By Vera Appleyard
The holidays can be a time of joy, but also a time of stress. Many people have such high expectations during this time of year that they are bound to be disappointed.
Families come together over the holidays, and often that means old conflicts come bubbling to the surface. The last thing you want to do is add fuel that can make a stressful holiday turn into a disaster: Alcohol.
It’s likely that anyone reading this has had at least one parent, uncle, husband, sister, or cousin drink too much at a family gathering. The consequences can range from slightly unpleasant to downright disastrous.
The brother who drinks too much and thoughtlessly tells a story about your childhood that brings up bad feelings might fuel an argument with your parents. A mother who gets too drunk to finish cooking dinner might depress her spouse and children. A husband who drinks too much at a holiday party then drives home and hurts someone can cause terrible consequences for another family.
Ultimately, you can’t control how much someone decides to drink, especially if they are an alcoholic or abusive binge drinker, but you can minimize the risks associated with holiday drinking. Here are 10 ways to do that.
1. Don’t make alcohol the center of holiday parties.
This means don’t slam a drink into someone’s hand the moment they walk in the room. At parties, you can emphasize unique food, good music, and dancing, and keep alcohol to a minimum. Certainly avoid offering an unlimited supply of alcohol and endlessly refilling glasses as soon as they are halfway empty.
Another way to slow people down is to make some interesting holiday drinks that are nonalcoholic and alternating those with alcoholic drinks (“You must try my special sparkling holiday punch!”)
2. Hold off on serving alcohol until people have had something to eat.
For family gatherings on the actual holiday, people tend to eat less all day in anticipation of a big feast, and if they start drinking on an empty stomach, they will become intoxicated much more quickly. Serve appetizers with a twist that are visually appealing. Again, try creating a tasty nonalcoholic drink and just serve that.
3. Never top off drinks.
Ever watched a hostess walk around with the wine bottle every 10 minutes topping off wine glasses? She might feel like this makes her great hostess, but it also means her guests are losing track of how much they are drinking. Did you have three glasses, or did she half-refill each one three times so you actually ended up having five or six glasses?
4. Set expectations in advance.
If someone wreaked havoc last year, let them know you don’t want a repeat performance. If they understand in advance that alcohol will not be free flowing, they won’t start badgering you about it as the night progresses.
5. Appoint a designated driver.
Do you have family members who think nothing of jumping in the car after multiple drinks? Either set rules that keys must be turned in if you want to drink alcohol, or if you have ornery, stubborn folk, maybe plan to have a designated driver pick them up and take them home.
6. Cut someone off when they reach a certain level of intoxication.
Some people are surprised they never thought of this. You can cut people off. You can lock up the liquor and say, that’s enough. Lie if you need to: “We just ran out.” Just make sure you don’t have a full bar lined up on the counter, as it will be hard to convince them this is true if five minutes ago they saw a smorgasbord of choices.
Taking a few precautions can avoid aclohol-fueled disasters7. Make an alcoholic punch that is very light on the alcohol.
Let people know this is the choice this year instead of wine. You don’t have to tell them the alcohol is on the light side. If someone has to drink three or four of these to equal one regular drink, that may slow them down considerably.
8. Consider an alcohol-free feast.
This is a good choice if you have abusive, party-wrecking drinkers in the family. If you are having the feast in your home, you are absolutely justified in telling people that you want a pleasant holiday without drunken fights.
9. Let people stay home if they want to drink.
Let people know in advance so they can make the choice to stay home if they prefer to drink on that day, and also so you can let them know that they should not bring alcohol to the party.
Concerned about your own drinking over the holidays? Arrive at parties early and leave early. Most people are not juicing it up right away, and you are less likely to be influenced by a large crowd of rowdy revelers.
10. Avoid drinking at work parties.
Ever watched in horror as one of your co-workers drunkenly made a scene because they had a few too many at the office Christmas party? I still remember a gal who passed out and had to be carried to a friend’s car.
Is that the impression you really want to leave on your employer? If you lose track after a drink or two, just say no to alcohol and you don’t risk becoming the topic of discussion in the office Monday morning.
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Holiday Safe Driving Tips 2010
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