The counterargument is standard: if someone spent two hours getting ready, trying to close the date with a coffee is, at minimum, a statement of intent. Time and image investment are also costs. The debate on who pays what always ends in the same place: how much the other’s time is worth.
The outcome nobody signs up for
The conversation drifts into harsher territory. The idea emerges that the market has segmented: some pay for dinner, others pay nothing. Underlying this is a current arguing that the solution is not to play at all: better alone, they say, than badly accompanied with an open wallet.
The question hangs in the air. If a first date costs a tenth of an average salary and the result is uncertain, why is there still a queue to book a table?
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (156 replies).
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