I’ll preface this 21st birthday post by saying that I understand that people in other countries can drink and buy alcohol when they’re 18 (sometimes even younger). Since my experience is in the US I will often be referring to the drinking age as 21.

Turning 18 in the U.S. is a big deal. You can buy lottery tickets and cigarettes, register to vote, join the military, and get a tattoo. But PLEASE don’t do all those things at once. That being said it seems crazy to me that you can’t buy alcohol. Maybe this is so that you don’t get outrageously drunk and do all the things you can do once you turn 18. Who knows. All I know is, that once you’re legally an adult, you still have to wait three years before you can buy a $5.00 jug of wine. Your 21st birthday party should be fun! Here are some ideas of what you can do on your big day.

Go On a Bar Crawl

I’ve NEVER been an outrageously big drinker although I like to think I can hold my own. I do remember telling people that for my 21st birthday I wanted to be able to have 21 drinks. I don’t know why I ever said that. There’s no way in hell I could drink 21 drinks at that point. There’s actually been no time ever that I’ve been able to consume 21 alcoholic beverages in one day. When I mentioned to my friends that I wanted 21 drinks we all decided that a bar crawl was in order.

Living in Corvallis, Oregon at the time made it relatively easy to have a bar crawl that didn’t include driving. It’s a small town and the area around the school caters to drunken college students. So we started at one end of the main street and made out way to the other end. We probably ended up at six or seven places and I probably had one drink at each place before I tapped out. Drinking that much with all different types of alcohol

Create a Drink Book

When I turned 21 my friends took me on a bar crawl. They gave me a little notebook and pen. For every place we stopped and every drink I had, I wrote it down in the book. That way I could go back and see what I drank! It also showed how many drinks I had and my slow progression into a drunken mess. By the end of my entries in the notebook I could barely read what I had written and it didn’t make much sense. Ahhh the good old days.

I don’t have that notebook anymore, but I wish I did. One drink I remember writing about was a cocktail called Scooby Snack. This being 20 years ago I have a vague recollection of being in a dive bar and thinking this was possibly one of the greatest drinks ever invented. I can’t account for my taste then, but I actually think it still looks like it’d be delicious.

Having a theme party is always a lot of fun. Make it creative! Some ideas for themes can be:

Great Gatsby/Roaring ’20s

• Decorations: Gold and black color scheme, feathers, pearls, and art deco designs.
• Activities: Jazz music, dancing, and vintage cocktails.
• Dress Code: Flapper dresses, feather headbands, and suits with bow ties.

Hawaiian Luau

• Decorations: Tropical flowers, tiki torches, leis, and hula skirts.
• Activities: Limbo contest, hula dancing, and Hawaiian music.
• Dress Code: Hawaiian shirts, grass skirts, and flip-flops.

’90s Throwback

• Decorations: Neon colors, cassette tapes, and posters of ’90s icons.
• Activities: ’90s music, retro video games, and trivia.
• Dress Code: Grunge, neon, or classic ’90s fashion.

These are just a few ideas for themed birthday parties. Pick whatever you want! I always wanted a pirate themed party. Sad that I was outvoted by my friends who decided a cocktail party would be better.

Stock My Liquor Cabinet

I mentioned before that I’d had a “stock my liquor cabinet” housewarming party. This is the perfect time to have the same thing as your birthday party. No 21 year old has a shit ton of money just laying around to waste on insane amounts of alcohol. Have other people bring it for you! It doesn’t necessarily have to be liquor, people could bring a six pack of beer or whatever else you might like. I probably would have asked for Coors Light and Skyy Vodka as that’s what I was drinking at the time.

21st Birthday Don’ts

More than anything do NOT drink yourself to oblivion. You do NOT have to drink 21 drinks on your 21st birthday. Do NOT let random strangers bring you a drink. In these crazy times you never know what someone might have done to your drink. Do NOT forget to eat before you embark on your crazy journey, no matter what it is. Lastly, do NOT forget to have fun. This should be a great evening with friends, family, and all the people at the bars that I’m sure will want to celebrate with you.