Press & Media
Toronto Sun
Home alone on the holidays
Ask any single you know and they'll tell you -- the holiday season is the toughest time of the year to be without a partner.
Valentine's Day comes close but the festive month is when the emphasis is naturally on couples, families and children.
Many singles feel lonely and left out, especially if they don't have a family nearby or any children of their own.
Friends are great but most have their own families. Even if they're all also singletons, it can still be a time to endure rather than enjoy for many single people.
Even single parents can feel it's a difficult time of year to deal with, particularly if it's their first holiday season after a split and the children's time has to be divided between parents and grandparents.
Most singles vow this will be the last festive season they'll go through alone and for many it's when they decide they're going to do something about it.
ONLINE DATING
And the way many of them are doing something about it these days is online dating.
By now, everyone knows about online dating. Yes, everyone was suspicious about it when it started out years ago, but now it's the most common and popular way of meeting someone new to date or simply to have fun with, or even to find a life partner.
It's a question of odds. Where else can you contact so many other singles from all over the world without leaving your home?
For instance, more than 15 million people around the world click onto match.com, the world's biggest online dating and personals site also Canada's top personals site Lavalife (lavalife.com) has 5.8 million unique users per month with 20,000 joining the site every week in Canada.
Impressive numbers, especially for those who moan that there isn't anyone available these days.
However, online sites aren't resting on their laurels by just sitting back waiting for eager singles to sign up.
"We're constantly looking at ways we can offer other options to our members," says Lori Palmer, spokesman for Lavalife.
"We know how people like to meet face to face when they connect online so we've started one innovative concept and are marketing another we feel will appeal to our members."
MEET AT THE MOVIES
One is Click At A Flick -- a way for singles to meet at movies, now operating at Cineplex Cinemas in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary.
When they buy Click At A Flick movie tickets they can attend a pre-movie party (in Toronto it's Paramount Cinemas at 259 Richmond St. W.) to meet, mingle and have a couple of cocktails courtesy of Lavalife. Once in the theatre, they can enjoy hi-tech games such as text flirting where they can send messages across the theatre to other partygoers.
Lavalife also helps market events being held in Toronto by international speeddating company FastLife (fastlife.ca). FastLife hosts events in 43 cities in Canada, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. and bills itself as "the world's most stylish speeddating and singles lifestyle service."
Attending FastLife events is by invitation only with complimentary drinks and hors d'oeuvres, and guests are invited to personalized events that match their profile. FastLife says this ensures a match rate of more than 90%, compared with the industry average of about 60%.
They also host wine tastings, salsa dancing and special speeddating events that focus on specific physical assets such as "tall men."
A new online dating site based in Toronto is also focusing on a specialty group -- single parents -- Single Parent Love Life (singleparentlovelife.com).
"Single parent families are the fastest growing household type in North America," says v-p Bradley Mosely-Williams.
"For too long they haven't felt welcome on other dating sites despite the fact that about one-third of those online are single parents."
He says the new dating site helps single parents meet someone who understands their obligations and needs.
"That person can be another single parent or someone without children who feels a relationship with a single parent would be very worthwhile.
"We aim to change the negative way the world looks at single parents," he states.
