How to be sober and enjoy a house party when everybody else is drunk?

Mr Rhode Island Red

I figured this might be an appropriate forum for my plight.

I am at the latter end of my teens and I was at a house party last night. I'm a pioneer, so I have absolutely no desire to drink alcohol whatsoever. Peer pressure doesn't affect me because my desire never to drink is like a reinforced concrete wall. I even hate the smell of it.

But last night at the house party there was about 30 or 40 of us (lads and ladies, but mostly lads). And EVERYBODY, with the exception of 3 of my friends and I, got smashed.

It started at about 8:30 and went on till 3am. And pretty much from the word go there was drinking going on. Cider all the way up to 50% Polish Vodka.

As the night progressed people around me got drunk and stupid. Slurring their words and talking rubbish slowly moved on to falling over and letting cans fall out of their hands which then apexed at vomiting, urinating in the back lawn, and people going into bedrooms with people they barely knew. Sorry if the last part there is a bit graphic but I'm trying to paint a picture here...

The "sobers" stuck to the club orange and 7up. But our role for the night didn't really involve having a good time. It involved looking after people that had overdone it. Trying to get them to drink water, helping them get sick, and prevent them getting hurt or falling down stairs and the like.

We tried to maintain a happy and relaxed way about us. We played cards and tried to converse with anybody who still hadn't completely become a slurring, burping mess. But by the end of the night we were stressed, concerned, rather disappointed, and bored. In the end we just decided to slip out the door around 1:30am.

On the way home, we discussed how much of a hames of a night it was. And we just wondered: "Is this what we have to look forward to regarding house parties for the next decade or two?"

We felt rather alienated during the night. Mostly because we were in the minority I suppose.

I have no intention to join the crowd. We still want to go to parties, not drink alcohol, and have a good time. But, how? How do ye enjoy a party while sober when everyone around you is getting plastered? I'd really appreciate some tips because I love socialising, I love people, I love the craic, but I want to be able to do all this even when all but a few around me are dunk.

Thanks


TL;DR Non-drinker teenager looking for tips on how to enjoy house parties as a non-drinker when everybody else around you is getting smashed.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Things will pick up. Your friends are only beginning to discover alcohol and how it affects them. In time, they'll come to learn their limits, and not get quite so drunk.

mickydoomsux

Been in your situation a few times and frankly it's just crap and i stopped going to things like this.

There's zero point in being at a house party if you aren't drinking. You can't play drinking games which will straight away make people single you out as a "dry ****e" or somesuch, you'll get tired of the drunk-talk and messy-ness and people basically expect you to play babysitter. You can't even really get with a member of the opposite/same sex in any way if they are drunk because you'll be seen as taking advantage of the situation.

I say save yourself the aggravation (i've been through it) and realize that this is part of your life that is gone because you have decided not to drink. Would you go hang around a crack house or shooting gallery?