New year, new me, right? Well, if you’ve decided to say YES more this year, you may find yourself in an awkward date situation every now and again (it happens to the best of us). But don’t panic! Here’s 5 different ways you can ditch your date and return to the safe world of comfy jim jams and Netflix…

Be Prepared
You never know how your date is going to go, so make sure you have a backup plan ready to be used. When reconfirming your date earlier on in the day, drop into conversation that you have a horrible migraine, your back is playing up etc. Then when your date is going horribly wrong, it won’t seem so obvious when you have to leave because of your sudden illness.

Phone A Friend
Make a plan with one of your friends to give you a call early on in your date; their car has broken down, they’ve been dumped etc. At this point you can choose to carry on because your date is going swimmingly, or you have a really good excuse to leave because you’re such a fantastic friend.

Cut it down
It seems a bit dramatic leaving straight away and can be quite a blow to your poor date! If you think you can stick it out past the main course/first drink, it’s a lot kinder. If you’ve made your mind up pretty early on, tell them that you have to leave by a certain time to get to a family birthday or a friend’s engagement party. If not, you may have to use the emergency excuse or just tell them you’re feeling too tired tonight.

Double Date
If you’re too polite to leave, or want to stick it out just in case, excuse yourself to secretly make a phone call to one of your closest friends in a relationship. Convince them to ‘bump into you’ with their partner and turn your awkward date into a group date! This way you’ll both have other people to talk to without it being rude.

Be Brave
Well, they do say that honesty is the best policy! If you really can’t make up excuses, let them down GENTLY. Just be polite and most people will understand and appreciate your honesty – hopefully they felt the same way too!

Until next time,

The Just Singles Team.

About the author…

Rachel is a Marketing Executive. She’s obsessed with Game of Thrones and country music. Her favourite pastime is cuddling up with her two Labradors and binge watching Netflix.