Hands up all the mums who are not drinking alcohol at all or very much this Festive Season.

Hello to:

The pregnant mums
The breastfeeding mums
The sleep-deprived mums
The mums who are a bit depressed and know alcohol makes them worse
The mums of teens who are setting a good example
The mums who don’t want to pile on too many Christmas kilos

Are you one of those mums? Or another type of non-boozing mama?

Often when pregnant and as new mums we just can’t drink at all.

And at any age, motherhood is hard enough without adding a multiple hangover into the early morning equation.

There’s something we could all do without.

I am certainly the last two types of mums. I’m also a mum who realised recently that there had been too much ‘alcohol creep’ going on.

It had been weekends only, then weekdays when going out, then weekdays when I felt totally harassed ie every night.

So recently I felt really grim and my body and brain said, ‘No more!’

And the next day Emma sent me an invite to a lovely lunch with Edenvale Alcohol Removed Wines.

Now that is spooky. And totally handy.

I popped along to the lunch, was royally dined AND wined and still drove back soberly in time for my son’s touch rugby. Splendid.

Here are a few things I learned at lunch:

Edenvale Alcohol Removed Wines come in three varieties; Sparkling Cuvee, Shiraz and Chardonnay.

They are all proper wines; first the wine is made, then the alcohol is removed.

Taste? Good. My favourite is the sparkling cuvee, love the feel of bubbles on my tongue.

Next favourite is the shiraz. I really enjoy the feeling of holding a huge red wine glass and swirling the wine around. Doing that with ginger beer is just not the same.

The chardonnay was my least favourite tastewise, perhaps because I’ve also gone off the alcoholic chardonnays.

Edenvale wines are made in Australia by a small, privately owned and very passionate company JMB Beverages.

The wines are not only alcohol free, they also have half the calories of alcoholic wine. That works for me.

You can buy the wines in Coles, Woolworths, Dan Murphy’s and IGA stores.
Edenvale’s Celebrate Feel Great campaign is running this summer, with 100 days of prizes on offer.

My little Scottish Granny Smith used to famously say about alcohol: ‘It’s not the taste, it’s the sensation you’re after.’

But these days I really can’t handle the sensation, and certainly not the hangovers which even a couple of glasses of wine can inflict on us mums.

Why suffer? is my motto.

Whilst I wouldn’t say that Edenvale Wines taste just as deep and rounded as alcoholic wines, they are very pleasant to drink.

And they feel special.

Plus I like the cheeky advertising! The shot of the pregnant woman partying on with a glass of fizz is a really refreshing image. Cheers!

What do you think of that photo?

Could you do with avoiding a hangover this Christmas?

Seana Smith is a mother of four children and author of three books, including ‘Sydney For Under Fives.’ She blogs about great family-friendly places around Sydney and about family travel at:www.seanasmith.com. Do come for a visit.

Seana also blogs about healthy family food at: www.themumsdiet.com. Do pop over and add your advice!