Top 8 Safety Tips for Women when out Drinking

Whether you’re a party animal or simply feeling the cabin fever and need to get out a bit, there are precautions that separate the sensible party animal from the fool. Here are a few tips to keep you in the sensible camp.

Tell someone where you’re going.

While you may feel that you’re entitled to privacy and shouldn’t have to report your life to anyone, there should be that one person that you can trust. If you’ve decided to go out alone, then prepare some contingencies. One of them should be an emergency contact. Tell them when you leave and where you’re going. Have a check in time; a simple text will do. Let them know when you’re leaving and when you arrive home safely.

Go out in a group

Even if you’re single and ready to mingle, it is far safer going out as part of a group. It's instinctive for people in a group to look out for their friends. If someone hasn’t been around for 20 minutes, it’s going to be noticed. Agree that no one will leave the party or venue without telling someone in the group. Groups can also have a few basic rules like confiscating car keys once the driver has reached their limit and doesn’t seem aware of it.

Guard your drink

Whether you are alone, out with a group, on a blind date or a first date, guard your drink. Spiked drinks have become a leading cause of violent crime against women. If you must go to the bathroom immediately after being served a new drink, then sacrifice the drink, because nobody’s life is worth the cost of double, is it? Consider drinking straight from the bottle and using a spike stopper. Some clubs and pubs give them away free, although you can order them online for only a few pence. If nothing else they are an excellent deterrent.

Eat some food

It’s easy not to realise how much alcohol you’re consuming when you’re having a good time. During the hot summer months, you can become thirsty because of the warm weather and not realise how much you’re drinking and how quickly. Keeping food in your stomach will mitigate this issue and slow down your drinking.

Know your limits

In the same way that you can become very drunk very quickly in the hot summer weather, it is a good idea to keep tabs on how much you’re drinking to keep up with the crowd. While you don’t need to open a spreadsheet app on your phone and tick boxes turning it into an admin exercise, you can decide on the number of drinks you’re going to have through the night and fill the gaps with a soft drink. There’s nothing wrong with having a vodka and coke followed by two cokes, before your next vodka and coke. You can take control of your alcohol consumption without feeling left out of the drinking fun.

Beware of weird drinks

Be especially careful if a stranger asks you to try out something new. If the taste is going to be unfamiliar, there is a risk that there’s something in the drink that you won’t be able to identify and simply pass it off as something to do with the mix. Only ever take a drink directly from the bartender, if you’re experimenting and make sure you know what’s in it. A long island iced tea is going to get you drunk much quicker than a single spirit and mixer.

Arrange you ride home before you go out

In the same way that you will have a check in mechanism with a friend, that was prearranged, it is prudent to prearrange your journey home. It is easy enough to book a cab with a taxi company or your local private hire firm. In fact, if you go out regularly it doesn’t hurt to have a regular taxi driver that gets to know you well. Taxi drivers have been known to save a girl’s life, especially if she has someone that gets into the cab with her that she doesn’t really want to take home. All you need to do is give your regular driver the wrong address, and he’ll know something's amiss

Don’t leave with a stranger particularly if that stranger turned up alone.

We all like to meet new people. When they have piqued our interest, we like to go out with them. It’s a golden rule for a girl out alone or with a group of friends not to go home with a stranger. If the stranger didn’t turn up with any friends, how can you by any measure be sure that he is who he says he is? Even when the boys turn up in a group, sometimes it’s a wise idea to decline a further invitation especially if they have no other women with them and one of them asks you to go back to their place with the rest of the group.

One of the best ways to establish the intentions of new people you meet while out on the town is to ask them to pose for a selfie. Post it to your social media pages and email the pictures to s friend. There aren’t many rapist and murderers that will take the risk with their photo having been taking and distributed in cyberspace. They’ll with back off entirely or know you have disseminated means of identifying them.

Go out, enjoy yourself, indulge in your favourite drinks and party the night away, but most importantly, be careful.