Do I need to drink to participate?

ABSOLUTELY NOT! We ask everyone to be as RESPONSIBLE as possible

I know, I know, I’m not your F%^&^$% Mum, but you know what, I have to do this… Or my mum will have my head. And believe me, you don’t want to mess with my mother. She’s killed snakes and planted coconut trees by herself.

So, here’s the deal.

• If you intend to drink any alcohol on St. Patrick’s Day (or any other day), be responsible and DO NOT DRIVE. Arrange for a designated driver or inquire at the bar for a driving service to take you and your car safely home. Please see Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
• If you intend to drink be responsible, do not over indulge. Being too drunk ain’t that fun and you can do some crazy stuff. I mean you might drunk dial your spouse and cause hell. There’s no need to end up in hospital or get someone else there. Emergency Room visits on St. Patrick’s Day should only be to decorate and dance with leprechauns! If you think that you or someone you know may have a problem related to alcohol abuse, please tell someone. Contact Alcoholics Anonymous.
• If you have the urge to drink and dial a loved one, don’t. Call us leave us a message instead!

Most of all, have a SAFE and RESPONSIBLE St. Patrick’s Day.

Why are you doing this?

Well, honestly, it started out as a bit of fun and we’ve had so much fun every year, we want to make it bigger and bigger. It’s all about fun and a good time.

Will I be charged for doing this?

Not by us you won’t. However, phone and mobile companies will charge you the appropriate airtime charges. This year we are using a toll free number for Canada and the United States, but we will only keep it running as long as we can afford it :) Remember we don't make any money doing this!

Where the hell are you?

In the wonderful city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Yes that’s Drunk Dial Headquarters.

How do I make this even bigger?

Spread the word! Put up posters!!! Do what you can, tell people about it at the pubs! Let’s make this the largest event in St. Patrick’s Day history!

So what’s the history?

Now that's a bit of a long story...

Everyone involved with the original St. Patrick’s Day Drunk Dial are all associated with Newfoundland. Some bright git by the name of Dups came up with this idea to get his friends to call him in 2005 while he was celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Edmonton, Alberta. You see, Dups was known for his drunk dialing of friends. So much so that one of his friends decided to issue the following Public Service Announcement in 2003 for calling past midnight on any given day:

So, for future notice, there are to be no phone calls to my house between the hours of midnight and 7 a.m. on weekdays and between midnight and 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The only exception is in case of emergency.

Note. An emergency does *not* include:

1. Hi, Craig. I’m drunk!
2. Hi Craig, Dups told me to call.
3. Hi Craig, Chris told me to call.
4. The goddamn English have just pulled ahead of Aussie in the Rugby World Cup Final.
5. To discuss how vastly superior Italian culture is to the French.
6. That the best way to lose weight is to cut back on the carbohydrates.

An emergency *would* include:

1. Death (yours or somebody close to you)
2. Dismemberment
3. Job loss
4. Divorce and or being dumped

If you have to ask yourself the question. "Hmmm, it’s 3 a.m. and I have nothing of real importance to discuss, and I’ve been drinking quite a bit. I wonder if Craig would mind me calling" then the answer is "Yes, he would." As would Cathy.

Failure to heed the rules will result in the following response. In the event that I will see you within the next six months, I reserve the right to wail at you with an aluminum baseball bat for five minutes. Chris suggested a wooden baseball bat because there would be splinters.

I, on the other hand, favour aluminum, for it’s ability to generate high bat speeds and its durability.

Having decided that perhaps being killed by one’s friends was not the smartest reason for reaching the other side of that mysterious river, Dups decided to have a competition where everyone phoned him on St. Patrick’s Day. Dups had forgotten, however, that he too would unfortunately be involved in the festivities of the night as shown clearly when he missed a flight the next morning.

So having been unable to conclusively remember who had actually won in 2005, you might think he would have given up. Not so. In 2006 he used a phone number that collected all the messages and emailed them from all his friends. The winner was one Anne-Marie Gale of Quebec City. The tradition had truly begun.

In 2007, Dups decided that headquarters of the event should move to Montreal. The party and Drunk Dial was such a success (involving broken furniture but no limbs) that he decided to move himself to Montreal to properly campaign for an official International St. Patrick’s Day Drunk Dial. The winner was ironically another “Anne” (Ann Harwood) of the city he was about to leave, Edmonton Alberta.

In 2008, we received some publicity, a couple of blog entries and suddenly we were getting calls from different parts of the United States as well as Canada. We were even interviewed in our home province of Newfoundland on CBC Radio. The winner, Dan Niederloh, hailed from Hawaii with a fantastic entry inspired by his sons and some Bushmills.

In 2009, one of the winner's was none other than the famous Craig from the above description of when to not call him and his wife. The other was another "International" entry from Omaha. 2009 was a breakthrough year for the St. Patrick's Drunk Dial, we were interviewed on Global TV in Montreal, managed to get out a major press release and put the Drunk Dial on Times Square in New York City. Well done!

2010 promises to be an interesting year. For the 6th anniversary, we've decided to go with a social media promotion only! So let's see what we can do simply through Word of Mouth! The organizers of the Drunk Dial are meanwhile going to Dublin, Ireland to bring the Drunk Dial "home"!

So having reached several countries and several continents we ask you to Spread the Word. Add the numbers to your cell phone and phone us on St. Patrick’s Day!