| Common Sense Tips for
Holiday Parties
If you are attending a party,
Don't Become a Statistic |
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NA AA Recovery
Zone reminds
you:
Holiday spirits don't have to come in
a bottle. If you plan on hosting a holiday party, remember to offer your guests
non-alcoholic refreshments and nutritious food. Monitor your guest's drinking, serve them
measured, standard drinks, and stop serving alcohol at least one hour before your party
ends. For more safe holiday tips, call your local public safety department.
Around the holidays or any other time
of year I do not serve alcoholic beverages at any parties. For those of you who do here
are a few guidelines.
Be sure that this year's holidays
live up to your expectations. Take care of your friends, your family and yourself by
following these simple guidelines.
FOR HOSTS:
- Do not let someone who has been
drinking drive. Arrange for him or her to sleep in your home or to ride with a sober
driver.
- Provide your guests with an attractive
selection of non-alcoholic beverages. Remember that about one-third of all adults in the
U.S. abstain from drinking alcohol completely for a variety of reasons. Remember, too,
that informed, health-conscious adults whom you know to drink on occasion will prefer
non-alcoholic beverages in the following situations:
| if they are pregnant or
trying to conceive if
they are using medicine of any kind
if they have had difficulty keeping
their drinking moderate in the past
if they plan to drive after your
party
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| if they
wish for some other reason to avoid any of alcohol's many short-and long-term effects. |
- Never serve alcohol to anyone under
the age of 21, for whom it is an illegal drug. Remember that your responsibility for
drinking by underage guests lasts beyond the time they are in your home. Remember, too,
that alcohol-related car crashes are the leading cause of death for 15-to 24-year-olds.
- Provide your guests with nutritious
food. Eating will slow alcohol's effects.
- Appoint a bartender to monitor guests'
drinking and serve measured, standard drinks rather than doubles or "holiday
specials." Guests can better control their drinking when they are drinking amounts
with which they are familiar.
- Do not serve alcohol to an intoxicated
guest. Offer him or her a non-alcoholic drink, but remember that nothing can "sober
up" a person immediately. It takes the human body approximately two hours to
metabolize each ounce of alcohol; coffee or a cold shower can only create a wide-awake
drunk instead of a sleeping one.
- Choose fruit juices instead of
carbonated mixers. Carbonation speeds alcohol absorption.
- Be sure that drinking does not become
the primary focus or activity of your party.
- Stop serving alcohol at least one hour
before the party ends.
FOR GUESTS:
- Do not drink if any of the following
is true:
you are pregnant or trying to conceive
you are using medicine of any kind
you have had difficulty keeping your drinking moderate in the past
- Feel free to refuse alcohol for any
other reason, regardless of pressure or encouragement to drink.
- Do not drink if you are a child or
adolescent. For anyone under 21, alcohol poses a number of serious health risks. In
addition, it is for this age group an illegal drug.
- If you drive, do not drink; if you
drink, do not drive. There is no safe level of alcohol for drivers because everyone reacts
differently to alcohol on different occasions. If you are going out with others, decide
beforehand who will drive on the return trip. Do not ride with drivers who have been
drinking.
- Eat before and during occasions when
you are drinking.
- If you are a woman, remember that
alcohol will have a greater effect on you than it will on a man of your weight.
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