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12 ultra-modern ways to meet your match

How many times has a single girl heard that you have to give up, stop looking and then your dream man will appear? And isn't it funny how it's always your attached friends that tell you that? Well, for those who don't want to leave their love life solely to fate, there are plenty of modern dating methods on offer.

Gone is the stigma of singles nights being just for the strange or desperate. Nowadays there's a type of party to suit every taste. Flirt coach Peta Haskell, author of Flirt Coach's Secrets of Attraction, advises singles venturing out into the dating scene to approach 'events as practise arenas for developing your ability to talk to anyone, so that when the hunk of your life appears, you will find it easy to engage'. Keep an open mind and just enjoy the experience. Peta continues, 'try not to set yourselves goals to meet 'someone special'. Focus on having fun, being happy and sending out that vibe to others - no matter how geeky they are.'

• Online dating
• Dinner in the dark
• Mobile match-making
• Toothing
• Speed dating
• Wireless flirting
• Wine-tasting parties
• I'm a singleton get me outta here!
• Pet parties
• Lock and key parties
• Quiet parties
• Singles cinema nights
• Ceroc dancing

Dinner in the dark
The old adage 'love is blind' might just come true for daters joining in on a dining in the dark event. By depriving diners of one of their senses, the organisers say people do not have to worry about their looks or what they're wearing. The night's are held in specially adapted restaurants and start in the light of the bar with a complimentary cocktail before guests, in groups of six to eight are lead into the darkness for dinner. Waiters wearing night vision goggles serve up a five course dinner to the sensory-deprived guests. It's all finger food, so you don't have to worry about dropping your fork. Candles are brought to the table in time for dessert so you do get a chance to inspect your fellow guests. Do hands wander under the table? Who knows, but certainly looking for the salt or pepper could lead to an innocent fumble in the dark.

Who's it for: Love seekers looking for a tactile experience. Age-ranges are bracketed.
Cost: £45
Website: www.cosmoparty.com/uk/dinner-in-the-dark

Mobile match-making
Face it, your mobile phone is the greatest dating tool ever, even if it sometimes leads to trouble (think 'drunk and dial'). So, can our mobile alone really lead us on the path of true love? It's nice to think our mobile could tell us if a potential love match was sitting right behind you on the bus, and that's what over one thousand single Singaporeans are banking on since they downloaded a software package called BEDD.com. The programme requires you to input your vital statistics; a photo of yourself and what you ideally want, switch on your mobile and it automatically roves the airwaves for potential dates. When it hits a match, both phones alert the users and the rest, as they say, is history.

Who's it for: For those who believe love is just round the corner
Cost: Not available in the UK yet, keep watching!
Website: www.bedd.com

Toothing
Bluetooth is a limited radio signal that is transmitted from your mobile phone. It is mainly used for transferring data from a mobile to a computer, however as with all new technology, people find ways of using it as they desire. And people found that you could send a message from one phone to the next without revealing yourself, thus 'Toothing', the craze for flirting with strangers on commuter trains, buses, supermarkets and crowded wine bars, was born.
Turn on your bluetooth and you can scan your immediate surroundings and if others have their bluetooth switched on, their ids appear. Some are dull registration for the actual mobiles, but a true bluetoother gives themselves a secret name; undercover, rumpy pumpy, flash Gordon - you can tell a lot by a toother's name.
Often a message appears - 'toothing?' and you text back to say whether you're game and then perhaps arrange to meet at a secret spot - a train toilet or somewhere like that. Rumour has it that the London to Brighton train line is the hottest place to tooth.

Who's it for: Big in the gay scene and now crossing over.
Cost: free to mobile users
Where:any crowded place