New Opportunities wants everyone to have a safe and fun holiday season! It is easy to misjudge the effects of alcohol and its duration. With fun and conversation we can lose track of how much we have consumed. Here are a few tips to help keep your holiday parties safe:
• Offer a variety of drinks, for example, juice, punch, water, soft drinks, and coffee as an alternative to alcohol.
• Practice low risk drinking guidelines. This is limiting yourself to zero alcohol if you are pregnant or have an addiction, no more than one drink per hour, two drinks per day, or three drinks in any one sitting. Binge drinking is defined as 4 or more drinks during a single occasion for women and 5 or more drinks during a single occasion for men.
• Provide plenty of appetizers, snacks, or other food.
• Provide entertainment or activities so that alcohol is not the primary focus of the party.
• Model appropriate behavior for your guests and children.
• Ensure that intoxicated guests do not drive home. When necessary, offer alternative transportation for them.
When under age youth are attending, make sure to be clear about your rules around alcohol and enforce those rules. Store alcohol in a place where it can be monitored, and don’t leave drinks sitting around unattended. Provide supervision and alcohol-free activities for youth.
New Opportunities wishes you a safe and fun holiday season! We look forward to serving you in 2018.
New Opportunities Substance Abuse Treatment and Prevention Departments offer information, education, and consultation services to schools, businesses and community based groups, many of which are free of charge. If you are interested in learning more on this or other substance abuse topics, please contact Nancy Rowedder, Prevention consultant, at nrowedder@newopp.org or call 712.792.9266.
