Illinois State law and both University of Chicago and International House policy prohibit serving alcoholic drinks to anyone under 21 years of age. If you are not yet 21 — especially if you come from one of those countries with a lower (or no) drinking age — we are really sorry but we can not serve you any alcohol at our events.

When alcohol is being served, events are restricted to individuals 18 and up.

At most events we handle this by asking for “Proof of Age” before issuing you a wristband. At every event one color wristband will be designated “admission only” (ages 18-20) and a second color “admission + alcohol” (21+) that  you can show to the person bar-tending to get drinks. Non-alcoholic drinks, usually soda and juice, are available without restriction at all parties. 

Your proof of age must:

1. •Be an original document (no photocopies)
   

2. •Be issued by a government, school, or international organization
   

3. •Have your picture on it
   

4. •Have your birthdate on it
   

You also need to bring your proof of age to every event, you can’t count on the person checking IDs remembering your birthday from the last party.

Other rules we have to follow:

1. •We can only serve you one drink at a time — we can’t give you two drinks (e.g. one for you and one for your friend whose wristband we haven’t seen).
   

2. •We have to open the drinks at the time we serve them.
   

3. •We have the obligation to stop serving you, if we think you’ve had too much to drink.
   

4. •We can’t serve “hard alcohol” or allow other people to bring it into our events. The University only allows beer, wine and other drinks (like cider) with similar (typically up to 12-13%) alcohol content to be served. While we won’t ask what is in your glass, that bottle of 80 proof (40% alcohol) vodka — or whatever else you’re drinking — needs to stay outside the event.