Laissez-Faire? Laissez-Partaaay!

Laissez-Faire

French for “let do”, but broadly implies “let it be”, or “leave it alone.” Non-interference in the affairs of others.

Party Time!

After relying heavily on dating websites last year, part of my plan for 2011 is to Get Up, Get Out and Date. Dating websites have proved a successful for way for me to meet new guys (somewhat), but I still have this huge urge to do it old-school-style and combine online dating with actually getting up off my arse and meeting men in a more social setting. My first foray being the Lovestruck London Laissez-Faire party in Hoxton last week.

Lovestruck knew what they were doing when they called their regular singles nights Laissez-Faire.  Not only does it sound fancy (doesn’t everything sound fancy in French?), but it also describes what make’s their events unique. I’ve been to other speed dating/singles parties in the past, so I do know what I’m talking about when I say that Laissez-Faire does exactly what it says on the tin.

The way this was different to other singles events was that there really was no interference. They really do leave us alone to get on with it. You know the sort of parties I mean, the ones where you wear name badges. The sort where your picture goes onto the ‘photo wall’. The kind where they  make you play embarrassing ice-breaker games and give strangers marks out of ten after only three minutes of speaking to them. That’s not at all what Laissez-Faire is all about. This was undercover. This wasn’t so obvious. No entry fee, no guestlist, no big posters/signs/branding everywhere. None of that in-your-face, cringeworthy, embarrassing ‘singles parties’ stuff. This was just a very cool bar that you arrived at with your friends for an evening of drinks and music. The only clue that people were there for ‘the event’ was that they were drinking through a red straw. My wingwoman and I just couldn’t get with drinking wine through a straw thing, so we just didn’t bother with that, but hey ho.

I won’t lie, we were a bit sceptical about the whole thing and preferred to watch from afar.  People-watchers sat in the corner, that’s what we were! The straight after work crowd was older, suited and booted (lots of city types), but the crowd became more young and trendy as the night went on. Overall, a way better evening than I had been expected. A fun crowd, good music (dancing was involved) aaaaand, I got chatted up/exchanged numbers with a guy!

The next LovestruckLondon.com (free) party is on Feb 9th at Clerkenwell House. For more info click HERE. If you prefer the more in-your-face singles parties approach, the next Metro Urban Dating party (which costs £24.95) is also on Feb 9th at Amber. For more info click HERE.

(For the record, I didn’t get paid or even get free drinks for writing this. I did it purely for blog content… and for the possible chance of meeting cute guys, of course!)