20-Somethings Love: Day Drinking

Day drinking is pretty much the greatest thing ever created next to Facebook and College. You wake up… get dressed in a casual (perhaps themed) outfit… gather with a bunch of friends… and start the festivities. You then eat, drink, dance, rage, drink, eat, drink, drink, eat… and finally end up in your bed feeling tired and weak… yet also AWESOME because you just successfully lasted an entire day full of drinking. So, yes, that means you are officially not old yet. Props to you.

This past Saturday, I drank for 13 hours straight. Yes, me. The girl who can’t drink beer. I drank a mix of red bull vodkas, captain and cokes, and some white, coffee flavored, Irish drink that was handed to me at bar 1. I lasted 13 hours drinking only hard liquor. The 2 pieces of pizzas I consumed mid-day probably helped. But this defeat gives me bragging rights for the next year or so. I. Am. Still. Young.

However, even though I am still young and able to day drink the shit out of every bar in Boston (well, not really – but kind of), I do admit that post-college day drinking is different than in-college day drinking. We had more energy in college. We didn’t have to worry about the work week wiping us out. We didn’t have to worry about commuting anywhere. We could just wake up, make a drink, walk outside, and meet up with our friends.

Things are a little different now. If we’re going to plan a day solely dedicated to intense drinking, we need to stay in the night before to rest up. Our bodies are, like, getting old. In college, it was no sleep, no problem. You could hear such things being said on a daily basis: ‘OMG. I woke up in jeans and uggs with the lights on. HAHA. OMG! And there’s throw up on the bathroom floor. NBD. What are we doing tonight?!‘ If you heard that phrase post-college, you would prob send said person to AA (and to the fashion police because who wears Uggs out? Seriously). We actually need sleep now. It’s weird.

We also don’t have the tolerance we did for alcohol in college. We actually have to pace ourselves. Like one drink at each bar if you’re on a crawl… and one drink every 30 minutes/hour if you’re at an apartment. 1. Shit is expensive. and 2. We don’t want to die (AKA be the one throwing up in broad daylight).

We also need an excuse to day drink now. It’s not like we can wake up, look outside, and decide that just because it’s sunny out and slightly warmer than usual that we’re going to fire up the grill, put on our bikinis, invite our best buddies over, and start drinking bud light limes out of a giant cooler. No. We don’t live within walking distance of our friends. We have to plan things in advance. Like Facebook event style. We also don’t have tolerance for cold temperatures anymore. 60/70 degrees in March doesn’t mean it’s bikini season anymore. We don’t have a quad for everyone to gather in. We have little apartments or homes with parents a few doors down. This makes day drinking harder – yet still possible.

There are many reasons to day drink.

1. ‘The birthday:’ Whether it’s yours, a friend’s, a half birthday, or even Justin Bieber’s, you should be celebrating.

2. A holiday: St. Patty’s, Thanksgiving, Kwanza (why not?), Memorial Day… you can even make one up. For instance, ‘National Post-Grad Day’ – June 16th. See? It’s easy.

3. City/state/town events. In Boston, we have Marathon Monday (marathons are always a good drinking excuse… why not drink and get fat while watching people exercise and get skinny? It makes perfect sense). Do some research and take off work to celebrate. I’m sure there are events everywhere.

4. Sporting events. You pregame the game, you drink at the game, and you continue the festivities after. Whether it’s a professional event or your alma mater’s big game, get drunk.

5. Pub Crawls. Cities and towns have bar crawls all the time. Sometimes for a reason (St. Patty’s, Mardi Gras, Christmas) and sometimes for no reason. You can also create your own.

6. Nice weather. When it’s too hot to eat, what do you do? You drink. Whether you’re on vacation or it’s a casual summer day, if you’re not working, you’re drinking! Beer-bq’s, beach days, pool parties, indoor AC parties… There are always excuses to day drink during the Summer.

There really is nothing that makes me feel more young than a day of drinking. Old people don’t have the time for it… They don’t have the energy… And they certainly have ‘better ways to spend their money.’ They just can’t last an entire day of drinking… but you can. And you’re not even in college anymore. So while you’re still young, live it up. Soon, you’ll be too tired, too busy, and too… old. This is why, for now, we love day drinking.