To Pregame or Not to Pregame a Date

A lot of us do it, and most of us aren’t ashamed to admit it.

We’re not talking about masturbating or anal sex, but something that seems harmless, but somehow ends up feeling more contentious.

We’re, of course, talking about pregaming dates.

Pregaming is a habit most of us pick up in college and carry with us into our twenties. (And maybe even our thirties? We don’t judge.) It’s grounded in reasonable principles: if you’re headed out to an overpriced bar, you don’t want to spend $60 on rum and diets when you can get the same buzz from downing a bottle of two-buck-Chuck at home.

But pregaming can sometimes turn into something else. When you take a shot before a date, you’re not doing it to save money, you’re doing it to calm your nerves before. And that’s also reasonable. The danger, as with anything else, lies in taking things overboard.

If you have a glass of wine before he picks you up, it might make you feel better and he probably won’t notice anything. If you have two glasses of wine and you’re already nervous, you might start doing that drunk-girl thing where you talk too quickly and laugh too frequently.

You’ll make a better impression as a sober nervous wreck than you will as a relaxed drunk.

That doesn’t mean you have to lay off the good stuff all together. But if you have a beer beforehand, go easy at dinner. Don’t order mixed drinks, and keep up with your date.

If he orders a bottle of wine and no one’s driving, by all means, indulge. But you don’t want to be stumbling out of the restaurant if he’s stone-cold sober. Remember that scene in Superbad where Michael Cera’s character isn’t interested in sex because the girl’s too drunk?

No one ever plans to get wasted on a first date, but it’s surprisingly easy to let it happen. Pace yourself, and if the room starts spinning, order more food.