Thread: question?! About drinking guest...and safety!!

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Hey !!
So how do you guys handle guest that have been drinking a lot when they want to leave? Just wondering?? I couldn't send someone out home that has been heavily drinking... Do you guys stop drinking at a certain time? keep an eye on the limit?

Yuck. I hate that. I never understood why getting completely wasted is considered "fun" to do. A few drinks, fine.

Our first party, one of our guests brought a full bottle of jagermeister and a half full bottle of whiskey... because he decided to crack the whiskey open ON THE WAY TO OUR HOUSE.

He then finished the entire bottle of whiskey and started in on the Jager. We hid it after he passed out the first time and every time after that he was awake and asking for a drink, the hubby would give him soda or water. We had several other guests that helped up keep him there until really late trying to get liquids into him, but he started insisting that he could drive and wanted to go home.

We offered our couch. We offered one of us to drive him home (I didn't drink anything that night), we begged and pleaded with him to just stay here.

He was really insistent on leaving and wanting to drive.

We kept him at our house until around 5 am (and the hubby and I were exhausted!) and he seemed better... but I still regret letting him leave and not stopping him.

Our party the next year, we told him flat out, you drink like that again, you're not leaving and if you do somehow manage to sneak out, we're calling the cops and telling them you're drunk driving. He behaved himself that year.

If you know you've got some heavy drinkers, here's what I'd do:

No hard liquor provided. Beer and wine only. It's still possible to get really drunk off of those, but it would take a whole lot longer. If they bring their own, then you'll have to ask them to take it easy and probably I would monitor their intake. Sucks, but I really don't have a good answer on getting adults to act like adults when they are being stupid.

Put up a sign near the liquor saying "We've already got enough bodies in our graveyard. Please don't drive drunk tonight. If you don't have a designated driver, we'll call you a taxi or you can crash on our couch." or something like that.

If you know for sure that some guests are hard drinkers, then I'd make a point of asking them if they are going to take it easy on the drinking if they haven't got someone driving them that isn't going to get drunk.

Lastly, embarrass them. While the friend was in one of his manic phases, he wanted to dance... and a drunk guy trying to dance to music that isn't dance music is quite funny... to everyone but him once he's sober. That vid is one of the reasons I think he actually behaved himself the next year (that, and us telling him how upset and worried we were that he could have killed himself or someone else).

We also told both the drunk from our party and several friends the second year that anyone that passes out at our party from drinking is getting saranwrapped to the maple tree in our back yard and LEFT THERE UNTIL MORNING. I bought about 4 boxes of the heavy duty cling wrap and had them at the ready... just in case.

I have 1 guest room and a couch so I told my guests if they were planning on drinking to bring a tent and pitch it in the back yard lol. We have a lot of friends that are heavy drinkers and they will not be driving home. I take keys!!! I also have taxi service #'s on the fridge ready to be used if needed. We also have some wonderful friends we play dd and will make sure people get home. People know that I will be a straight up B#$%@ about them not driving, so they never even try. Hope this helps.

We and our guests are pretty hard drinkers (it's a British thing), and no-one will be driving home from the party.We have a fair few staying over, and the rest are in hotels nearby.We use a local cab company that we will negotiate a decent rate with (usually £5 per trip) to get them back to their hotels.Drunk driving is looked upon very seriously over here, and if caught the driver would normally be looking at a *big* fine and a 3 year driving ban.This is apart from the risk of causing a crash and killing people.

we ask them when they walk in, how they are planning to get home. We serve a lot of alcohol, so we feel that it is our responsiblity to get them home safe. We have hired two responsible teenager neighbors to drive the guests' car and an extra car home so that they have their car in the morning. The guests love it, and the teens make lots in tips and have asked to do it again. We have also just called cabs; and for the ones we know have been overindulging in the past, we take their keys when they come in. We have a police officer that usually comes to the party and our guests know our rules. They usually appreciate it.


We also serve burgers and hotdogs at midnight that we have grilled earlier and just heated up. All of our food that we work so hard on , and our guests love midnight, lol.

I am so glad you brought up this subject BewitchingHalloween!
This has been on my mind lately also. We usually have a mix of drinkers and non-drinkers at our parties, as well as a few kids, so drinking is not the focus of the party but does still occur (I myself discreetly partake).
I like to use a combination of humor and straight talk when discussing driving arrangements with guest. When I see someone hitting the bottle heavily I will casually ask who's driving them home that night. If they've got a DD then great - I leave them alone (unless they start removing articles of clothing or something). If they say they will "Be fine" I warn them that I am not afraid to take their keys because I "Love and care about you" Drunk people always love hearing that you love them (even if you barely know them).
We have a trampoline out back and I have already been warning guests that if they drink too much to drive they will have to sleep on the trampoline and we will throw a tarp over them - even though I would actually pull out sleeping bags and air mattresses if need be. If people I know to be responsible are sipping slowly and showing no signs of inebriation I just keep an eye on them.
I always keep the coffee fresh with lots of yummy creamers handy, and make sure to keep offering it to the drinkers in a friendly/non-judgemental kind of way ("I know how much you love caramel so I got you this yummy caramel coffee creamer just for you. You have to try it - I'll have some with you")
As the evening winds down you can put away or hide all the booze, make sure the coffee's fresh and encourage guests to eat again - pull food out of the fridge if necessary.
And if it comes down to it and I have to wrestle someone's keys away from them at the last minute I WILL. Drunk people are usually pretty easy tackle and fall over easlily so this shouldn't be a problem.
If you have to resort to this don't worry - they will thank you for this after they recover from the hangover.
Again - Thanks for bringing this up. I am so glad that people are talking about this. Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Originally Posted by Frankie's Girl

"We've already got enough bodies in our graveyard. Please don't drive drunk tonight."

Love that! This may sound opposite, but we hired a bartender this year to limit the amount of excessively drunk people. Drinking is the focus of our parties. At our recent house warming, people brought there own hard alcohol (without us requesting them to) and played bartender behind the bar, serving up dozens straight shots. It got out of hand.

By hiring a bartender (actually free) & providing the alcohol, I have control. I chose a menu of 3 cocktails & one froo-frooey shot plus beer. I have asked the bartender to make the drinks on the weak side, and she will be the only one allowed behind the bar.

We have 10 or so people sleep over every year because it's a 45 minute drive for most. But also, have numbers for cabs handy.

They way I look at it .. the way I've always looked at it is that I am no one baby sitter and you're an adult, do what you feel is right. I have never catered to drunks, if you wanna drive then I am not going to sit here and fight with you about it.

I'd come out and say, "You shouldn't drive. If you wanna hang here for a while thats fine" if they turn me down then that is that and the are out the door. Samething goes with people that starting feeling sick .. I give them a glass of water, a bucket, and sit them in my backyard till they are feeling better.

I am not going to ruin my night cause someone had too much to drink.

I agree with the person above who said to serve only beer and wine. It takes longer for people to get drunk with beer and wine. Also, don't buy so much of it. People will still have a good time. We used to buy too much and people would go overboard with the drinking and it was more stressful - you get worried that they'll break something, hurt someone by accident, etc. If you have activities/games, it'll keep people busy too.

Originally Posted by Dullahan

They way I look at it .. the way I've always looked at it is that I am no one baby sitter and you're an adult, do what you feel is right. I have never catered to drunks, if you wanna drive then I am not going to sit here and fight with you about it.

I'd come out and say, "You shouldn't drive. If you wanna hang here for a while thats fine" if they turn me down then that is that and the are out the door. Samething goes with people that starting feeling sick .. I give them a glass of water, a bucket, and sit them in my backyard till they are feeling better.

I am not going to ruin my night cause someone had too much to drink.

sorry but I just couldn't have their blood on my hands if they got hurt or hurt someone else. My cousin was killed in a wreck by a college drunk driver, leaving two small boys who were too young to even understand why daddy wasn't coming home. Soon after my aunt killed herself because she couldn't stand the pain of losing her son. I don't let my guests leave if they have had too much to drink. Generally I start the drinking very early in the night and it gets cut off several hours before the party has ended. That way most are sober enough to get home, and the rest just sleep where ever they have space.