By Jennifer Wright. Alexandra Charalambous is a really attractive woman. So was everyone else there. The gathering attracted 60 singles who spent three minutes talking to one another — and, until the end, they all wore bags over their heads. The year-old teacher ended up going out on a date with one — though it ended, she believes, because he was younger than her. Rather than showcasing pictures of attractive singles, Loveflutter displays character descriptions of potential dates. Users can click on the descriptions and then see pictures of their prospective dates — just as, at the end of the Paper Bag Speed Dating event, participants gather at the bar to remove their bags. Still, others are a little skeptical.

Pretty Boy Finds Paper-Bag Dating Difficult In ‘Say No To Shallow’ Experiment (Video)

Skip to this video now. Play Video. To connect people based on personality, company hosts paper bag speed dating. Paper Bag Speed Dating.

Find out about Loveflutter presents: Paper Bag Speed Dating: A #​SayNoToShallow Social Experiment, a New York event in the exclusive Guest of a Guest.

Local News. Weather Traffic U. Station Info. Follow Us:. Share Tweet Email. Share: Share Tweet Email. A new speed dating trend is making its way to the US from London, except you can’t exactly see the people you are getting to know. During the dates, brown paper bags are worn over the daters heads – grocery bags with holes cut out so you can breathe, speak and blink. The bags are decorated to reflect your personality.

The idea is that you get to know the real person on the inside and take looks out of the equation. Related topics: society dating buzzworthy trending. Chicago aldermen to push for state of emergency at special City Council meeting.

Is Face-Free Speed Dating The Way Of The Future?

HWZ Forums Post Digital Network Despite the strangeness of the situation, conversations were generally pleasant, touching on hometowns, jobs, and our fun facts. Most of the faces seemed to be there out of genuine curiosity and interest for meeting first people. A couple of guys also brought along a pair of Singapore Brown – which didonly make for very substantive dates, but at least kept faces interesting.

But it was only first to have a daters with a talking paper bag, and I found myself staring at my dates’ mouths, trying to get some indication of what they looked like.

Still, they were the questions posed by Loveflutter, a new dating site, in staging a speed-dating event at which participants wore paper bags.

To test the theory that it’s possible to form a love connection with someone without seeing his or her face, a U. With an open heart you never know where you’re going to find love! I traveled to the New York Hall of Science in Corona, Queens to be a guinea pig for this experiment, joining roughly 60 singles 30 women, 30 men to experience the phenomenon of “Paper Bag Dating. Upon arrival, I was handed a medium-sized brown paper bag, complete with cutouts for my mouth and eyes, and directed to a decoration room to make my bag look ready for love.

In the absence of our faces, we had to rely on our bags to convey some aspects of our personalities. LoveFlutter, the app behind the date night, declares its motto and guiding philosophy as “Say No To Shallow” and aims to create less “superficial” connections by not allowing users to see each other’s photos until they’ve mutually agreed they like each other’s profiles.

For the real-life version of this approach, we each wrote “fun facts” on our bags and decorated them with drawings, ranging from cartoon heroes like Spider-Man and Garfield to abstract cityscapes and pipe cleaner mustaches. Tables were set up to accommodate two couples each, and the women were instructed to stay put while the men rotated round-robin every two minutes. Despite the strangeness of the situation, conversations were generally pleasant, touching on hometowns, jobs, and our fun facts.

Most of the men seemed to be there out of genuine curiosity and interest in meeting new people. A couple of guys also brought along a pair of Shih Tzus — which didn’t make for very substantive dates, but at least kept things interesting. But it was pretty disorienting to have a conversation with a talking paper bag, and I found myself staring at my dates’ mouths, trying to get some indication of what they looked like.

Despite the fact that I had come in with an open mind, the combination of alcohol, trouble breathing inside a paper bag, and not having much in common with any of the male participants soon became disheartening — even without seeing their faces. I did my best to charm the bags off them, but it became clear that facial cues are important when getting to know someone.

PAPER BAG speed-dating sees daters covering faces for first encounters

Some New Yorkers will do anything to bag a date. City singles are so frustrated with the local meet market that offbeat speed-dating parties are actually starting to look pretty good. Take Tauren Hagans, 40, from Kingsbridge, who had one skeevy suitor who she met online stand her up on what would have been their first date. But we all want to be loved, so you just keep on trying. While Hagans admits she’s had the wool pulled over her eyes by potential suitors, she’s never put a bag over her head.

The event, hosted by London-based dating app Loveflutter, is pushing its SayNoToShallow campaign to showcase personality over appearance.

And with that, ready or not, I was paper bag speed dating. My first date brought a dog and kept talking about how this dog was “his girl” and I was.

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But these are unusual times, so please check that events are still happening. At this speed dating event, personality trumps good looks. Speed daters will get a brown paper bag to adorn with their own art that works also as a mask while they interact with fellow love-seekers. Attendees will also enjoy 10 percent off Lime House’s a la carte menu, happy hour drinks till 8pm, and stand to win an exclusive rooftop dinner with complimentary bottle of wine.

Singles search for love wearing paper bags

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Users can click on the descriptions and then see encounters of their prospective dates – just as, at the end of the Paper Bag Speed Dating event, faces gather at.

So meeting men in the flesh — even while wearing a sack over their face — removes that potential “ew” factor. Looking for long-term love in the city that never sleeps has always been nearly impossible. The problem with sex in this city is that there’s just too many partners to choose from, so no one wants to settle down. And the odds are definitely not in women’s favor, as there are about , more single ladies than fellas in the Big Apple. Amber Soletti, who spent four years looking for love in the city, agrees.

People are here to work on their careers or to have as much fun as possible,” she says. She recalls one disastrous date with a match she met online. That’s why she started the OnSpeedDating service, which hosts singles events that do focus on the superficial, such as “Size Matters,” for tall women like herself to meet men of equal stature. The gents are measured at the door to ensure they stand at least 6-foot Other mixers include “Rescue Me” to find firemen, and “Childproof” for partners who’d prefer to avoid the parent trap.

And it’s a great chance to see if you both have chemistry.

I Went on 30 Dates With a Paper Bag on My Head

I got with the weird interpretation building in a part of london that looked like only ghosts lived there and was directed toward the open bar and instructed to “Drink plastic. Keep drinking. But if I had been a big drinker, I would’ve absolutely understood why alcohol would make the process less detestable.

But once I started the actual speed dating, I realized that having a way to express yourself with your paper bag, even in the simplest london possible, really gave.

Did you think that ordinary speed dating was the height of matchmaking gimmicks? Think again, because people in London are now doing it with paper bags over their heads. Dating app Loveflutter’s paper bag speed dating event took place recently at the British Science Museum and, somewhat surprisingly, it sounds from quotes in the DailyMail like participants didn’t totally hate it. The events, where participants decorate bags with interesting facts about themselves and then wear them on their heads while meeting potential mates in two-minute increments, was intended to build on the company’s ethos of ” SayNoToShallow.

Upon reflection, though, does the paper bag dating make you less shallow, or more? After all, you can still see the potential match’s body , just not his or her face. Also, eye contact is critically important in bonding with someone, as is general sexual attraction.

HWZ Forums

A hot new trend in dating, which began in England, is a variation on speed dating — where an equal number of men and women come to an event and are each paired off with a person of the opposite sex and given a short amount of time to talk and get to know each other. When the bell rings, they move on to converse with the next person, until everyone has met each other. Therefore, all participants are given a brown paper grocery bag to put over their heads during the event!

In fact, am going to go now and get my paper bag ready…. Online Dating: Dealbreakers.

‘Paper Bag Speed Dating‘ doesn’t allow you to see the face of the person you’re talking with. It’s basically a looks-free hookup party, where participants place a.

Initially, we were under the impression that this was a media event and that everyone there was planning on writing a story. When we arrived, we were told to not mention that we worked for BuzzFeed, or that we were going to write about the experience. As the night progressed, more and more of the men caught on that the women were writers and appeared to feel anxious about the possibility of being written about. Making some people pay for an event you’re hosting and then letting in media for free is kind of crappy, especially when it comes to paying money to speed date.

The people paying want to be there for their personal life, while the people invited from media are probably there for a story. There is something weirdly unsettling about seeing a horde of men with obscured faces walk into a room in a pack. Having a news crew, at least seven photographers, and people conducting interviews around you does not make for a romantic atmosphere. The whole time you’re at the event you are really wishing that your best friends were here to see this.

So you take selfies galore to make sure that they feel included in this weird night of your life.

Brown Paper Bag Speed Dating

I mean, the girls were totally checking out the guys checking us in and serving us drinks. Although according to in-house psychologist Dr. As we started the merry-go-round, I tried to connect with people with whatever they mentioned or used the bag decorations as quick and easy conversation starters but I was still checking out how tall the men were and I could technically peek through the peepholes.

Botox for Slimmer Calves?/Compulsive Skin Picking/Paper Bag Speed Dating?/​Hair-Thickening Powder Put to the Test. TV-PG | 1h | Talk-Show | Episode aired.

When I was first asked to participate in paper bag speed dating yes, speed dating with a paper bag on your head , I thought it sounded funny and weird, and I’m usually game for anything, so I figured why not. I did not think it through. With the rising popularity of dating sites like Tinder , most of the online dating platforms are based around “Would I sleep with you? Loveflutter started paper bag dating to focus on personality and interpersonal chemistry before deciding whether or not you would make out with someone’s face, and that’s actually super cool.

Because as most of you know, I am not the world’s biggest Tinder fan. I got to the weird science building in a part of town that looked like only ghosts lived there and was directed toward the open bar and instructed to “Drink more. Keep drinking. But if I had been a big drinker, I would’ve absolutely understood why alcohol would make the process less detestable.

After drinking my weight in water with bubbles in it, I was escorted to the paper bag decorating room, which was like an arts and crafts room for people trying to get laid. I didn’t really understand why we were designing the bags, since I thought the point was to be a faceless weirdo and let your personality speak for itself.

Paper Bag Speed Dating Is A Real Thing [PHOTOS]