The night before Thanksgiving is widely known as the biggest drinking night of the year.
It's Thanksgiving Eve, which means tonight is the busiest bar night of the year – at least, that's what national trends and traditions tend to tell us.
Thanksgiving Eve is the biggest drinking day of the year typically because most people do not have to go to work the next day and people are getting together for drinks at the local bar with family and old friends who are in town for a short time to celebrate the holiday.
The day before Thanksgiving—known as Blackout Wednesday—is the biggest drinking day of the year in many areas of the United States. But why has this hump-day holiday become the most popular day to binge drink?
Christmas Eve is the best night of the year to go out drinking. After months of Christmas carols, jingles and jangles, crowded malls and decked-out halls, postal strikes and flu shots across the nation leading up to the big day…you probably need a drink already.
The 12 Pubs of Christmas has become an annual tradition in Ireland with groups of friends going on drinking routes all over the country. The really eager beavers started at the end of November this year and the next few weekends should see pubs packed with Christmas very merry, jumper-wearing folk.
Monday-Wednesday is usually the slowest in general in the industry. Typically the busiest days are Friday and Saturday. This also sometimes depends on the bar or club, some have specific promotions or parties on nights during the week that are more successful than even their weekend nights.
The eve of Thanksgiving is actually considered the busiest night on US roads which leads to multiple highway fatalities and pedestrian deaths. While during the winter months, the data shows that an estimated 40% of all traffic accidents during Christmas and New Year's involve drunk drivers.
Why Is Blackout Wednesday a Thing? Blackout Wednesday became popular because many people don't have to work Thanksgiving day, allowing them to use the night before to catch up with family and old friends.
You've probably heard of Dry January, but what about Sober October? People all across the country use the month of October to dedicate 31 days to being alcohol-free. Not only do participants experience the general clarity that comes with being sober, but many also see some physical and mental health benefits as well.
The results of the survey concluded that 31 is the average age at which people tend to stop hitting the nightlife and that it was considered “tragic” to still be clubbing at 37.
Going to the club at any age is a great way to meet new people. In fact, you're likely to meet plenty of people your own age who are just as anxious about getting back into the club scene as you are. When you were in your twenties, you could party all night, drink what you wanted, eat junk food, and never gain weight.
Yet, going out to nightclubs (clubbing) is becoming less and less popular with Millennials and Generation Z. Several factors, such as the rise of abstinence and cases of GHB attacks, have contributed to this phenomenon, which is nightlife professionals. Younger generations are much less wild than their elders.
Thanksgiving Eve. Seems like people aren't spending Thanksgiving Eve just basting turkeys — they're at the bar. Also called Black Wednesday, it's widely known as the busiest bar night of the year, due to the influx of out-of-towners and the start of a four-day weekend.
Slang meaning. In the Irish Free State and Republic of Ireland, the "holy hour" (Irish: uair bheannaithe) was the term applied to the closing of public houses between 2.30 and 3.30 p.m. on Monday to Saturday in the cities of Dublin and Cork.
That means lots of going out and copious amounts of drinking. People tend to go out a lot more over the festive season with the holy trinity of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and St. Stephen's day being probably the most popular days to let your hair down.
Drinking during the Holiday Season
After the Fourth of July, the period between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day (spiking on Thanksgiving itself, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve) accounts for the most extreme cases of alcohol consumption.
Christmas Eve is generally a busy time and pubs are open, often quite late (in many a country village people go straight from the pub to midnight mass).
Approximately 40% of the population (aged 14 years and over) drink alcohol at least once per week, including 5% of the population who drink daily. Twenty-three percent of Australians do not drink alcohol at all.
France took the top spot with 132 days of alcohol consumption per year, or around three drinks a week. New Zealand followed with 120 days, and the Netherlands with 112 days. On average, respondents from the United States drank 83 days of the year, around two times a week.
Many people follow the "one drink an hour rule" to avoid going over the blood alcohol content of 0.08%. Essentially, the one drink per hour rule means that as long as someone only consumes 1¼ ounces of hard liquor, one beer, or one glass of wine and no more over the course of an hour, then they are safe to drive.
In NSW, you must be at least 18 years of age to enter a licensed venue and drink alcohol. Anyone who appears to look under 25 years old may need to provide proof of age when entering a licensed venue, buying, or consuming alcohol from that venue.