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Responsible Partying

T’is the season for overindulging! Too much food! Too much alcohol! All the fun! Work parties, family parties, friend parties. All the parties. And while I love a good celebration, I am also a fan of doing it all responsibly. We recently recorded a podcast with our pals at the Party Train Podcast on Responsible/Productive Partying and thought that we could continue the conversation with this here post. [Be sure to listen to that podcast!]

Since this is a site focused on alcohol, that is what I am going to write about in this post about Responsible Partying. We all know that alcohol is not good for us. We should all know that it’s also a carcinogen. No matter how tasty it is or how good it may (temporarily) make us feel, we need to be a little bit more conscious of our consumption of and our relationship with it. So with that, here’s some tips for being responsible while cutting loose.

Responsible Partying | Bartender Atlas

Pick Your Nights
I will tell you now: you cannot do it all. You are not a superhero. So with that, I say: pick your nights. By this I mean, maybe don’t RSVP ‘yes’ to every party. And by this I mean, maybe not every party needs to have you downing two bottles of bubbles. Pick your nights to go out. Pick your nights to overindulge. For the other nights, be more responsible. Choose the non-alcoholic beverage options or have just one glass of wine for the night. You don’t need to get hammered every night you go out. Choose your nights for that.

Water
It should be a given but please for the love of all that is good in the world: DRINK WATER. The general rule is to drink one glass of water per alcoholic beverage that you consume. I say drink MORE. Drink all of the water that you can while indulging. Your life will be so much better for it.

Professional Drinking/No Shots
This is a controversial opinion, especially if you work in the industry but I am going to say it: just say no to shots. Those tiny little drinks – are they really necessary? While you are sipping your bubbles or that delicious cocktail, do you really need that glass of pure booze to expedite you on your way? I am going to say no. Shots are not necessary and there has to be a better way for us all to give our friends a treat. As well, when you are out for the night, and especially when bopping around to different holiday parties, don’t be opposed to Professional Drinking. This is where you get a drink but don’t necessarily finish it. Have a few sips and then put that baby down.

Look After Your Friends
I mentioned this in the podcast and it’s something that I witness way too often: that drunk person who has been left alone at the bar/in the cab/on the street. Every time I see this, I am terrified and I wonder: where are her friends? When you are out ripping it up, look after your friends. If you notice that someone has had too much to drink, look after them. Get them home. Don’t just dump them in a taxi, take them to their actual home so you know that they are safe. Sure, it may be an inconvenience to you while you are partying it up, but it will avoid risking anything terrible happening to said friend. Do it because you care and because you would hope that someone would do the same for you should you ever find yourself in their situation.

Nothing Good Happens After 2am
Seriously. Nothing good happens in the wee hours of the morning. There isn’t FOMO or anything that will be worth scribbling about in your journal. Go home, get some decent sleep. Staying up and out and drinking all night is generally not an awesome decision.

You are Responsible for Your Life
The title says it all. Ultimately, you are responsible for your life. You have this one life to live and you get to choose how you are going to live it. And while getting drunk with your pals is a heck of a lot of fun, you also have to take responsibility for what your choices mean for your life. I love going out. I love wine. I love sipping on mezcal. I love it all. But I love myself better on those days when I wake up at a reasonable hour and where I am productive in my life. I don’t love myself on those morning where I sleep in too late and then feel too awful to actually get anything done. I have goals in my life and need to be productive in order to accomplish them and I’m fully taking responsibility for my actions to take me there. No one is forcing you to drink ten beers, you make that choice. So choose wisely and live your best life.


Jessica Blaine Smith
Co-creator at Bartender Atlas
Jess co-created Bartender Atlas with her bartender husband Josh Lindley. She has worked as a full-time freelance photographer for the past two decades. Her photography focuses on lifestyle portraits, food & drink photography and corporate portraits and events She recently photographed Evelyn Chick's For the Love of Cocktails book. While not a bartender herself, she definitely loves a strong stirred cocktail, preferably one that is brown and/or smokey. Jess is a proud ambassador of her home city of Toronto.
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