Properly Preparing For A Long Day Of Drinking

Pre-Party Checklist Involves Hydration & Food

It’s 10 o’clock on a Saturday morning and I’m in preparation mode for a long day of drinking.

Today it’s the Beach Cities Wine & Beer Festival in Redondo Beach, CA, and even though PubClub.com is co-hosting it, I know it will involve lots and lots of drinks of fine wine and good craft beer.

In fact, one of my favorite beer brands, Kona Brewing, is pouring and there’s going to be a lot of “Liquid Aloha” as their slogan says, happening in my life this afternoon.

So to prepare for it – or other long, big days such as this that involves a fair bit of afternoon drinking – I’m taking the usual pre-party steps so I can maintain my wits about me the entire time.

The objective is to get happily buzzed without being bombed. And if you’re not careful, it’s easy to get bombed too early and thus ruin your day. So here’s what I’m doing to be sure I’m not a victim of the “early alcohol affect:”

• Hydration. I’m taking in a lot of hydrating liquids. Mostly, this is water, but it also involves iced tea (I’m originally from the South and iced tea to us is like water).  I like the little caffeine boost I get from the tea – I never have been, fortunately, a coffee drinker – but here I have to be careful not to drink too much tea.

The reason is the caffeine often goes through me quickly and I’ve got to find the right balance of having enough of it to be energized but not too much that has me spending too much of my time in the restroom (especially when beer is involved as it is today).

• Eating. One must always eat beforehand – this is critical. So, too, is the timing of eating. Here, my brain turns into a human calculator, figuring the proper time to get something substantial in my system that will last throughout the afternoon, yet careful not to stuff myself to where the beer and wine has to wiggle down the system to find room in the stomach.

Since I’ll be leaving at 12:30 today, I’ll make a sandwich and have some potatoes (always good food item for a pre-alcohol soak!) at 11:45.

• Items Checklist. The final thing I do is go through a mental checklist while I’m sober to be sure I have the necessary long-day-party items: fully-charged phone, extra phone charger and cord, wallet, suntan lotion and house keys.

Got it. Okay, I’m ready to charge into a fun day ahead of me. Be sure and read about this fun inaugural event with lots of single people in L.A.’s South Bay Beach Cities on PubClub.com!