The Holiday season is here and many of us will be hosting parties in our homes.  From intimate family gatherings to larger parties with work colleagues and friends, it is exciting to open your home to celebrate the holidays.  You get to pick a theme for your party, create the guest list and prepare the menu.  The menu will likely include food and drinks. Serving alcoholic beverages at a party is often expected.  In moderation, it can be fun to enjoy a glass of wine with friends or share office gossip over holiday cocktails.  In not-so-moderation, alcohol can have disastrous consequences.  Injuries resulting from a fall, a fight or a car crash increase when a person drinks too much.  For example, an intoxicated guest could damage your house or worse, injure himself.  A intoxicated guest who decides to drive after the party could kill herself or someone else in a car crash.

Hosting a party at your home comes with legal responsibilities.  They are not the same responsibilities as someone who runs a bar but serving alcohol during your party increases the scope of your responsibilities. Some of the responsibilities of a social host include keeping your guests safe, inside and outside of your home, and keeping other people safe from being injured by one of your intoxicated guests after the party.  If you fail to serve alcohol responsibly and someone gets hurt during or after your party, you could be held legally responsible for the injuries and damages caused by your intoxicated guest.

How can you host a fun holiday party while keeping your guests and others safe? Here are some ideas.

1. Don’t serve alcohol to someone who is underage. In Ontario, you must be at least 19 years old to drink alcohol.
2. Serve drinks, instead of guests serving themselves.  People are more likely to drink less if they do not have free access to the alcohol.
3. Stop serving alcohol to a guest that is intoxicated.
4. Offer alcohol-free drinks, such as water and pop. You can also prepare very tasty no-alcohol cocktails for your guests.
5. Serve food during the party.  Eating while drinking may slow down the speed at which your body absorbs the alcohol.  You may want to avoid serving only salty and greasy food because they usually make people thirstier.
6. Make sure that guests get home safe.  Ensure that intoxicated guests have designated driver.  Post the telephone number of local taxis or organizations offering safe rides home such as Operation Red Nose.  Invite guests to stay overnight. Do not be afraid of taking away someone’s car keys.  You could save his life or someone else’s life.
7. If your party gets out of hand and you fear for your safety or someone else’s safety, call the police.
8. Stay sober or drink moderately.  As a responsible host, it is important to remain lucid so that you can identify and solve problems.  If anything should happen to one of your guests, you will be far better equipped to deal quickly with the situation if you are sober.  Another reason to stay sober? You will enjoy (and remember) the awesome party that you had.

Have a safe and joyful holiday season!