At Bobbysix.com we go to enough events that involve pouring a bit of free booze down our necks to not be in a position to preach about the perils of drinking. But we also know that, when we wander down our local strip on a Friday night, we see drunk women puking into a gutter while their mates hold back their hair. We encounter hoards of unruly and obnoxious lads. We chuckle at people sucking the face off someone they wouldn't normally give a second glance to. It's hardly a vision of an enlightened society.
Now, we're not suggesting anyone should permanently give up the grog - hell, we positively encourage what the likes of Smirnoff and Guinness are doing for the music scene - but we are fully behind this year’s OCSOBER fundraising campaign for Life Education Australia. The idea of the campaign is to encourage adults across Australia to cut out alcohol for the month of October 2011 and help raise $750,000 for Life Education, so the charity can undertake its health and drug education programs in schools with everone's favourite giraffe, Healthy Harold.
With the idea of a dry month more than a little daunting, we popped along to a mixology lesson at Sydney's Circular Quay on Monday to learn how to make some 'mocktails', which, for those of you who are a little slow off the mark, are cocktails that don't contain any booze. We were joined by Nathan and Haley Bracken and one of the national ambassadors for the campaign, Michelle Bridges (above), who brought her own, super yummy low-calorie mocktail recipe with her. Below are some snaps of the fun we had creating our own alcohol-free creations. (Editor's note, Bobby was too chicken to tell Michelle Bridges that, when he goes to the gym, in lieu of having an actual personal trainer, he just pretends she is there shouting at him. He thought it might make him seem a bit, well, stalkerish).
You can sign up to OCSOBER now by visiting www.ocsober.com.au and help raise money by cutting out the booze this October. Don't think you can do a whole month without having a cheeky drink? No worries, participants can purchase a ‘Leave Pass’ for any special events they wanna celebrate during the month.
Are you tossing up whether to register for Ocsober this year, and cut out alcohol for the month? Well here are Bobbysix.coms's top 5 reasons to sign-up:
1. Lose weight. Did you know there are 120 calories in a glass of wine and 170 in a schooner of beer?
2. Save money. Australians spend an average of $31 a week buying alcohol.
3. Raise money for a good cause. Help raise $750,000 for Life Education to continue to deliver health, drug and alcohol education programs in schools.
4. Reduce drinking habit. 15 per cent of adult males and 12 per cent of adult females say they drink at risky/high risk levels.
5. ‘Detox’ before the party season. Give your liver a boost before the festive season kicks off.
