If her birthday is coming up, then INCLUDE a gift certificate for $25, to a store where you know she likes to shop.
If she declines to go out with you, then you really aren’t “out” all that much money, and you can, in good conscience, tell her to please accept the gifts, anyway.
It’s been my personal experience that women enjoy a man who inspires laughter, because such men are considered “safe” or “harmless,” and I would imagine that you would wish to be perceived as a gentleman, more than anything else. So, if you have a few humorous anecdotes about yourself to relate to her (which might get her to giggle), you might wish to recall them in advance of your first date. (Just an idea to consider.)
True Story: I don’t know why I did this, but one time, in high school, I somehow got up enough courage to ask the prettiest cheerleader in the entire school to go out with me, and I was astounded when she said that she would, because I was expecting her to say something like, “My ‘dance card’ is filled, for the next seven weeks, solid.”
So, I told her that I was surprised that she hadn’t been asked by some other guy.
She told me that she never gets asked for dates, because, “All of you guys assume I have already been asked, so no one asks.”
I decided NOT to repeat her comment to the other guys…