Getting back in to the dating game can be difficult for some singles after divorce or the break up of a long relationship.

One of the main ‘social’ services offered by online dating is sites like Love Generations offers someone who is vulnerable and fearful of rejection a safe haven for meeting new people.

For many, with established support groups of friends, neighbours and family, it’s difficult to date and be themselves while living in a goldfish bowl.

In the back of a singleton’s mind are several fears –

* Will your friend or relation report your dating activities back to other people you know?

* Will they try and exert peer pressure by approving your new relationships?

* Do you really want to reveal your innermost secrets to someone who knows your friends and family?

Even if you would like a romance with someone in your circle, all these fears are off-putting to say the least.

Online dating rids your mind of these fears and lets singles be themselves. Not only that, but it’s likely many of the people you meet online are also enduring the same experience, so you have a better understanding of each other.

Don’t interpret this as advice to ditch your old circle if you are divorced or single again. The idea is to broaden your circle of friends with online dating while maintaining your privacy and self-respect, not to get rid of your old relationships.

Online dating does allow you to be the ‘you’ that you want to be, not everyone else’s idea of what you should be.

Try some stepping out in to some new activities that you have had to put aside while bringing up your family. Throw out those old clothes and spruce up your look.

The freedom to express you with likeminded people by dispelling those fears of approval and rejection is what online dating brings in to the lives of many people.

So sign up and see what Love Generations can offer you. After all, the gains could be huge and you really have nothing to lose.

Valentine’s Day is a time to feel the love not your age and celebrate a night of romance in style. After all 50 is the new 40 and although the first flush of youth has gone, this is a plus not something to regret.

Maturity means you can express your personality and feelings for your loved one with fear of rejection, laughter or offence. After all, at our age, we’ve been there done that and in the process collected a huge pile of T-shirts that don’t fit any more to prove it.

So here are five romantic ways to say “I love you’ on Valentine’s Day –

* Push the boat out with a candlelit dinner in her favourite restaurant with a bottle of champers. Think about popping to the restaurant in advance to have the Maitre d’ meet and greet you at the door with that bubbly, or some flowers.

* Try picking a place of romantic significance – near the place where you both first met or the restaurant where you first dined together.

* Pamper her with a spa day followed by a night at a pleasant hotel

* Spoil him by getting tickets for his favourite sports day out – Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday this year, so you can have a weekend of fun.

* Go to a romantic film together, hold hands and share the tissues…there’s always a rom-com out for Valentine’s Day

* If you are unlucky enough to have to spend the time apart, make an effort by sending a card or gift to mark the occasion – and make sure it arrives on time. Cards and gifts arriving Monday are a definite faux pas.

Whatever your plans, don’t leave ironing out the details for too long because St Valentine’s Day will have been and gone in a flash.

Remember, expressing your feelings for some else is not something that needs to be costly or flaunted – if he or she is the one, they will relish your time and effort and not judge you on how deep you have dug in to your bank account.

At 50 plus you don’t have to dress to impress any more, though of course it helps if you have gone to some effort to look your best.

With the holiday shopping season just wrapping up and a new year beginning just around the corner, we are all almost certain that we’ve found the perfect gift for the men in our lives. While it is essential to put time, effort, and thought into gift giving, it is always important to double check that you did not purchase anything that your man may not enjoy to the fullest. Below is a list of gifts a woman should never give to a man.

Flowers are a lovely gift for women to receive and a kind gesture, but they should never be given to a man. For a woman, flowers have a sentimental value and provoke thought and warm feelings. However, for a man, flowers are a serious jab to one’s masculinity. If you want to express your love for your man, choose to do so with a more practical gesture – find something that your man will use everyday like cologne or aftershave that will remind him that you were thinking of him.

Scrapbooks piece together memories of wonderful times the two of you have spent together. They contain photographs, ticket stubs, quotations, pictures, stickers, etc of your most special times as a couple. While it is great to collect all of these documents in one place, it is never appropriate to give your man a scrapbook of all of these memories. He’s not going to pick up a frilly scrapbook and flip through its decorated pages with the same warm feelings that you will.

With that said, you can always opt for creating a collage or shadow box, choosing one theme to be most prominent. If your man has a favourite sports team, you can put some effort into crafting a display of memorabilia along with ticket stubs and photographs, depicting moments that you may have shared together. In this way, you are putting together memories in the same way that you would a scrapbook, but you are presenting the collection so that it could proudly be hung on any wall of the manliest man cave.

Last, it is important that you never, ever give your man an unwarranted change in wardrobe. It may seem like a good idea at first to give your man some new clothing outside of his typical wardrobe, but generally this is a bad idea. Men usually establish a barrier between their working gear and their casual clothing, and if this is the case for your man, do not attempt to blur the two. Sweaters, expensive denim, scarves, moccasins, etc all may look good on store models and in advertisements, but if you give your man an article of clothing that is outside of his comfort zone, chances are he’ll be uncomfortable wearing it.

If your man is willing, offer to take him out on a shopping excursion to pick up some new items that may make him more stylish and up-to-date. This way, you can work together toward a compromise about acceptable fashion. Giving your man new kinds of clothing without considering his feelings will result in either a confused face or the look of extreme discomfort while wearing the garment you’ve given him.

While there are many appropriate gifts to give your man, these are just a few that can often go awry. Men often like useful gifts, so always think about practicality in addition to sentimentality when choosing the right gift for your man.

Just what is the etiquette for buying Christmas presents for someone you have recently started dating?

After all, you don’t want to look like a Scrooge by not putting your hand in to your pocket or purse to buy something for your new partner.

On the other hand, you haven’t been together long enough to know how things are going to go and you don’t want to embarrass yourself by splashing out on someone you might never see again.

It’s the Christmas dating dilemma for anyone in a new relationship.

You may not even have had your first kiss or cuddle yet and you have to make this decision that could make or break your friendship or romance before love has had a chance to blossom.

Cut off day for buying new partners a present

The etiquette on this is simple – play things cool.

If you are new friends but have been together for more than a week before Christmas, then you ought to mark the occasion with a small gift.  At this time, you have probably met once or twice and have a ‘history’ online.

The official cut-off for not buying presents is a week before Christmas. After all, you barely know him or her.

Most people would find this a socially acceptable solution to the dating dilemma.

Don’t be branded a Christmas gift tart

If your partner lavished Christmas gifts on you and for some reason you broke up soon after, just think of the gossip and rumour-mongering in the online chat rooms – gold digger, Christmas tart and worse that you would have to explain and live down.

Of course, the danger is here that your new partner wants to impress and flatter you by expressing undying love through extravagant gifting too early in the relationship.

If you are suckered in to going down this route, the dating dilemma has got you.

One of the best ways to beat the dilemma is a simple price ceiling on gifts – chat with your partner and explain you would like to mark the season by buying him or her a card and a small gift.

Then agree how much you will spend – maybe a maximum of £5 or £10. That we you show you care and do not look a Scrooge when showered with Christmas gifts and your partner has their dilemma of how much to spend resolved as well.

Are you a cougar or a pussycat in the dating world as a woman aged over 50 looking for friendship, romance or love?

Cougars are the new sexually aware group of feisty females prowling for a younger mate, inspired by role models like the girls from Sex In The City or Desperate Housewives.

Even Madonna, who is 51, admits she enjoys life as a cougar with her boyfriend whose mother is even 15 years younger than Madge.

How to test if you are a Cougar

Various surveys have tried to find out the make-up of a typical cougar  – and if you can answer ‘yes’  to these questions, then you’re one of the slinky, sensuous cougar females:

* Are you seeking a serious relationship?

Most cougar girls are not looking for casual fun.

* Are you divorced or separated?

Most cougars seem to be hunting down some excitement after a marriage break-up

* Do you pay your way or let the guy fork out on dates?

Cougars will split the bill or let their trophy man pay rather than dip in to their own purses

* Do you go for guys aged in their mid-20s?

Cougars are on the prowl for 24-27 year olds not babes in the cradle.

* Have you dated at least five younger guys?

A proper cougar knows what she wants and goes for the kill – being a cougar is a choice not a one-off.

If you did answer ‘yes’ to the questions, then don’t be ashamed, cougars are the queens of the dating jungle and definitely higher up the food chain than their younger rivals, the cheetahs.

What makes a Pussycat?

Don’t forget that as much as an older woman enjoys the more energetic attentions of a younger guy and likes the attention of him hanging off her arm and every word in public, those younger guys are turned on by the maturity and experience of a cougar woman.

If you answered ‘no’ to the questions, then you’re definitely more of a pussycat. Still soft and sensual, you are someone who likes to stay closer to home snuggled up with a guy more her age in front of a warm fire.

Life may begin at 40, but it certainly doesn’t end at 50 so don’t sit there feeling sorry for yourself if you have no romance in your life, get up and do something about it.

Teenagers may gross out at the thought of over 50’s dating – but to be fair I bet all of use in our golden years don’t feel a day over 21 in our heads even though the creaking joints and extra padding try to tell us different.

Who wants to be 20 again?

If life has taught us anything, it’s that we don’t want to be 20 again – we’d rather remain as we are thank you, with all that accumulated wisdom that makes finding a partner less of a problem than we found at 20.

After all, we’re worldlier wise, more tolerant of our faults and those in others and generally just go about life to have some fun.

That’s why dating sites like Love Generations are so popular. For the over 50’s, settling in to a conversation with people in your Baby Boomer peer group who understand your outlook on life takes all the hassle from looking for that extra spark in your life.

Dating sites are great. Most sites probably have more over 50’s singles as members in one place at any one time than most small towns. You can browse profiles and pictures and strike up a conversation without fear of rejection.

Who cares if you’re bang on trend?

No one cares if you’re carrying a few extra pounds or whether you are bang on trend with the latest fashions.

I bet several of you sitting there reading this now are in your dressing gowns!

Try going down the pub dressed like that and see what people would say.

Dating sites like Love Generations have all the benefits of home shopping – you are in control, have a huge pool of potential friends, companions and partners to choose from and people have something in common with you.

What more could you ask? Well, when they find some way to pipe lager down broadband cables…