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Original poster

Excuses for not drinking?

41 replies

Ohana6419 · 13/09/2019 23:25

Hi all

In the next couple of months I have a 30th birthday party, two weddings and two hen do's 🙄

We just found out that I am pregnant this week, but my first hen do is just a couple of weeks away and I'm already wondering how I'll manage to get away without drinking (it's a full weekend) without drawing suspicion. It's way too early to tell anyone yet.

What excuses have you used? I can't use the antibiotics one as we have a number of pharmacists and doctors as friends and they'll probably catch me out too easily 😂 Thanks!

OP posts:
Redshoeblueshoe · 13/09/2019 23:30

Is Stoptober (or whatever it's called) for giving up alcohol for a month ?
If you and your partner both do it and say you are trying to get healthier/slimmer/fitter
No one has ever believed antibiotics !

SamBeckett · 13/09/2019 23:31

Congratulations ! Flowers
Tell them you are doing the sober September thing
( I am and so are quite a few on here look for my thread 'where have all the penguins gone ' if you want to join us )
But you will get a lot of people saying oh go on one wont hurt , so you will have to be firm and stand your ground .

dollytutu · 13/09/2019 23:35

@Ohana6419 you could use the antibiotic one as most people think you can't drink on antibiotics, you can! However metronidazole is the only one where you can't drink at all on them as you will be violently ill! It has a similar content to tht of antibuse, used to treat alcoholics.
So if I was you I would act like everything is normal eg texting friends saying how excited you are etc can't wait for weekend! Then the day before or on day say how pissed off you are because you have been put on these antibiotics and you can't drink etc this would get you away with this weekend then worry about the others as they come!

Poppins2016 · 13/09/2019 23:38

I got through my own 30th party by drinking seedlip non alcoholic 'gin'. It looked the same as ordinary gin in the glass!

As for excuses...

Dodgy stomach after a bug/hangover
Designated driver
Family emergency you need to be 'on call' for

timshelthechoice · 13/09/2019 23:38

Just tell them the truth. People see through excuses.

Basilneedswaterandsun · 13/09/2019 23:39

Say you’ve had an abnormal liver function test and are due a repeat on the Monday after so have to go teetotal in order to get a realistic reading

Crabbitstick · 13/09/2019 23:41

Might be easier to not attend the hen - pretend to have D and V. If tiredness and nausea kick in you might just want to hide at home anyway.

Basilneedswaterandsun · 13/09/2019 23:42

Gin and tonic (water and ice in a gin glass)

Get given a glass of champagne? Take it and pretend to drink it. Go the the loo / kitchen whatever and poor a bit down the sink when no one is watching. Let’s face it, does anyone ever notice anyone actually drinking? As long as you have a glass no one will care

Original poster
Ohana6419 · 13/09/2019 23:43

@Poppins2016 The fake 'gin' is a good idea for the birthday party and the weddings as I do drink G&Ts so possibly no-one would notice, thanks!

OP posts:
ELM8 · 13/09/2019 23:48

Only thing that worked for me was pretending to drink.. you only really need to be on the ball with that for the beginning bit as once everyone gets a bit drunk they become less perceptive.

Tried antibiotics / hangover / stomach bug and people saw straight through it Confused

Original poster
Ohana6419 · 13/09/2019 23:54

@ELM8 I think I will have to pretend, particularly for the hen do that is a full weekend. Maybe I'll make fake drinks (we're all in like a cabin type thing) or if someone gives me a real drink I will hold it and discreetly get rid of it when no-one is looking.

I just have a feeling that people will be watching us quite closely as we got married earlier this year and they all know we want kids soon!

OP posts:
timshelthechoice · 13/09/2019 23:58

They'll see right through all this.

dollytutu · 14/09/2019 00:01

@timshelthechoice why will they? Never heard anything so silly people don't drink all the time, people take medications they can't drink on all the time!
She doesn't feel ready to tell people this is her choice and totally understandable

LakeWallenpaupack · 14/09/2019 00:11

Cosmopolitan - omit vodka, leaving cranberry juice

Got away with becks blue in similar situation. It’s the first one when people are a bit more eagle eyed, after that you can drop the pretence

And congratulations!

inwood · 14/09/2019 00:13

You might as well stick a neon sign on your head saying pregnant if you roll out the ab one. Tell them the truth or at least your close circle, way easier.

springtime12 · 14/09/2019 00:30

I don't get this, in my circle of friends, sometimes we drink, sometimes we don't. So not drinking for any of us is not anything unusual and therefore no comment would be made n we wouldn't assume non-drinking person is pregnant. Do people really pick up on whether or not someone is drinking? Not sure I would!

ImpossibleGirl · 14/09/2019 00:41

One excuse we've used is no booze for 3 months to get the best results for fertility testing.

Sperm take 2 months from start to release, so you're both doing a complete detox to get in the best of health for ttc.

MummyBear405 · 14/09/2019 07:30

My advice is don't make the lie too detailed, that's when people get suspicious. Also (not meaning this personally to you) people don't actually care a lot of the time, they're more focused on what they're drinking & having fun so don't over think it.

I went to a beer festival with work before I was ready to tell anyone and just had G&T without the gin, nobody questioned it they were all too busy deciding on what they were drinking!

Although I did have one person in the group I could confide in to help me keep up the rouse, is there anyone at the hen do who you'd trust enough to tell? They can be the one to get you a drink or help when someone else gives you one?

Twitney · 14/09/2019 07:43

yeah I agree that people don't really care, so what if they say/ think you are pregnant. For one, you are, and for another, it's hardly the shock of the century. Just laugh it off and carry on. The big act with excuses etc is always the most obvious give away. Just walk around with a drink and don't make anything of it. Personally, if I suspect someone is pregnant . I don't say anything anyway, it's not because their elaborate 'excuses' have worked, it's just being polite to wait for someone to tell you themselves. Most people are too busy thinking about themselves to pay too much attention to what or whether someone else is drinking.

perdigal · 14/09/2019 07:57

I wouldn't personally outright lie.

Let them pour a glass and just mock drink it.
Don't think anyone would notice it.

Just say don't m feel amazing today and don't feel like drinking if you get quizzed.

People shouldn't outright ask you and if they do repeat the excuse above.

Just my opinion !

eternalopt · 14/09/2019 07:58

I found pretending to drink more effective than making up an excuse.

Also, if you make an excuse then when you announce it, you'll be met with a chorus of "I knew it" comments followed by tales of how they knew you didn't have a liver infection/antibiotics etc and smug satisfaction that they are some sort of super sleuth as people love to make out they were first to know. If you pretend to drink convincingly, you'll be met with "but you drank at that hen do..." to which you reply that you cleverly pretended and the smug super sleuthery is all yours 😂

VapeVamp12 · 14/09/2019 09:22

It’s quite crazy that we have to come up with excuses to not drink alcohol isn’t it! It’s very engrained in English culture that we drink at practically every occasion.

I quit alcohol in January because it was getting on top of me and I just went with “I’m not drinking at the moment” And didn’t go into any other details

Yeahnahyeah1 · 14/09/2019 09:28

To be honest, I’d just say DH and I were planning to start trying to conceive and so were both not drinking to be in with the best shot. You’re already pregnant so it’s not like in a few months you’ll get the head tilt sympathy of ‘not happened yet then?’.

Casmama · 14/09/2019 09:29

Two choices I can see- either you say you're trying to get pregnant or you say you got really drunk recently and made such an idiot if yourself that you've sworn off booze for a while- either particularly appealing I agree. Congratulations OP

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