Do you have a glass of wine before guests arrive?

[mizzchilds]

Having guests come over for Sunday lunch. I’ll do most of the cooking. I get into a right flap so need something to help me relax.

Is it normal to have a tipple before guests arrive?

No it isn't.

Nobody gets pissed after one glass of wine with lunch anyway!

Describing someone with a healthy relationship to alcohol as a "lightweight" isn't the flex you think it is.

It's really not. I live in Portugal and every restaurant in my area is packed at lunchtime with workers enjoying a two hour break. They order the prato do dia, which will be a cheap two or three course meal, including beer or wine and a coffee at the end.

When we have tradesmen in, they come back from lunch reeking of booze, and crack on just fine. Once we had some real old boys, who would spend their break sitting under a tree with a packed lunch and a bottle of port.

Yeah but stick at one don't go peaking too soon

@Boxina

all im saying is not everyone is pissed or anything like pissed after one glass of wine.

It is at the weekends and holidays. It’s Sunday FYI.

And saying that someone would be pissed after one glass of wine does not indicate a healthy relationship with alcohol.

A glass of wine?? At this time?? Hold on, I need to get my pearls to clutch close to my chest.

FFS, you'd think OP was asking if it was okay if to give her three year old crack to make him sleep!

Have the wine and cheer all the Mumsnet pearl clutches. Don't forget that AA appointment on Monday 🙄😁

I said "easily on the way" to pissed after one glass which is likely to be large. Please read my posts properly.

I said "easily on the way" which after a third of a bottle of wine you would be. Please read my posts properly.

No, I can't have more than a couple of glasses and I would have to slow right down when guests arrive if I started earlier. Would rather join in and be convivial.

There's some absolutely bonkers replies in here, who know a tipple whilst cooking lunch for friends could be so divisive!

In answer to your question, yes it's absolutely fine and normal so get that bottle open and enjoy a glass.

I tend to have a glass of wine once everything is under control; my friend likes a sherry!

I think you are missing the point, having a glass of wine is fine needing one to control anxiety is not.

OP didn't say that she "needed" one to control her anxiety though.

Control anxiety? The OP says she gets in a bit of a flap! That’s a big jump. Cracking out a glass of wine to make it all feel a bit more like the prep is part of the event rather than trial by hosting isn’t the same thing at all.

Threads like this on MN are always so weird with people who seem to see any alcohol consumption as an inexorable path to getting drunk.

None of my own wine glasses holds 250ml unless I filled it to the brim so personally I don’t think of a single glass of wine as a large amount. I don’t drink to get drunk.

And if no one in other countries drinks at lunchtime they need to tell the people running cafes and restaurants. People are getting it wrong! I used to work in France and colleagues would commonly have a glass of wine at lunchtime in the staff canteen.

I don’t drink anymore but having a glass whilst cooking is really normal imo

It’s quite likely (though more so if I had people over for dinner), but not because I was anxious at the prospect! I echo a pp. if entertaining made me that anxious, I would suggest we went out, or that peiole only came over for an evening of drinks and nibbles. It’s not compulsory!

Only on Christmas day. Otherwise I'll wait for guests to arrive before opening a bottle.

I usually do

Exactly! And it's not "anxiety over something as simple as cooking a meal". Certainly if someone was needing a drink to cope with putting on a pan of pasta it would be deeply concerning, but not to relax before having guests round.

I sometimes might, if the plan was for a boozy lunch. It can be nice to get into the swing and actually there's something quite cosy and welcoming about arriving at someone's house and they are cooking with a glass in hand.

It is for everyone I know! My husband can't drink alcohol now for medical reasons, but I've never been anywhere for lunch or had anyone round, and not offered them at least wine.

@Boxina

and loads of people wouldn’t be “easily on the way” to being pissed after one glass of wine, no where near.

And do people not go out to the pub at lunchtime with their work colleagues any more? I've worked mostly from home for the last 20 years but I really miss the Friday lunchtime piss-ups 😆😆

I miss when we used to go to Church. We always had a post church sherry at around 11 am before I started cooking Sunday lunch.

Might have to start that again. (Not the church bit though.... that was DH's bag not mine. I'm a different religion entirely).

In which universe??