Dating in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s

"Meeting through an interest is 10 times better than meeting in a bar," says Matt Simonson, 24, who attended a recent gathering of 6th in the City's new running club. "In a bar, everyone is trying to be someone, everyone is trying to prove who they are, whereas if you meet through an activity, you're actually showing who you are." (Sorry, folks, he's off the market; he met his current at a climate-change rally.)

Twenty-somethings get out there. If a relationship doesn't work out, they keep optimistically forging ahead -- a strategy everyone should try.

Robin Toblin, 30, began attending 6th in the City events as part of what she joked was "her full-pronged attack" method to meet someone. "I thought it would be a good way to meet Jewish guys," she confesses. Her try-it-all approach worked; she also got on the Jewish dating Web site JDate, where she met her current boyfriend.

Washington does pose some major challenges for 20-something daters, not the least of which is trying to go out in the city on a ramen-noodle budget.

Meet the challenge with innovation. There was a time when every date Toblin went on involved dinner. But her now-boyfriend wooed her with a fabulous fall day that took the pair to Rock Creek Park Day (free) and the National Book Festival on the Mall (also free). The date "was epic," she says.

At any age, first and second dates should feel organic and low-pressure. Hit the zoo, a festival or an art event. Check out a jazz club. Walk there if you can.

"A fancy dinner is not a good date," says Michael Karlan, president of Professionals in the City, which organizes speed-dating and other social events in several cities. "It sends the wrong message. You want the person to associate you with fun. You don't want them to associate you with taking them places they're going to feel this pressure."

Best places to meet people in this age group: Adult sports leagues such as the World Adult Kickball Association (www.kickball.com) or No, Adult Kickball Isn't Dumb (www.playnakid.com); synagogue, temple or church groups, such as 6th in the City (www.sixthandi.org); volunteer outings (www.dc-cares.org); or a Meetup group that matches your interests (such as dance groups and outing-focused Meetup groups such as Young and Loving DC and GoGayDC (www.meetup.com.)

Planning a date? Try evening art events such as Phillips After 5 (www.phillipscollection.org). Or dance to soul music for free at the Fatback party at Liv on Dec. 19 (www.fatbackdc.com). You could check out the annual marathon Christmas Movie Festival at Arlington Cinema 'N' Drafthouse this Sunday (www.arlingtondrafthouse.com) or visit the National Christmas Tree and chat by the yule log (http://www.thenationaltree.org). The key: Do something offbeat that offers plenty of opportunity to talk and connect.

Dating in your 30s

It's a Saturday night in Reston, and the bar at McCormick & Schmick's is packed, filled with members of Meetup's Singles in the Suburbs. As its title suggests, the group is aimed at unmarried folks living in Reston, Herndon, Fairfax, as well as Maryland.

The 30-to-50-somethings who are its members are a friendly, chatty bunch that like to go out; they organize trips to a bar-centric take on "Jeopardy," to see the holiday lights at Bull Run, or to a Santa Bar Crawl. On this night, they're out on a bar crawl for Feed the FISH, an event to raise money for the charity Herndon-Reston FISH, which offers emergency assistance to the needy. The culmination of this night of revelry? A date auction.

But Singles in the Suburbs isn't actually about dating. It's about getting out and making friends -- and that's why it has a pretty good number of dating success stories.