Guys & Gals: Who should pay for dinner on the first date?

In your personal opinion.

P.S. For my opinion, unless it felt it meant a lot to the girl and she insisted on paying, I'd say it should always be the guy.

Uhh... if it's a first date like "I'm going out with this girl, let's see what she's like and if I like her" then I'd prefer a more or less split bill. If I've already been in love with her for a while but we were friends and now we're finally going out for the first time, I already know her well, I'm fine with paying this first one.

Depends on who earns more.

Whoever proposed.

When I go on a date(foreveralone.jpg), I'll offer to pay unless she insists on sharing the bill.

Same

Never really cared much about it...when the bill comes I grab my wallet, if she does the same we split, if she doesn't I'll pay...if after several dates she never bothers even trying to pay she's on her own, I'm nobody's father...

Unless the guy is fucking rich (and even then it's not a done deal), the bill shpuld be split.

Also first dates shpuld basically be coffee or a drink and nothing more.

Split the bill unless stated otherwise... Although I make sure I have enough to cover for her if she insist on not paying for herself.

Depends if I think I'm gonna get lucky.

One time I thought I could cover it, turns out dinner was a lot more expensive than I thought. We end up splitting it but she expected me to pay. Yeah, that girl left me alright.

@TheHighWind: Not a big loss if you ask me.

This. Especially because there's not that much gold to dig out of me in the first place ;)

Rule 1 Never invite unless you can afford

Rule 2 See rule 1

Rule 3 As a man you always pay

Rule 4 Rule 3 will continue to apply

Guys of course.

If ya like the bish
Men always
Don't argue any other way
Unless she ultra insistent, you are expected to pay
Just the way it is

Whoever asked for the date first.

And that's usually the guy

The person who instigated the deal. If you ask someone out then you should pay.

For the people saying the guy should always pay; what is your reasoning?

Who the hell asks someone to dinner before knowing if they are actually worth paying for? But essentially, if you ask, you should accept it's your treat for whatever reason you have in your head for doing it in the first place.

If the date goes bad split the check

@LJS9502_basic: This is what I agree with. If you ask a girl out then you pay, if the girl asks you out then she should be the one offering to pay.

Well as a rule, I believe, if you are the one to ask the other person out, then you should be the one to pay. I am usually the one doing the asking, so whether I am with a girl or guy, I tend to pay for the first date meals.

I never let my GF pay the bills. Seems a bit awkward TBH. Even when she insisted, I always asked her to not do that again. I always used to tell her that it's my job to pay and hers job is to have fun and love me like no one else. She always respected me for that reason. Well technically she is not my GF anymore,,, she is now fiance.

@Cloud_imperium: Why do you have more right to take care of her than she does to take care of you? And why would it be her job to love you?

I don't like it the other way. It's not in my nature.

@Cloud_imperium: As long as you're upfront about it and the person you are with agrees to it, I guess it's ok =)

I always seem to be a minority on the forum being a woman but I really don't go out expecting the guy to pay. I always offer whether it's family, friends or date. I never assume and I don't really think it is right of me to assume. I'm not one who wants to be "taken care of" though either. Now if you want to romance me that's all well and fine, I'm not going to turn it down.

I'd say the guy. Actually, I've been in a relationship for 4+ years and I always insist on paying

However, I know a few people in relationships who don't do that

On a first date, I always pay first and never let the ladies pay for me but however, if she's gonna leave a tip, then that right there is fine. Like $5-10 isn't bad.

In my case both our money go to the same bank account so there's no real difference in who pulls out the card =P But even before, sometimes I payed, sometimes she payed and we were both happier that way; we both felt like we were doing something nice for the other.

I always paid unless she insisted she pay whether her part or all of it. Either way, I made sure I had enough money with me to cover everything, including motel and breakfast for both of us the next day (if I got lucky).

It's because of gender roles. Although I'm in favor of blurring those out. Like others have said, splitting the bill or having whoever did the asking out should pay is better than "HUUURRR DUUURR ur a guy so u have 2 pay bcuz gender roles says ur not a man if u dont pay duuuuuuuuuuuuur"

My head says we should split it but my heart says he should pay.

As they say, always follow your heart.

I always offered to pay, but then if the girl insisted on chipping in it was a good sign to follow up with a second date.

lol you just stole my words korvus.

That's not Big Boss style, not Big Boss style at all.

Edit: JESUS did you say big loss? oh my God gotta get the doc to check my eyes.

Edit 2: Just tell me one thing Pedro, was the pun intended?

@elkoldo: If I said yes would you believe me? =P

@korvus: Knowing you, yes I believe it. How simple-minded of me, stepping right into your booby trap.

Then no, it wasn't intended. I won't abuse someone's willingness to believe in me by lying to them =)

Fairly certain it goes like this.

First date = Him
Second Date = Him
Third Date = Him
Fourth date = Him

And so forth.

I usually pay for like the first hand full and so, but after some time we begin to split.

It also depends. For example, even after a while that we had been splitting the bill (for like causal eating out), if Im the one inviting you on a special occasion then Im paying because Im the one inviting you.

I still believe it was an intended booby trap, still, if you've lied, you've just shown us the troll inside you. It's fine, everybody has a baby troll inside them.

First date I'll pay, and I'll usually offer to pay if I'm requesting the date, but that's it. Ever since women have been touting the equality card - I make sure they also get equal share of the bill. Unless it's terribly inconvenient for some reason. But any girl unable and unwilling to carry her own economic weight really isn't going to get attention from me.

In the era of being labelled a sexist for even the most insignificant transgression against the opposite sex, I propose that any woman who anticipates that the man "should" pay for the meal, on account of him "being the man" from that point forwards, be unable to label herself a "feminist".

In modern times, where gender equality is considered the most important social issue that the internet could tackle (not hunger or disease), all dates should be "dutch". KHAndAnime put it well:

I usually pay for the first date.

My girlfriend and I usually split our bill and sometimes I would pay and sometimes she. Sometimes we'd playfully fight over it.

Now that we live together, we pretty much share our money.

You shouldn't be going out to dinner on a first date.

@SOedipus: If a woman is going to have sex with you, she'll do so whether you buy her dinner or not. Don't feel like you owe a woman something for having sex with you. On the other hand, if she's not planning on having sex with you, buying her dinner won't change her mind. You should also cancel the date.

It depends on different factors. In my case, I would prefer to not pay if I were invited somewhere. If it being a treat is explicitly stated then that is great. If the bill comes and we agree to split it, that is acceptable.

However, the idea of being invited and then the others expecting me to pay for the entire bill from the beginning without telling me until the time to pay the bill transpires seems confrontational. I am not looking for that type of state of mind in a partner, but some people are.

It is not about the instrumental value of money, so much as the value of being invited somewhere without feeling the need to cover the cost of the invitation. Another way of looking at it is: A person is requested to experience something with another person and pay for that opportunity. That does not seem very romantic, to me.

There are various reasons why people contribute financially to a date that they are invited to and if they would like to then they have that freedom.

If i take a girl out on a date i will absolutely 100% pay for it since that is what you do and if the women is to feminist to accept that, hey ho there is plenty of fish in the sea.