Happy New Year!
New Years Eve can be a fun time to throw a party. Everyone likes to celebrate and ring in the New Year with good food and drink. As a host you want to make sure everyone has fun and you want them home safe after the celebration.
Most states have some form of host liquor liability laws on the books. Basically the law is written to protect anyone under the legal drinking drinking age of 21. If you knowingly served a minor in your home you broke the law and will be made responsible for any harm that came to him or her. The same holds true with serving someone who is visibly intoxicated. If you continue to serve someone who has had too much to drink and they hop in the car and have an accident on the way home hurting themselves or someone else you can be help responsible for that accident. In short you can be sued.
Take A Few Precautions To Protect Yourself and Your Guest
A little planning can go a long way.
- Serve food with alcohol. It’s well documented that people do not get as drunk is they are eating food with a drink.
- Ask your guest as they come in if they have a designated driver tonight, make sure you know who that is.
- Serve non-alcoholic beverages. This gives guest a choice.
- Don’t keep topping off your guest drinks. People have a tendency to keep drinking if the glass is never empty.
- Stop serving alcohol about an hour before the party ends. Offer coffee, tea, soft drinks and water.
- Don’t let a viably drunk guest drive home. Call them a cab or ask someone else to drive him or her home. Be prepared to offer them a place to sleep in your home.
- If you have minors attending the party just tell them no! They are under the legal drinking age, therefore they cannot have any alcohol. Stand by this rule even if the parent says its okay. It’s your home and they are guest.
- Don’t get drunk yourself. As the host it is your responsibility to make sure everyone gets home safe and enjoys your party.
- Ask a friend or your partner to help you manage the party. If someone gets out of hand its nice to have back up.
- Hire a professional server who is trained to know when someone needs to quit drinking and its time to call a cab. This takes all the pressure off you.
I want to take this time to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope you will have a great year and thank you for being great customers and many of you are friends.
See you in 2014.
Rex Lesueur
