ETIQUETTE OF A WINGWOMAN

The 10 important points

Single and ready to mingle? Sounds great, but catching a man is sometimes easier said than done. What you need is a wingwoman. A what? Yes, a woman with a wing (joke, joke) who motivates and helps with charming a guy. Do you have wingwoman duty with your bestie this weekend? Here’s how to approach it:

1 Boost her confidence

Before you really go out, there’s wine on the menu, along with rummaging through your entire wardrobe looking for what you’re going to flutter around in that evening. So it’s the perfect moment to throw plenty of compliments her way, because she needs to feel good about going out. You might know how pretty, funny, and nice she is, but does she know that herself? The more confident she goes out the door, the easier your task for the evening will be.

2 Know her type

Is your friendship important to you? Then you’ll make sure that the man (or men) of the evening falls within her taste category. Does she hate men with beards or already these thirteen things? Then stay far far away from them.

3 Good consultation

Your game plan for the evening must be clear. The point above is extremely important, but also hold back. In terms of alcohol. Don’t go tanking like crazy so you can’t distinguish the Ryan Goslings from the Carel Struyckens. Just Google it, and you’ll understand what I mean.

4 Go where she wants to go

But don’t be afraid to introduce her to new places. Don’t forget, you don’t have to hang out at one location all night (check here my step-by-step plan for Amsterdam). And honestly? It’s nice, that place she keeps wanting to go to, but she’s still single, so those places just aren’t working. Time for something new.

5 Don’t be too obvious

Alright, a man has been spotted. You’re going over to him (for her). All good so far. You introduce him to your friend and he introduces you to his friend(s).

Bad             He: I think this is such a chill song.

                        You: No way. Oh my god. S thinks this is totally the shit too!

Good               He: I think this is such a chill song.

                         You: Oh, are you also a fan of SOHN*? I never really understood the hype, but S forces me to listen to it every time.

6 He’s cute, but his friends are mediocre

Take one for the team, girl. She would (hopefully) do the same for you. Have fun with the friends so she has time to wrap him around her finger.

7 Be honest

Let’s say she’s had a bit too much to drink and thinks everyone is fun and great, but you really notice that the boy she’s chatting with is bad news. Let her know. You haven’t done your wingwoman duties well if she wakes up crying the next day because you didn’t stop her when she decided to dive into the nest with Jan Doedel.

8 Don’t go after your friend’s guy

Abort, abort. The ultimate no-go and rule number one of friendship. The boyfriend/fling/guy your friend has her eye on is forbidden territory. You simply stay away from that. Period. So let’s say she has her eye on a guy that night, then it’s not the intention for you to flirt with him. Let her have him.

9 Know when the job is done

Ha, I still need to master this myself. Once I had a bit too much to drink, my friend was having fun with a guy, he asked me if we would have another glass of wine at his place and I thought: hey yeah, how nice! It took me a while to realize that this was obviously not the intention, he was just asking if I was coming out of politeness. Then I found myself in his house with a glass of wine on the left. And then: ding ding ding, Elke, WTF are you doing? Get OUT NOW. You’re ruining everything. So that. Know when to leave.

10 But actually, a wingwoman’s job is never done

You have to call the next day for all the juicy gossip.

Good luck, ladies.

*tip from me, the album ‘Rennen’ by SOHN is so intensely good.