Drop the Drink is an online fundraising initiative that encourages individuals or groups to sign up to the challenge of a month-long-sponsored abstinence from alcohol.

It’s simple - give up drinking for the month, then you ask your friends and family to sponsor you!

Now, we aren’t anti-drink.  But  it’s a great way to clear your head, take advantage of some great health benefits, and – most importantly – help raise funds for sick and injured children across the country!  By giving up drink for 31 days, and asking friends and family to pledge their support, you really can make miracles happen.

With the help of a Children’s Miracle Network hospital, children of all ages and backgrounds receive treatment for every imaginable disease and injury – from asthma and broken bones to cancer and heart defects. Children’s hospitals are also the front lines of research, education and outreach programmes that keep millions of children out of the hospital each year.

Children’s Miracle Network hospitals depend on community support to help fund vital services, specialised care and unique programmes designed specifically for children. Most funds are raised a pound/euro or two at a time by caring individuals, like you!

Thank you for dropping the drink, and helping make miracle happen!

DARREN LEE

That said, I have decided to Drop The Drink and it’s helped.

It’s been a welcome invitation to a lighter liver but NOT a lighter purse.

It’s going well, I’ve already used my one-off pass, although some say I used it foolishly as I had one beer with a Mexican meal, but that was fine by me.

I’ve definitely dropped a pound or two – my jeans feel a little looser and so far my pledge to drop the drink has raised over £100 for sick children across Oxfordshire. That’s cool.

Some of my friends, no wait…my boyfriend has tried to twist my arm into drinking a few times; “No one will know, come on it’s just one drink”, but I think he’s got the message now, besides, I’ve discovered non-alcoholic larger (allelujah!) and I rate that as being a perfectly acceptable substitute.

This weekend’s looking like it won’t pose any drinking danger, and since I signed up this campaign I’ve re-discovered my passion for herbal teas.

Who wants a hangover anyway?

Rosie x

Wednesday (noun) is a day of the week in the Gregorian calendar. According to international standards, it is the third day of the week, the day between Tuesday and Thursday.  The name comes from the Middle English Wednes dei, which is from Old English Wōdnesdæg, meaning the day of the English god Woden.

This is all information that you are unlikely to be asked, ever,  but trivial information that is fun to know. And something to help you get to the weekend (or through the day at least).

Other things to do tonight at home, or plan them for a night with friends and family (and don’t have alcohol around so you’re not tempted):

• Game Night – board games have come back with a vengeance. Pull out (and dust off) some old classics, like Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, or Pictionary. Or get a new twist on an old classic, have you seen the new Monopoly games with debit cards? It’s not child’s play anymore!
• Video Games – if board games aren’t really your thing, have a ‘video game night.’ There are so many fun and interactive games out now, wiiFit, Singstar, Guitar Hero, RockBand. You could host your own X-Factor competition.
• A SWAP party – (for the ladies!) invite your friends over and tell them to bring clothes, shoes and accessories they don’t want anymore to SWAP. The more you bring, the more you get. Fashion swap parties can be great fun and a brilliant way to refresh your closet.

Need a night out of the house? Make sure you catch Avatar at the theatres (I know we’ve mentioned this one already), but it swept at the Golden Globes award show on Sunday. If you’ve already seen it, check out another movie from the award show nominee list.

Let us know how you get over ‘Hump Day,’ or new found activities that you’ve been enjoying since you’ve Dropped The Drink …

Happy Hump Day!

Why not, there are a lot of great mocktails out there, or order your favourite drink, virgin-ised.

Here are a few you can make yourself, or order while you’re out with friends:

• If you enjoy Whiskey, try Whissin! Made from a mixture of barley, maize and wheat, the tipple is the product of more than two years’ research and tests by the family firm, Espadafor, which specialises in non-alcoholic substitutes. Drink it on the rocks, with a mixer or try a Whiskey Mac!
• Rum fan? Non-alcoholic Ronsin is made from brown cane sugar, honey and natural rum essence. Enjoy it on ice with a slice of lemon, or use it to make a Virgin Colada.
• A golf fan, order an Arnold Palmer, a beverage consisting of half unsweetened iced tea and half lemonade named for golfing legend Arnold Palmer.
• Girl’s Night Out? Be the Belle of the Ball and order a Cinderella – 2oz Club Soda, 1 dash grenadine, 1 oz lemon juice, orange juice, and pineapple juice.
• For Safe Sex on the Beach – cranberry juice, grapefruit juice, and peach nectar.
• A few true classics: Shirley Temple, Virgin Daiquiri, or a Virgin Mary.

Or just ask for a glass of water or soda water with a lemon or lime. People will just assume it contains alcohol.

Party away!

Just act like you’re dinking! It will be fun to see if any of the intoxicated people pick up on your soberness. Drink cranberry/7-up or Red bull and psych yourself into feeling like you’re having a couple drinks. Let loose and have fun.

Talk to the Lovely Ladies/Gents

While all of your friends are drunk and can’t form words into sentences, you can prove your maturity to the girls/guys by showing them you have restraint and control.

Mess With Your Friends

- Constantly tell your friends you need a tenner for petrol and see how much you rack up by the end of the night.

 - Stick a tenner (that you probably got from your friends) in the juke box and select the same song to play over and over. The key is to pick a song everyone likes the first time, but can’t stand after the tenth time. May I suggest anything by Prince, Eminem or Queen?

Another hilarious weekend for Eoin Mc Devitt

“Who knew it cost so much to buy a soft drink in a pub? 5.20 for a pint of Coke?! 2 euro for a bit of poxy auld blackcurrant???!!! Bloody hell, it might make economic sense to get back on the booze!!!”

“Anyway, survived the big freeze with my sobriety intact (am I the only person in the country who enjoyed the “cold snap”? Snow is fun). Searching for things to do to occupy my weekends, I may give Dublin’s O’Byrne Cup opener against Wexford at Parnell Park a rattle on Sunday…”

No signs of Bernard Jackman giving up yet

“With both our games having been postponed so far in January due to the weather its been easy not going out as you feel as if you don’t deserve it and its important to maintain fitness levels too.

Saturday night one of my teammate’s wives’s organised a surprise 30th for him in Ashtons Clonskeagh. Most of the Leinster team was there and we were all on Minerals or still water!

With big games coming up over the next fortnight against Brive and London Irish there might be temptation ahead.”

Professor Richard Wiseman studied 700 volunteers who made a wide range of resolutions, including quitting smoking, losing weight, starting a relationship or gaining a qualification or giving up drink for a month starting whenever you like (….ok we added that last bit in)

Just 22pc of participants managed to meet their goals or described their progress as “very successful”.

The reason so many failed was that they took the wrong approach and were led astray by self-help books, according to Prof Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire in England.

By comparing the techniques of successful and unsuccessful resolution makers, he came up with a list of tips for staying the course when making changes in one’s life.

People who failed tended to dwell on the “bad things” that would happen if they did not achieve their goal, said the professor.

They were likely to remove temptation from their surroundings, adopt role models, fantasise about being successful, and rely on will power.

Experts

“Many of these ideas are frequently recommended by self-help experts but our results suggest that they simply don’t work,” said Prof Wiseman. “Because of the widespread nature of this advice, millions of people will fail to achieve their aims.”

Successful participants, on the other hand, broke their goals into small steps and rewarded themselves when each stage was passed.

They also told friends about what they were trying to achieve, reminded themselves of the benefits of obtaining their goal, and charted their progress.

“Many of the most successful techniques involve making a plan and helping yourself stick to it,” said Prof Wiseman.

“Those carrying out all five techniques were around 20pc more successful than others. Failing to achieve your ambitions is often psychologically harmful because it can rob people of a sense of self-control. I hope that this new research will help people change their lives in 2010,” he added.

Prof Wiseman advised making only one resolution to increase chances of success and treating any failure as a temporary set-back rather than a reason to give up altogether.

- John von Radowitz in London

Irish Independent