Mindful Drinking Advent 22: Hosting with Ease and Inclusion

GET READY FOR YOUR BEST (ADULT) CHRISTMAS YET & GET YOUR FREE MINDFUL DRINKING ADVENT CALENDAR AT http://mindfuldrinkingadvent.com/

On Day Twenty-Two of the Mindful Drinking Advent, we talk about hosting — and how to do it with ease, generosity, and inclusion. 

This episode shows you how to set up your drinks space so low, no and light options carry the same weight as alcoholic ones, making everyone feel welcome without creating more work for yourself. 

From stocking variety to making drinks self-serve, it’s about thoughtful preparation that lets you enjoy your own Christmas too.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to day 22 of your mindful drinking audio advent here on the Mindful Drinking and Moderation in Midlife podcast with me, Denise Hamilton Mace. It's day 22 and we are talking about the upcoming hosting. If you are having Christmas Day, we're going to talk about how you can be the host with the most or the hostess with the most des and host with ease when it comes to uh low no and light drinks and drinkers. This one's pretty easy, I think, and it's all about creating an environment where everybody feels included, no matter how they choose to show up for the lunch, for the dinner, for the evening, for the day, whatever it is. If you are hosting this Christmas, it's really important that you don't make low-no drinkers, and that includes yourself, feel like an afterthought. You likely have an area in the house where the drinks are going to live. A table, an extra table you set up in the kitchen, or if you happen, like my mum, to have a bar in the living room. Um, and on that bar, if you've been drinking for any length of time, you'll have a wide selection of alcoholic drinks from beers and ciders and wines to spirits, ports, bailey's, of course, it being Christmas. You need to make sure that that offering is duplicated for low, no, and light drinkers. And again, that includes yourself. Don't make that an afterthought. It is not good enough anymore to just have one thing available for everyone who might decide to be drinking differently at this season. Just as when you go to the pub or the bar or the restaurant, you don't only want to be given a list of three alcohol-free beers, which is my personal bug beer for most places that we go. That actually they do have a selection of alcohol-free drinks. Unfortunately, that selection is just three beers. And from time to time, I would like to drink something other than a lager. Personal rant over. Make sure that when you are hosting, you make it count. Set up your drink station with equal weight of alcohol-free options displayed as prominently as the alcoholic ones. Now, if you're listening to this and you are already in a state where you don't drink alcohol yourself, you might be in two minds as to whether or not you should provide alcohol for your guests. Now, it's up to you what you feel is the right thing to do. What I would say is think about how you want people to feel when they come to your home. Do you want them to feel welcome and cared for and thought about and included? If so, then you might need to expand your offering to make sure that there's a good selection of alcoholic drinks as well. And you can make it clear to people how you expect them to behave in your house. You can't police uh an adult choice of what and how they drink, but you can tell them the behavior that is acceptable in your house, in your in your home. Um, so stock variety, you know, sparkling wines, spirits, beers, or ready-to-drink cocktails. Um, they're all available in alcohol-free and alcohol-ful options. Uh, and a lot of supermarkets at this time of year will be doing lots of deals. So if you're not sure what to get, just go and find a couple of, you know, buy two, get the third one free sort of options and create a variety. Or better still reach out to your friends and say, what do you enjoy drinking? What do you like? What can I make sure is there for you? Um, and then make your bar area nice and easy. Now, this doesn't matter whether it's alcohol-free or alcohol full, uh, lots of glassware, make sure you've got lots of ice, uh, garnishes if there's uh cocktail options there. Uh, just make it easy, make it easy for people so that you don't have to get involved, they can go and help themselves and they'll feel welcome and cared for in your home because that is how you want the people that you love to feel when they come and spend time with you. To make this easier for today's Advent email, when you open the door, you'll find a selection of some variety packs that are a really easy win for alcohol-free guesting. Um, there's some sparkling teas, which are really popular at the moment, uh, some mop towels and some and some beer mixed packs that can really help to just take the pressure off trying to decide and figure out what to serve everybody. So go and check those out. And of course, as usual, you can use the discounts that go with them. Um, and I will see you tomorrow for day 23. Until then, cheers to a Christmas less intoxicated.