Over dit evenement
***NOTE: Female Tickets temporarily on hold to help with gender balance. Email me if you'd like to be put on a waiting list. If male ticket sales catch up, you can be the first to purchase female tickets before they go back on sale katiehokukirkland@gmail.com ***
“Dating apps are weird. Meeting people in real life shouldn’t have to be.”
HOKU is a dating event for people who would actually quite like to meet someone naturally — but perhaps need somewhere for the naturally to happen. :)
So we create it.
You put your phone away. We make some tea. A room fills up with other single people. And instead of leaving you to stand around clutching a drink and trying to think of something more interesting than *“So… what do you do?”*, we help get things moving.
The first part of the evening is a little like a playful workshop. There are conversations, games, movement, music and different ways of meeting each other designed to break the ice and get us past the usual small talk.
Nothing too serious. Nothing you have to be good at. And absolutely nothing you have to participate in if you don't want to.
The idea is simply to make it easier to actually meet.
And then, gradually, we turn you loose. :)
There are plenty of breaks to mingle throughout the evening, and as things get more relaxed, there’s more room to follow your own curiosity. Talk to someone. Flirt a little. Go back and find the person you liked earlier. Dance. Sit together. Drink tea. Laugh. See what happens.
By the end, we put out food, turn up the music and stop facilitating. People are welcome to stay, eat, talk, dance and hang out.
And they do.
Sometimes for quite a while.
Some people exchange numbers. Some go on dates. Some make friends. Some spend half the evening dancing. Some discover that the person they initially dismissed is actually hilarious.
There is no required outcome.
The point is to create a room where meeting other humans feels fun again.
*** The vibe ***
Warm. Playful. Open. A little adventurous.
Phones away. No alcohol. No trying to shout over nightclub music.
And hopefully much less of that peculiar dating experience where two people are simultaneously trying to determine whether the other person likes them while pretending not to care.
You are welcome to approach people here.
You are welcome to flirt.
You are welcome to tell someone you enjoyed meeting them.
You are welcome to ask someone if they'd like to see you again.
And you're equally welcome to say no.
*** And afterward? ***
When the facilitated part ends, the afterparty starts. We put out food and tea, leave the music on and give everyone time to hang out.
This is often one of the nicest parts of the evening. People talk, laugh, dance, go back to someone they wanted to speak to again, exchange numbers and generally stop behaving as though they're attending an organized dating event.
Which is rather the point.
There will also be a WhatsApp sign-up sheet for anyone who wants an easy way to stay connected with people from the evening.
*** A few practical things ***
**What should I wear?**
There is no dress code. Wear something you feel attractive in but can also comfortably move, dance and sit on the floor in.
**Age groups**
Based on feedback from the community, we're experimenting with different age groups so that people have a better chance of meeting others in roughly the stage of life they're looking for.
The advertised age ranges are guidelines rather than border-control checkpoints. If you're slightly younger or older, don't panic. :) You can also check our other HOKU events for different age groups.
**Gender & orientation**
All genders and orientations are welcome.
At our current mixed dating events, tickets are divided by binary gender because we're trying to maintain a reasonable balance for heterosexual participants and make the evening genuinely workable as a dating event. Last-minute cancellations happen, so we can never guarantee an exact balance.
We would also love to host dedicated LGBTQ+ editions. If you'd be interested, please get in touch — hearing from people helps us understand where the demand is.
And keep an eye out for our poly/ENM/open-relationship editions as well.
**Language**
This event will primarily be facilitated in English, but Dutch is absolutely welcome. I speak both and can clarify or translate whenever needed.
You're welcome to speak whichever language feels most natural to you when you're talking with other guests. If the whole room unexpectedly turns out to be Dutch-speaking, we'll probably just surrender and switch languages. :)
**Getting there**
There is plenty of parking at the venue. Parking is free after 19:00 on weekdays and on weekends.
Metrostation Isolatorweg (lines 50 and 51) is only a few minutes' walk away.
If you're coming from outside Amsterdam, Amsterdam Sloterdijk is the nearest major NS station, approximately 1.4 km from the venue. From there you can transfer to the metro toward Isolatorweg.
*** One last thing ***
You don't need to come to HOKU determined to find *The One*.
Come because you're single.
Come because you'd like to meet some new people.
Come because dating apps are getting old.
Come because spending an evening talking, flirting, dancing, eating and laughing with a room full of people you haven't met yet sounds considerably better than spending another evening looking at them through a screen.
**We'll get you past the awkward beginning.**
After that, let's see what happens.
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