How to Socialize When you Don't Drink

Similar lifestyle choices are important when you are looking for friends to hang out with or partners to date. They ensure that similar venues will be preferred and there will be less scope for social discomfort or negative attitudes. However sometimes it can be quite difficult to adopt and maintain a lifestyle choice that is not really mainstream. One of the most common of these situations is when someone does not drink but finds that most people around him or her does. If you too are a teetotaler and don’t drink alcohol, here are a few tips ways to look for socializing opportunities.

Reach out to those with similar choices

The surest way to have a good social life while being a teetotaler is to look for other people who stay away from alcohol. You can scour your local newspaper or classifieds in to order to look for teetotalers club or other groups which invite members to socialize without alcohol. Tap into alcohol de-addiction programs and resources in your community and they might be able to give you addresses about hangouts where those keeping off alcohol can meet and socialize. You can even do a web search if any non-alcoholic social groups are available in your city and head for the place where they usually meet up. If such a one does not exist in your town, think about starting one through a social networking site or your own blog. This way you will not only be meeting new people with the same lifestyle choices as yours but encouraging those who may have been as yet undecided for lack of other viable socializing alternatives.

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Hang out at places which don’t serve alcohol

Instead of going out with your friends and co-workers at bars and nightclubs, suggest meeting at stylish cafes and delis and even up-market ice cream parlors. Many of these places have the same colorful vibes, awesome music and social buzz as a bar and would make equally great hangouts for even those who take alcohol. If you cannot convince your friends to come over, take the initiative and get involved in groups and activities that preclude any alcoholic experience. Youth and voluntary activities associated with the Church for instance can be a great way to meet singles and make friends without making alcohol part of the equation. If you are not the religious kind, you can still look for other voluntary initiatives that will help you meet new people in a sober context. Book lovers could offer to put in a few hours weekly at the community library while those fond of animals could volunteer at the local veterinary clinic or the animal shelter.

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If you are looking for dating ideas as a non-alcoholic, try and look for ways you and your partner could pursue a common hobby. If you both are foodies, try and sign up for a culinary workshop for couples or go to a place where they serve exotic cuisine minus alcohol. On the other hand art lovers, could browse through an art gallery on a Sunday afternoon or join a pottery class and have fun playing with different colors and textures. If the outdoors kind of person, look for hiking or biking clubs that you can join and spend an enjoyable day in the midst of like-minded people. Dating activities or even socializing with friends based on shared interests will take the focus away from drinking and ensure that that you and your date or your friends can have a good time without drinking. However avoid going to comedy clubs where everyone is likely to sit with a beer or events like book launches where cocktails will be part of the scene since you may feel singled out as keep declining.

Order carefully

The bar however is not simply a place to get wasted; it can also be a great place to socialize, meet new friends, catch up with old ones, or even meet that special someone. It could be that you may not have nothing against alcohol but wish to avoid drinking for a particular evening for various reasons like having an important breakfast meeting the next day or being the designated driver for a friend’s party. Even those who are strictly teetotalers may not wish to avoid the bar altogether since they like the atmosphere and camaraderie of the bar and staying away completely can mean missing out on many socializing and even dating opportunities. If this is the case with you then don’t be afraid to drop in at the bar but get a little creative while ordering your drinks. Instead of falling back upon Coke and Pepsi, encourage the bartender to mix you a nice mocktail, that is a cocktail in which the alcohol is substituted with soda water or sparkling fruit juice. If you like Bloody Marys, get one sans vodka while mix of cranberry juice and lime juice can look like a Cosmopolitan. A Shirley Temple, again, is citrus soda and grenadine. A Roy Rogers is cola and grenadine while an Arnold Palmer is lemonade and iced tea. Some bars you go to may have a selection of craft sodas, root beers, or ginger ales.

For the times when you are in the thick of a party and don’t wish to stick out like a sore thumb with your fruit juice, you can even order something which looks like an alcoholic drink. There are a slew of non-alcoholic beers that taste better than the regular O’Doul’s, - Heineken makes one called Buckler, and Guinness makes one called Kaliber. On the other hand if you wish to look as though you are drinking wine, keep in mind that Apple juice in a wine glass looks like a Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay to the untrained eye. Likewise Grape juice can pass off for many a red wine if no one is paying attention while Sparkling white grape juice looks a lot like champagne. Then again, soda water, tonic water, seltzer, or citrus soda can be easily replacements for clear liquor with a clear mixer. A vodka tonic looks exactly like plain tonic water in the same glass side by side. So just as there are endless combinations when mixing alcohol drinks, the same goes for non-alcoholic drinks. Try a few things out and find your favorite. Your bartender will be more than happy to help you out. They don’t care what they’re making, just as long as you are generous with your tip.