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Safe Grad Parties

Sir Robin Goodfellow

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I read a short article in the Leader Post today regarding what's called "safe grad parties". The situation is this: the parents of high school students purchase alcohol for their children and their friends, tickets are sold to the party, which is held at a supervised location. It's called "safe" because the children are supervised by adults, and they are limited to ten drinks. Apparently, you need to be in at least grade ten to buy a ticket.


Does anyone know of these parties happening around their areas? When I was in school, there was a chem-free graduation party at the school that lasted until morning, but after that, most kids went to various parties for the rest of the weekend. I never went to any of these parties, so I can't say where the booze came from, but I can't remember anyone saying that their parents bought them alcohol. Maybe they did, though, because the drinks had to come from somewhere.


Did anyone here get booze from their parents? Has anyone here bought alcohol for their own underage children? Are these types of parties a good idea or not? I can see why some people think they're better than the alternative, but does this not encourage irresponsible drinking?
 
My wife bought alcohol for our children when they were 16 and 17 (18 is legal drinking age here) to go to specific parties. We know they are going to drink underage anyway (virtually everyone does) so felt that we had at least some control over how much they drank.

We recently held an 18th birthday party for one of our sons. We didn't supply alcohol, but the guests, a number of whom were under 18, brought their own. We had hired security guards there to make sure nobody got too intoxicated.

I have no problems with our actions at all.
 
I often wonder how aliens would view us, as almost every society seems to have ingesting toxins to inhibit mental capacity as a recreational and social thing.

Society is weird :confused: .
 
We had a party like that for my high school graduation. It was held at an undisclosed location so that people couldn't smuggle in extra alcohol.

I never went, so I don't remember how it as actually supposed to be arranged.
 
anyone under 18 is a kid (kid meaning to be a minor).

any parent who buys their children alchol for any reason is being irresponsible. these parents should be arrested.


ETA: "Safe" Grad Parties from what I remember is that the entire graduating class would go on a "all night' party on a boat, or to a camping spot after the graduation ceremony where there were teachers and volunteer parents that would keep the students busy with activities, like a dance, hiking, telling ghost storeis around a camp fire, with NO alcohol being served to anyone. This was to keep the the "accident" rate down, due to celebrations from graduating


Dont know how "safe" grad parties grew to mean that adults bought and served the alchol to those under the legal age to drink
 
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When I was in high school we had these all the time. Granted it was because we were a football town* and thus many of the adults thought we deserved it. For the record it was VERY irresponsible but since nothing really bad happened to us I doubt many would admit it was wrong.

*If you've seen the movie Varsity Blues it was like that sans the stripper teacher, stealing the police car, and the psychotic coach.
 
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Arus808 said:
any parent who buys their children alchol for any reason is being irresponsible. these parents should be arrested.k
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Does that also apply in countries where the drinking age is lower, and children being responsibly introduced to alcohol by their parents is an accepted non-issue? Or is it only good in the US, where people are magically granted the ability to handle booze responsibly on their 21st birthday?
 
SezMe said:
How exactly is allowing a kid to drink TEN alcoholic drinks (whatever that means in terms of actual alcohol consumption) responsible?
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According to Colleen Dell, research chair in substance abuse in the sociology department at the University of Saskatchewan, "Having ten drinks in one evening would not be safe for many." She also said that binge drinking is defined by having five or more drinks in one sitting.


It's important to remember that the party in question would have served alcohol to students in grade ten, who could be as young as fifteen.


The response of the police is strange. RCMP sergeant Brian Jones said, "It is an arrangement between private property owners and parents and guardians of those people in attendance. It's a private function on private land. Whether or not it's a good idea or not is not for us to decide." I can't imagine that private property has much to do with breaking the law. I wonder if the police would be willing to step in if pre-teens were having a parentally supervised drinking party?
 
Arus808 said:
anyone under 18 is a kid (kid meaning to be a minor).

any parent who buys their children alchol for any reason is being irresponsible. these parents should be arrested.
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Or under 21 in the US?

Did you ever drink underage Arus808?
 
Quinn said:
Does that also apply in countries where the drinking age is lower, and children being responsibly introduced to alcohol by their parents is an accepted non-issue? Or is it only good in the US, where people are magically granted the ability to handle booze responsibly on their 21st birthday?
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We should remember that this is not a case of a parent allowing a child to have a glass of wine with their meal, it's parents supplying alcohol to minors for the purposes of drunkenness. The party referenced was to run from nine in the evening until two in the morning. If I, a fully grown, averaged-sized man were to drink ten glasses of whisky in that time frame, I would probably lose consciousness. That is a lot of alcohol. For the record, the legal age for alcohol consumption in Saskatchewan is nineteen.


In North America, we don't have the same relationship with alcohol that some European nations do. You cannot imagine what the bars in Estevan are like. You don't go alone. You need someone to back you up when trouble starts (and it always does). For some, getting drunk and acting stupid and dangerously are just the usual weekend plans.
 
lionking said:
Define "kid".
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From the OP, a high school student. I don't know about Aussie nomenclature but in the USA that means 8-12 grade (or 9-12 where there is a middle school). That translate to, roughly, 13-18 year olds. It is the educational level before kids head off to college.
 
Sir Robin Goodfellow said:
We should remember that this is not a case of a parent allowing a child to have a glass of wine with their meal, it's parents supplying alcohol to minors for the purposes of drunkenness. The party referenced was to run from nine in the evening until two in the morning. If I, a fully grown, averaged-sized man were to drink ten glasses of whisky in that time frame, I would probably lose consciousness. That is a lot of alcohol. For the record, the legal age for alcohol consumption in Saskatchewan is nineteen.


In North America, we don't have the same relationship with alcohol that some European nations do. You cannot imagine what the bars in Estevan are like. You don't go alone. You need someone to back you up when trouble starts (and it always does). For some, getting drunk and acting stupid and dangerously are just the usual weekend plans.
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How do you conclude that the purpose was drunkenness? And from ten drinks you extrapolate to ten whiskys?

I would much rather have young people drink in a somewhat controlled situation rather than in a park away from any supervision. Or doesn't underage drinking exist in Saskatchewan?
 
SezMe said:
From the OP, a high school student. I don't know about Aussie nomenclature but in the USA that means 8-12 grade (or 9-12 where there is a middle school). That translate to, roughly, 13-18 year olds. It is the educational level before kids head off to college.
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13-18 is quite a range. Personally I don't see a problem with 16 and 17 year olds having a drink in a controlled environment.

AFAIK in Australia, while it is illegal for under 18s to buy alcohol, it is not illegal for them to have a drink. Public drunkenness is, of course illegal as is serving under 18s in a bar.
 
SezMe said:
That's not the issue. Most kids do imbibe illegally. But that does not justify sponsoring an event where kids are invited to get ****faced by adults who should know better.
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I'm really trying to understand the thinking behind this. You acknowledge that under age people will drink, but you don't want to see any attempt to supervise it.
 
The purpose must be drunkenness. If you are having a social drink, you have a glass of wine, or a beer, or a cocktail. If you're drinking ten beers, you're trying to get drunk. And you'll succeed. The article stated that various types of alcohol would be served, among them rye whisky. If I had ten glasses of wine I'd be drunk off my ass.


Sure, there will be some kids at the party who will have two drinks and just enjoy socialising, but, let's be reasonable, many are going to drink their limit. If I remember being young well enough, getting stupidly hammered will be the goal for many present and doing so will be seen as a badge of honour.
 
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