Dry January tips: how to get through the month

Most of the work of an alcohol-free January happens before you are offered a drink. These tips cover planning the month, what to keep in the fridge, what to say, how to handle weekends and events, and what to do when a craving shows up.

Plan the month before it starts

In 2027, January 1 is a Friday, so the month opens with a holiday weekend. Sit down for ten minutes in late December and look at the whole month at once.

• Mark the hard days. Fridays, birthdays, work dinners, game days, a trip. You already know most of them. Write a one-line plan next to each.
• Clear the house. Give away or put away the alcohol at home. Not having it within reach removes many small decisions.
• Pick your rules. "No alcohol" is the main one. Add two or three that help it, such as "Alcohol-free drink when I want a drink" or "Plan my Friday evening by Wednesday". The contract builder has these ready to tap.
• Find a partner. Ask a friend, partner or coworker to do the month with you, or at least tell one person. In a 2026 study of people who registered for the official challenge, doing it with others and not living with other drinkers were both linked to completing the month (de Visser and colleagues, Psychology & Health).

Alcohol-free drinks to keep at home

A lot of drinking is about the moment, not the alcohol: something cold after work, something in a nice glass at dinner, something to hold at a party. Keep a few options in the fridge so the moment still has a drink in it.

• Sparkling water, plain or flavored, with a slice of lemon, lime or orange.
• Soda water with a splash of juice, such as cranberry, grapefruit or pomegranate, over ice.
• Ginger beer or tonic water with lime. Both work as a mixer-style drink in a tall glass.
• Iced tea or cold-brew tea, which you can make by the pitcher.
• Something warm for winter evenings: herbal tea, hot chocolate, or warm apple cider with spices.
• Alcohol-free beer, wine and spirit alternatives. Read labels: some drinks sold as "non-alcoholic" contain a small amount of alcohol, often up to 0.5% ABV. Kombucha can also contain traces. If you want none at all, look for 0.0%.

Alcohol-free versions of beer and wine help some people and make others want the real thing. If a lookalike drink makes you think about drinking, pick something that tastes completely different.

What to say when someone offers you a drink

You do not owe anyone a long explanation. A short, friendly answer, said once, is usually the end of it. A few honest lines that work:

• "No thanks, I'm doing an alcohol-free January."
• "I'm good, I've got one." (Holding a glass of anything helps.)
• "I'm taking a month off to see how I sleep."
• "Not this month. I'll have a soda with lime."
• "I'm driving tonight." (Only if you are.)

If someone keeps pushing, change the subject or go and get yourself a drink. If a particular friend makes it hard every time, see that friend in the daytime this month.

Weekends and social events

Weekends are where most alcohol-free months are won or lost, because that is where the habits live. A few things make them easier:

• Move the plan, not the people. Suggest brunch instead of drinks, a café instead of a bar, a movie, a climbing gym, a walk, or a Saturday morning instead of a Saturday night. Richard de Visser, who has studied Dry January participants, suggests the same: meet in alcohol-free places and at alcohol-free times (The Conversation).
• Decide your drink before you arrive. Order first, so nobody orders for you. If you are hosting, put a good alcohol-free option next to everything else.
• Eat. Arriving hungry makes everything harder, including saying no.
• Set an exit time. Leaving at a time you picked in advance is easier than deciding on the spot late in the evening.
• Plan the night after the night out. Sunday mornings without a hangover are a good time for the thing you never get around to: a long run, a market, a project.

For a holiday weekend like January 1-3, plan all three days. Having nothing planned is the easiest way back to the usual routine.

Cravings and habits

Most drinking is a routine with three parts: a cue (getting home, starting to cook, Friday at 6 p.m., a stressful call), a routine (opening a drink) and a reward (the feeling of the day being over). You do not have to remove the cue or the reward. Swap the middle part.

• Name your cues. For the first week, note when you wanted a drink and what had just happened. Patterns show up quickly.
• Keep the ritual, change the drink. Same glass, same chair, same music, different drink. The signal that the day is over still happens.
• Delay and do something else. When a craving hits, tell yourself you will decide in a little while, then do something that takes your hands: a shower, a short walk, a call, dishes. A craving is a feeling, not an instruction.
• Watch the basics. Notice whether cravings come more often when you are hungry, tired or lonely. If they do, a snack, a call or an early night are honest tools.

Tracking and streaks

Writing the days down helps because it makes progress visible. Use whichever version you will actually look at:

• The daily tracker: check in each evening, see your streak and your perfect days, and share a progress card if you want to. Everything stays in your browser.
• The printed 31-day calendar from the contract builder, on the fridge or by your bed.
• A lock-screen wallpaper with your rules, so you see them each time you reach for your phone.

If you slip, mark it honestly and keep going the next day. The rule printed on the contract is never miss twice: one slip is a single day, two in a row is how the old routine comes back. A streak that restarts at day 12 is still twelve days you kept.

After January

February 1 is a choice, not a reset. Before the month ends, look back at your notes: how you slept, what you spent, which evenings were hard and which were easy. Then decide what you want February to look like and write it down, the same way you wrote down January. Some people keep going, some choose a few alcohol-free days each week, some go back to drinking with new limits. The benefits page summarizes what research has found about drinking after the month.

If you found it much harder to stop than you expected, that is worth talking to a doctor about. It is useful information, not a failure.

Start my Dry January contract

Challenge Contract is not affiliated with Alcohol Change UK. Dry January® is a registered trademark of Alcohol Change UK.