Thanksgiving
Beware of Drinksgiving: Blackout Wednesday can be fun, but watchout for these situations
Wednesday before Thanksgiving is a great opportunity to meet up for drinks with friends who are back home to celebrate the holiday with their families, but be careful!
It’s one of the best nights of the year. You’re back in your hometown and so are all of your high school friends. Thursday is Thanksgiving, so no need to set the alarm or get up early. It’s going to be a long day with the family and just the thought of hanging out with your weird uncle or talking politics to your aunt is enough to push you out the door and have a few beers to release some steam.
What is Drinksving / Blackout Wednesday?
Let’s look at MambleJambles’ three definitions on Urban Dictionary:
1. (Noun) The most sacred of national holidays
2. (Noun) The Wednesday before Thanksgiving where one make it a personal goal to get proper hammered to the point of self disgust but I don’t really remember cuz I was super sauced
3. (Noun) Any day of excessive drinking that compels you to give thanks to your fellow man for creating sweet drunk juice.
You get the idea. You and your friends are back home for Thanksgiving and meet up at your favorite local bar to have some beers and talk about the glory days of high school football or whatever. You run into people you don’t want to see and end up talking to others who are much cooler than you remember them to be from HS. Beer back home is much cheaper than what it costs wherever you live now and things can get out of hand pretty quick.
What to look out for on Blackout Wednesday / Drinksgiving
Logistics can be an issue
In small town Ohio or Michigan or wherever, catching an Uber or taxi can be complicated. Getting home to mom’s and dad’s place at 2 a.m. can be a challenge, so be prepared and have a plan before you go out. Do you know someone who can be the designated driver? Is there a cab service? Can mom or dad pick you up?
For example, in the Buckeye state, the Ohio State Highway Patrol has announced that the night before Thanksgiving is one of the biggest drunk driving nights of the year.
“They’re celebrating the holiday, they’re watching football, they’re enjoying legal beverages. But just be responsible, you know, use your head. Have a designated driver. Don’t be out on the roadways,” says Sgt. Scott Moore of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. “We’ll be out there. We’ll have increased patrols over the holiday. For the whole week there’s overtime posted. So we’ll be out in full force.”
So, now that getting home is sorted, how about that hangover?
Thanksgiving can be a long day for everyone involved. There’s cooking and cleaning and conversations with distant cousins and aunts and uncles. Mom and Dad want to know how work’s going and who you’re seeing these days and the stress can be brutal. But, it can be even worse with a hangover, so, don’t take our word for it, listen to the experts from Harvard Health:
- Drink lots of liquids. Water hydrates you and helps clear out those kidneys. Gatorade, orange juice, sodas, etc. can get you ready for Thanksgiving lunch.
- Carbohydrates can help: Drinking can lower blood sugar levels and some toast and juice can help get those levels back up.
- Clear liquor good, dark-colored liquor bad: Vodka and gin cause fewer hangovers than whiskey, tequila, red wine, etc. Dark liquors can contain methanol in addition to ethanol, which is in all alcoholic beverages.
- Aspirin and ibuprofen can help with the headache, but avoid Tylenol because it contains acetaminophen, which can irritate your stomach.
- Caffeine is you friend. It’s not going to cure your hangover, but it will wake you up and help get you going.
- Zinc and B vitamins can help according to this study in The Journal of Clinical Medicine.
- Hair of the Dog. We weren’t going to go there, but if the experts from Harvard say it’s OK, then we’ll back that with experience of our own. A beer or a glass of wine will help ease the withdrawal. Don’t get in a vicious circle that can be hard to get out of, but a Bloody Mary or Screwdriver, will get you back on your feet in no time.
The idea on Nov. 27 this year is to catch up with friends, have some drinks, but be smart, before and after going out.
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