should you bring a present on a first date?

i would say you ultimately want them to feel comfortable on the first date. soo maybe not. i dont usually. just be a gentleman, ask her things to show your interested in her conversation wise. and thats pretty much it. if you want to give her something, do it on the 3rd date. or 2nd if you really must. The expierence with a person of interest is whats important anyway. you show her a good time and she enjoys herself, then a gift isnt needed. its more overkill than anything.

Oh nooooo it could be seen as a bribe. Don't gift. Unless the date just happens to be on Christmas or Valentines then it's kinda damned if you do damned if you don't.

It depends on how well acquainted you are with that individual? I'd definitely want to get my date something, I get to observe how they'd respond to my gifts. Some of my ideal gifts to that lucky person are an auxiliary cord, sticky notes, and depending on the season, either one of these in spring, summer, fall, and winter respectively: 'unpuffed' lucky stars, a lemon, a 0.3 mechanical pencil, and chocolate.

Small gifts are fine, but only if you're sure the other person is really interested in that small thing. Not to be the one to 'game' relationships, but I've noticed people consider others to be generous if they situationally give up something of theirs. Eg. say two peeps are playing games. Person one makes a casual aside that they don't have a controller at home, so person two gives them a controller to take home and keep. Not only does this kind of interaction play off the later idea of every time they use that gift or see it they'll think of you, it paints a picture, however true it may be, that person two is very generous and only wants person two to be happy. It demonstrates the idea that they're willing to make scarifies, as small as they may be, to make the other happy, this proving in a simple 'gift' situation that they would be a good partner in a relationship.