Avoiding alcohol in social situations

sbaby2019

How are you all handling this?
Not drinking would be abnormal for me, so I'm trying to figure out a way to have one "drink" and remove any suspicion.
I have heard about mixing drinks and not putting alcohol in, dumping out a brown beer bottle and refilling with water, swapping drinks or dumping them out etc. My concern/question is what do you do at a sit down restaurant? Other then asking for a virgin drink secretly (which I'm paranoid either won't be virgin or that the server will ask if I want a virgin refill in front of everyone), what else can we do to hide the fact that we aren't drinking? 
Saying I'm not drinking isn't an option I'm comfortable with as I know people will start to question me and I don't want that.  
Advice??

Emelri

With my last pregnancy I secretly poured myself sprite at a house party and no one noticed, however I don't drink a lot so I haven't had this experience at restaurants. Could you order the same drink as your SO and they secretly drink it for you while you pretend to sip? 

arteduc8

Last pregnancy I did the brown bottle thing and the fake mixed drink thing. At a happy hour with coworkers, I arrived early and told the bartender the situation. She was awesome and got me refills of my "mixed drink". This pregnancy I lucked out and actually started to get a sinus infection (as if getting sick is lucky) but I used that as my excuse why I wasn't drinking. You could also use that but ask DH to give you a "sip" of his drink since you hate not having any. 
ETA: If you fill in the waiter/bartender be sure to ask for separate checks. Don't need your friends seeing your cheap drinks and raising eyebrows. 

Ceridwen77

Not sure if this applies to you, but at a restaurant with a group of 6, my husband sat across from me and just drank my drink casually. It worked out really well. No one noticed I wasn't the one drinking. 

yesthisiskim0401

My friend has super stealth skills. She ordered a drink, then went to the bathroom. On her "bathroom trip" she found her waitress and told her to make it a virgin. 
I doubt I will ever be as cool as my friend to pull that off. 

I usually do the "I can't drink, I just started antibiotics and my doctor warned me to avoid alcohol until I finish them". Usually people don't ask what I have, and if they do I say UTI lol. Make them uncomfortable right back. 

mileswithmyles

With DS, DH walked to the bar to order our drinks instead of getting them from the server. It worked like a charm. We were at a party Labor Day weekend and I drank cranberry and soda which looked like vodka cranberry. 

I actually skipped book club this week because we only serve wine at it and I didn't want to have to find a way around it and I'm not quite ready to tell them yet and I felt like garbage. 

onesmallcoconut

Emelri said:

With my last pregnancy I secretly poured myself sprite at a house party and no one noticed, however I don't drink a lot so I haven't had this experience at restaurants. Could you order the same drink as your SO and they secretly drink it for you while you pretend to sip? 

I did this at a wedding recently and it worked well!! 

babybins2018

My birthday is this weekend, and we always have a big party... I'm nervous bc I am only 5 weeks and don't want to tell anyone yet! Thinking of putting water in a vodka bottle and mixing drinks with that? Just have to keep others away from it!

sbaby2019

@ecasey17 yeah it's much easier to pretend to drink at a house. The "vodka" is a great idea. You can also pour out drinks in bottles in the bathroom and refill them with water. Or buy non alcoholic stuff and make a sangria

ChasingTheDog

I had a big bachelorette party last weekend--which I had 100% intended on being extremely drunk the whole time-- and I made up this excuse about GERD and my stomach was getting and ulcer and I was going to poop blood if I drank.

ladystinson

you could always just saying you're watching what you eat and would rather splurge on the food than the booze lol

holli0801

I have done the beer can/bottle with water and arrived early to tell the server to make my drinks virgin. I have also used the excuse my husband is on call, so I may have to drive home at any moment to take over for DS (and since we all know I suck at moderation I'm just not drinking haha).... In a situation like wine... you could take little sips (a tiny bit every once in a while isn't bad in my opinion...) and then pour out the rest when no one is looking 

maamy1231

I injured my back last month and was put on pain killers that don't mix with alcohol. So even though I'm not taking them anymore, most of our friends just assume I still can't drink because of painkillers. It works out pretty well. Plus I'm so nauseous it's pulling my attention away from my back pain

kpc914

I LOVE the idea of dumping a beer in the bathroom and filling with water. Def doing that at my cousin's bridal shower in a few weeks!

mrsmtothek

I never judge or suspect foul play when someone tells me they're going on a cleanse or cutting back for health reasons, so this is what I go with typically. But you could also say that you're trying to get pregnant and want to cut back on drinking too, that would do the trick lol   

mrshay072316

HELP! I have a work outing tomorrow & the bar is a small one row seating type place- making it hard to hide sharing drinks with hubby. Any tricks? 

roomsu

@futuremrshay I approached the bar tender alone and asked her to bring me cranberry juice with water every time I ordered cranberry vodkas. It worked very well!!

serena0507

I tell people I'm hungover and can't drink, lol. 

christycalifornia

We did this, the he drinks my drink thing. Worked well!

christycalifornia

Sometimes you have to just spill. We literally have a dinner next week that I'm hosting where the couple is bringing wine pairings for every course because the guy is a wine buyer. We scheduled it way before I found out I was pregnant with a couple from my husband's new job that we've never hung out with before, so I'd really look like a weirdo if I weren't drinking. We're gonna come clean, if for no other reason than to stop them from bringing too much wine.

christycalifornia

@mileswithmyles offer to bring some next time and swap out some Fre with another bottle! It doest fast amazing imo but lots of my friends love it and swear by it. 

mrshay072316

Update: The air pollution in SK was poor so I made the excuse that I didn't sleep well the night before and didn't feel well. I ordered a beer and had two "sips" (pretend) and said "I'm just not in the mood." Hubby drank the rest! I can't come clean until after our first appt at least. 

nikky8

All of these ideas are great, and had me laughing. The only thing I have done so far is using the "I drank to much the night before." Next up is my husbands birthday so I figure being dd on his birthday is a pretty good excuse! After that I will have to get a bit more creative I think haha

becca_87

I am buying alcohol free wine at the grocery store, and just drinking that. Everyone thinks I am drinking wine. There is beer and coolers there as well. And for eating out, go early and ask for all of your drinks to  be virgins. 

ellelepa

My SO hasn't been drinking either. We just say we are on a health kick and not drinking. Works very well.

ladystinson

I don't think it was mentioned on this thread (pretty sure it was another) but tonic water is generally to be avoided. There are some brands that don't contain quinine (dangerous when ku) but since you don't know what brand you're getting at the bar, club soda is a safer option. Happy "drinking"! Lol