Holiday Dating Advice Tips From 'Dear Mrs. D.'

STUDIO CITY (KCAL9) — Looking to start dating during the holiday season?

Author Damona Hoffman, known as Dear Mrs. D., stopped by KCAL9 Friday to tell viewers about different ways to keep a relationship casual through the holidays.

Good holiday dating activities:

• Seeing holiday lights is always a romantic activity.
• Snuggle up together and take a stroll through your neighborhood or check out a special event like the Holiday Light Festival in Griffith Park.  Also, the Holiday Cruise of Lights in a Gondola through the canals of Long Beach is particularly romantic and spectacular.

• Get crafty.
• Making things together can be a fun and also an inexpensive way to spend quality time together.  Design your own holiday cards, make a gingerbread house, or swing by Color Me Mine to paint something festive and fun.

• Get in the holiday spirit.
• In addition to the holiday concerts at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, many local choruses do holiday shows to get you in the mood.  You could end the date with a visit to Santa as long as your date won't get jealous about you sitting on another man's lap.  Just remember to be sensitive to cultural and religious differences and talk about your backgrounds and beliefs before suggesting something faith-based.

Hoffman also gave advice for those trying to find love online.

Coaching for Online Dating profiles:

Think of the dater like a "product" that we are selling online to the right "buyer". We need the right pictures, the right product descriptions the right launch strategy to make things happen. Most of my clients are single professionals who are focused on finding a long term relationship. With the right plan and a lot of dedication, most of my clients meet someone special within six months.

Be on more than one site at the same time. Online dating is like a virtual bar. If you are out in a real bar, you can only meet the people who are there on that same night but online it's like being at the martini bar and the sports bar simultaneously. Double your chance to meet Mr. or Mrs. Right!

Creating a profile is an art. You must balance being confident with being humble to come off as attractive without sounding arrogant. I recommend that every profile includes four items: something you love, something you hate, something that makes you laugh, and something that makes you cry.

Your picture is the first thing that an online dater will see so while your profile text is extremely important, the number one thing you need to get right is your photo. It should be attractive but also say something about who you are and what your personality is like.

I recommend between 3-5 photos. Many sites now allow you to post 10 or more but usually you convey all the information that you really need to with a smaller number and more just becomes clutter or ends up showing something that turns a suitor off unnecessarily.

Always do drinks on the first date: coffee, tea, soda, martinis, wine, beer, pick your own poison but give yourself a limit. You want to keep the first date short and keep your head clear.

Get as many people into the funnel as possible so that you can make the choices about who you want to go out with and get to know better. Often online daters make their profiles so exclusionary that they turn people off. Sometimes you don't know exactly what you want or who you will like until you see and meet them so you want your profile to lean towards being more inclusive rather than less.

Always meet them there. Safety is a concern for singles whether they are online dating or meeting through alternative means. Until you get to know and trust someone you meet online it's always a good idea to meet them in a public place and make sure at least one person knows the info you know about them (name, phone number, etc) and where you will be that evening.

For more information, visit Dear Mrs. D.