How did you hide your soft drinks at work events during pregnancy?

[Vinividivino]

Hello

I am hoping that I'm pregnant (still 2 days too early to test) but I have to go on a work trip next week where there will be a series of corporate drinks events that I have go to and join in fully (or be seen to). So it got me wondering, does anyone have any sneaky or not-so-sneaky ways that they 'switched' their drinks to avoid alcohol? Any stories/ advice very gratefully received.

A good friend hid her early stage pregnancy at my engagement drinks by arriving first and bribing the bartender to give her fizzy apple juice every time she ordered a glass of Prosecco! Very smart but unfortunately I can't do that as i can't risk my boss getting the bill and seeing a disproportionate amount of Ribena instead of red wine on there. In our team, it'll be obvious that it's me!

Thank you very much in advance.

Use the antibiotics excuse?

Or lemonade with ice and slice and pretend it's gin and tonic? Drink slowly and there won't be too much of it on the bill causing suspicion!

I drink tonic water with a slice of lemon/lime in it. No-one can tell that there's no gin in it.

Pick up a glass of champers on arrival and nurse nurse nurse it. Pop to the loo and slosh most of it down the pan.

If spirits are allowed on the bar tab, drink coke and if anyone asks, there Bacardi in it. Or lemonade and 'its a G&T'

Can you just not want a drink that weekend? You can't be forced into drinking alchol, just say you feel a bit off colour or just don't fancy it.

When first asked what you'd like to drink order a glass of red or something then just have tiny 'non-sips'. If you keep moving people won't notice you've had the same drink for ages. Then leave it somewhere. Possibly get another when asked again and do the same.

My SIL did this and no-one noticed (even me and i'm always nosying for stuff like that!). As long as you say 'yes' to drinks no-one will actually notice that you're not drinking it.

Say you're hungover?

I agree with the "non-sips". No-one notices that you are not really drinking it. Has fooled everyone at work dos (frequent) in all 3 of my pregnancies.

People do sometimes notice if you refused it in the first place or are only ever seen with soft drinks

Thank you all. 'Non sips' it is! I also like Gnocchi's idea of sloshing it down the loo - I might take a secret hip flask of lemonade for emergency refills!

The only challenge is that a couple of evenings might be the 'small group of colleagues standing around a bar ordering rounds' type of events. I'm just going to have to hope that they come towards the end of the week when I can follow Lady W's and Pissydust's advice and believably be hungover or just not up for it!

It is possible to avoid getting sucked into any rounds - just go to the toilet when someone gets up to go to the bar, and don't tell them what you want before you go. They might still get you a drink but you can always pretend it wasn't what you wanted. If you're only pretending to sip your drink anyway, once you've got one you should still have enough left in the glass that you won't get included in the next round! Don't do the sipping thing all bloody night, you'll be thirsty and bored and it will be a very long night!

I also second the gin and tonic thing - I used to drink gin and bitter lemon a lot and just switched to bitter lemon on its own for a while, it's bright blue and it wouldn't cross anyone's mind that I was drinking straight bitter lemon (because why would you? Though it turns out actually it's pretty delicious on its own). I'd say if you want to pretend lemonade is g&t, get a bottled mixer instead - if you ask for a lemonade it'll be in a much bigger glass and will be really obvious.

The other thing is, if it's a work do, you do have a good and valid excuse for not drinking if someone does notice and call you out on it - you don't want to get too drunk in front of work people and make a spectacle of yourself, so you're alternating soft drinks. Very sensible!

I accepted a glass of red which I pretended to sip and kept swapping over with DH when no-one was watching. Result a v drunk DH. Slightly awkward when I went to drive us home as I knew I was stone cold sober but everyone else thought I was being reckless as they thought I had been drinking all night!

I just told everyone I had stopped drinking for a month as I was on a kind of detox health thing. It worked, nobody guesseed I was pregnant for 4 months.

I drank water out of a wine glass - everyone was too pissed to notice. When I finally told them nobody could believe it!

I have been to loads of corporate events and no one guessed. Even at a sit down dinner, everyone else is usually so getting into the free booze that they don't notice you've had the same glass of wine all evening.

Also, if you do drink a glass of wine, it's really not going to hurt the baby at all

I have been asked twice this week at jubilee parties and covered it both times saying im on antibiotics and painkillers for toothache. This is in fact true and the fact that I also look like crap at the moment backs up my story nicely. To be fair though I don't normally have more than a couple of drinks when not pregnant so me ordering juice or coke doesn't even register on the radar.

Thank you all. I took bits of everyone's advice and got through the events. I got inadvertent help at one event from a stranger who bumped into me which gave me time to surreptitiously tip some wine onto the grass as he was apologizing! I have a whole new career in subterfuge awaiting! Anyway, I appreciated everyone's advice - it was all worth it as I got a BFP, today!

I had a work do a few days after I found out. Mt work dos are very boozy. I stayed of on line and soda and just said I was pacing myself and would move on to wine later. I then had a very small glad of wine after a few hours by which time most people were too drunk to notice that I hadn't been drinking.

I'm going to a conference next week which will have a social event in the evening. I was planning on telling my manager before, as I'll be 8 weeks by then, so I don't have to worry about covering it up and I don't want speculation.

I dont have particularly boozy work dos but it amazes me that anyone has the energy to go out in the first trimester. I reckon tell them that you have started to get really worried about your level of drinking so have given up for a while. Antibiotics is pathetic (not least because you can drink on most of them anyway).

If you go for cover then white grape juice really does look like white wine.