With the holidays well underway and New Years Eve right around the corner, one of my favourite things to do is get together to celebrate with friends and family.
Big New Years Eve parties, small impromptu get-togethers, neighbourhood gatherings, family reunions…all events that provide the chance to gather, eat, drink and be merry. But also events that can present a potential awkward moment when you realize there’s a guest who has had too much to drink and shouldn’t be grabbing the keys to drive home while impaired.
Here in Ontario, the LCBO’s “Deflate the Elephant” information campaign helps address such awkward situations by providing practical tools and tips on how you can help prevent friends, colleagues and loved ones from drinking and driving. Many of us have felt, at the end of a great evening, that there’s a giant elephant in the room – the guest who drank too much and wants to drive home. How we deal with that person determines whether we’re deflating the elephant or ignoring it and allowing it to overtake the situation. This campaign encourages us to speak up and to help prevent impaired driving.
The Deflate the Elephant holiday campaign includes a new, holiday TV commercial and an interactive website at www.deflatetheelephant.com, a one-stop for responsible hosting tips, tools and advice. There’s even a free iPhone app to help us all with this important issue. The SpeakUp app is a free app available from the iTunes store. It includes a calling feature to remind and encourage friends to plan ahead and a variety of delicious alcohol-free Mocktails recipes and demo videos.
For social media fans, you can also go to the Deflate the Elephant facebook page and like it; it provides a great forum to ask advice and share experiences with other party hosts and party goers who want to “deflate the elephant” and stop drinking and driving. While there, submit a photo and personal story for the Pledge explaining why and how you are helping to prevent drinking and driving.
What better gift could we give to one another this season than a commitment that each one of us arrives home alive?
This post was supported by the LCBO’s Deflate the Elephant Campaign. All opinions and experiences are my own.