How to hide pregnancy

[BoomBoomBoomLetMeHearYouSay]

Going for dinner tonight with a good friend, been arranged for a while.
It will be just the two of us. Not drinking at all will raise eyebrows. We would generally always have some drinks. I am not ready to tell people yet though.
My thought at the moment is to get to restaurant early and order a lemonade but ask them to put it in a gin goblet 😬 and then just sip that during the meal (even though I would normally have wine).
Any other suggestions?

I would do the same (get there early and order a soft drink).
You could confide in a member of staff and ask you to always bring softies drink.
Also you can have one small drink if you are happy about it. If you drink slowly enough to not become tipsy then the alcohol doesn't pass the placenta (from the book Expecting Better)

Can you drive to the restaurant? No-one questions a non-drinking driver.

-On antibiotics and not drinking
-Early start and driving so avoiding the hangover and being over the limit the morning after
-Trying to lose weight now so you can let rip at Christmas
-recently joined slimming world/weight watchers and weight in is on in a couple of days time..

Tell them you are on antibiotics for something so you cant drink. I wouldnt try and get the staff just to give you soft drinks (pretending its alcohol) only takes one to forget and you will end up spitting it out everywhere which would end up more strange lol. You could get there earlier and get lemonade in a gin glass but what about when you have finished that... antibiotics is the easiest thing to say when trying to hide a pregnancy earlier on X

Antibiotics is a dead giveaway. Just say you're on a health kick so you can do mad at christmas

Drive to the restaurant? Then you shouldn’t drink anyway..

Doing a sober November in preparation for Christmas? Sober November for charity?

I think driving would also raise eyebrows as the restaurant very central for both of us.

I am kind of thinking maybe I just need to tell her now if I can’t pull off 🤔

My go to excuse was having a massive hangover from the night before and that the smell of wine would make me feel hellish so I was sticking to G&T without the G as I just would buy my own!

Applestizer in a wine glass looks like wine. You could get there early and get one and nurse it.

@Bubblysqueak that is genius!

I like to drink it when I'm driving so I feel like a grown up drinking out of a wine glass

A lot of places do non alcoholic or very low alcoholic wine. Can you check out the drinks menu before you go?

Personally, I would just tell her.

If she is a good friend, she will keep it quiet for you.
She may also feel a little offended if you tell her in a few weeks time and knows you were keeping it from her etc.

But obviously if you don't feel at all ready to tell people, then try one of the above options :).

Fake drinking is the best way. Bar staff hear it all the time
And they would always serve mine in gin glasses if I asked.

You can't. If you normally drink then nursing one fake drink, antibiotics, claims of trying to lose weight will all be total giveaways. She might not say anything but she's bound to know.

I always found it a bit silly playing the game when people would claim to be on antibiotics etc and know that I knew that was nonsense but expect me to play along pretending I didn't know. Which I always did obviously but it felt very silly.

My rule was always "would I tell this person if I had a miscarriage?". If the answer is yes, then why not just tell her, as that tends to be why people wait until after the 12 week scan to share their news. I always told my close friends early.

I had an entire weekend of this, staying with a couple we're friends with. The guys went out and she cracked open a bottle of wine, so I just took a glass and kept lifting it up to my mouth every so often without actually drinking it . I know that's ridiculous but when she went to bathroom I poured some out!

I pulled off the fake drinking 😅 - had seedlips and tonic all night and also one zero alcohol beer. Bar staff were helpful.
Seedlips is a really nice drink.
I know some people are saying just tell her but I am just wary of saying anything till I am further along. We’ve had a toughish time conceiving, I think I only conceived because I had surgery to remove endometriosis nodules in the summer. I’ve not been that open about struggling with it as I can’t really deal with pity- would rather people assumed we just don’t want children. If we were to miscarry then I might not be that open about it. That’s just how I feel about it, it’s a difficult topic.