During summer training, we ran alcohol workshops to introduce you to the Why Let Good Times Go Bad? campaign and to get your input into this national responsible drinking campaign. You might remember that we asked you to come up with ideas for three key messages; alternate your alcoholic drinks with soft drinks, eat a meal before you go out drinking and look out for your mates.
You came up with some fantastic ideas, so we thought we'd list them all here to give you all a kickstart to your campaign - enjoy!
Eating isn’t cheating
You could rent out a hot dog stand or something similar to sell (or even give away!) cheap food.
- What food places are open late and where they are
Why not let your students know which local food places are open late and where they are?
- What food places taxis will pick people up from
Another idea was to let students know the main food places that taxis would do pick ups from.
Teach your students to cook quick, cheap, healthy food and give some free samples away at the same time!
A simple solution could be to lower the prices of food in your bars…
Why not try out a meal deal in your student’s union to encourage your students to eat there? Benefits for both you and them!
It was suggested that often students ran out of money before they could buy food during a night out, so why not set up a voucher scheme where they can buy one at the beginning of the night and exchange it for takeaway later in the evening?
Why not do a promotion of providing free food to promote the importance of eating before a night out?
Make sure that the food you do provide isn’t anything that needs too complex a tool to open it!
Students want to look their best on a night out and food that bloats might not be conducive to that! Try and provide a few healthy options to encourage those in tighter fitting outfits to eat as well.
Cheap, cheerful and always a hit – why not provide free toast in your bars?
Several unions have mentioned that they’ve done promotions with Dominos where the company has given out free pizza – see if you can set something up.
Why not ask your bar staff if you can have some snacks available at cost price in your bars?
Wednesday is often a big drinking night – make sure you feed your clubs and societies if they’re hitting the bars.
Why not remind people when they’re opening their first drinks of the evening that they should have a meal as well?
Baked potato anyone?
Why not look into events that are about eating and drinking? You could promote cheap meal deals for society socials or include some fun food in your club nights.
More money for your union services and more opportunity for food for your students – what could be better?
It was suggested that unions could provide loyalty cards or discount vouchers for food…
Why don’t you use your budget to subsidise food for a night?
Instead of a happy hour or 2-4-1 on alcoholic drinks, why not do it for bar snacks?
Keep it smooth with a break from the booze
Why not have some promotional water fairies giving out free water or soft drinks at your union club nights?
Someone went as far as to suggest having your very own waterfall at the union! Perhaps an easier idea would be to look into installing drinking fountains?
Why not promote a few water drinking games? Get your club night DJ involved and your dance floor will soon be playing it smooth!
Why not give away a free glass of water or soft drink with every alcoholic drink bought?
Why not warn your students that they’re reaching their limit with a yellow card? This could double up as a free soft drink voucher.
Got lots of students with cars? Why not set up a designated driver scheme?
Say no to pitchers!
Unless they’re filled with soft drinks or water…
Why not encourage your students to take a break from the booze by letting them know just how many calories they’re downing? A pint of lager is 244…
Don’t take off without your wingman
Why not remind your students about responsible drinking with a festival style wristband? Perhaps you could run a union wide competition to see who can keep their’s on for longest?
Always make sure you’ve got taxi numbers to hand.
Keep your students safe on their journey home by giving out free rape alarms
Highlight dangerous areas of town to your students so they know where to avoid.
Why not set up a late night bus scheme to ferry your students home? Or you could advertise late night public transport details in your union.
A few unions mentioned that during fresher’s weeks they did ‘round ups’ in a union mini van to pick up students who needed a lift home.
See if you can strike up a deal with a local taxi company where they’ll collect students who have no money, but can instead exchange their student card and pay at union reception the next day. You might be surprised that taxi companies will often pay for the privilege of being advertised in this way – its very lucrative for them!
Encourage a group of friends to set up a buddy system where they all look out for eachother…
Set up a meeting point for friends to find each other if they get separated
Set up teams of volunteers to make sure people are getting home safely, give away free water and just generally keeping the peace!
Set up an area where people can chill out before they leave, grab some water, wait for their friends and call a taxi