Avoid drinking at Christmas parties

[Muppet2012]

I've just discovered I'm pregnant which is great but how do I get through Christmas without drinking. I've 4 work do's and 2 big family get togethers and the last thing I need is to get found out so early on? Any tips?

[ivanapoo]

Order/let people pour you your usual booze drinks at first and take tiny sips, most people won't notice how much of it you are actually drinking. If your partner is there, sit next to him, and get him to subtly finish your wine if you think you can get away with it - or get him to prep your drinks eg gin and tonic becomes tonic.

At parties take your drink to the loo and pour away. If you drink from a bottle eg beer, pour away and refill with lemonade/water etc in the loo.

Or put your drink down that a colleague has bought you and "lose" it then order a non alco drink yourself.

After an hour or two everyone will be too pissed to notice and you can switch to Soft drinks. Say you need to sober up if anyone questions you.

As long as your colleagues don't know you as the Jagerbomb queen you should be ok!

Oh and don't drive home from the parties unless you know you won't be seen ;)

[teaguzzler]

Tell people you are taking antibiotics for tonsilitis so can't drink.

Drive to parties.

Hope people are polite enough to keep their thoughts to themselves if they guess.

Congrats

[Muppet2012]

I'm lovin the sneakiness! Thank you

[BahSaidPaschaHumbug]

Don't use the old antibiotics line. Everybody thinks you're pregnant if you come out with that. I did the swapping full for empty glasses with DH thing but I'm not known for drinking very much so he wasn't completely bladdered by the end.

[Gooseysgirl]

Sparkling water with a dash of lime = prosecco ?? My usual tipple is vodka and coke so I found it v easy to pretend! The trick is to get to the bar first and get the first round in. Then when the next round happens say you're still on your first drink, then go and get yourself another non-alcoholic drink etc This what I did at my sister's hen although I had to give an Oscar winning performance pretending to be tipsy!!!

[worsestershiresauce]

Tell people you have given up alcohol for health reasons. You need to start eating healthily now you are pregnant too, so you can whitter on about healthy eating as well. People will thinking you are boring and a kill joy, but I doubt they'll suspect pregnancy.

[teaguzzler]

Agree with twitchy. I have guessed two friends were pregnant when wine was refused but didn't dare say anything. Figured if i was right they'd tell me when they were ready. I couldn't drink last week due to antibiotics. I wonder how many people think i'm pregnant!

[Bunnychan]

I used a water infection as my excuse for not drinking at my sisters hen party. This was great as a) I was on antibiotics and couldn't drink and b) I could pee as much as I liked and no one batted an eye lid! X

[FabulousFreaks]

The easiest is to get a soft drink and pretend it has vodka in it and when someone buys you a drink, pretend to sip it then chuck it in a plant pot.

[alittlebithohoholy]

Congratulations muppet.
I have the same problem - I'll definately be going for the sneaky approach, luckily work do's are in the next town so would be driving anyway.
I'm thinking depending on the audience either

Excuse A) "can't face it, drank too much yesterday" (mild morning sickness doesn't feel so very different either).

Excuse B) DH's turn today my turn next time -(neither of us do toddler early mornings well on a hangover).

[DaveMccave]

Good question. I'm in the same predicament. Too early to tell, and I'm usually out lots and drinking lots. Antibiotics would certainly not stop me ordinarily so would give the game away.

Don't want to drink coke and pretend it's vodka because I don't want to be drinking coke when it's full of caffeine and sugar/sweeteners.

I went to a pub and then on to an arena gig on Friday and ordered alcohol free beer at the pub and asked the bar staff to pour into a pint glass. Then 'chatted' at the bar with my DP for a while so they didn't wonder why I'd drank a good few inches so quickly. We did this a few times.

Then at the gig I said I didn't want to drink too much because DP was driving (on purpose, we ditched our train tickets) and whenever drinks were shoved in my face I pretended to take sips and said I was still hungover from the night before so wasn't up for too much.

I'll do the same this weekend, alcohol free beer and I like the tip above of pouring away and swapping drinks with DP. Only 3 more nights out to go. No idea how I'll manage it with family on actual Christmas but I imagine I'll be sick as a dog by then too. Fake food poisoning maybe?!

[herethereandeverywhere]

I used the "massive hangover" excuse. This works so long as people don't know where you've been out on previous nights!

Tonic water is a great drink as it's not too sweet or acidic so you can drink lots without feeling bleugh.

Congratulations

[Fluffeh]

I just order lime and soda in a tall slim glass and people assume it has an alcohol shot in it.
It worked for me till 12ish weeks when my bump appeared and gave the game away.