How to celebrate your 21st birthday without alcohol:

When I first walked down the spirits aisle in the store after turning 21, I was initially drawn to the bottle of Darigold chocolate milk someone left behind between the rum and tequila.

The milestone birthdays are the ones that mean the most to us. Ten years old: yay, double-digits! Sweet 16! Finally a legal adult at 18! And then comes the all-important legal drinking age: 21.

College stereotypes would have us believe that students are all about alcohol-induced parties, complete with infinite tequila shots and beer pong. But if you’re like me, you probably didn’t even have a taste for alcohol until well after your 21st birthday.

To be honest, I hated any form of alcohol for years after a mishap with some tequila in lemonade. Needless to say, the taste of tequila is forever ruined for me.

I have since reached the point where I have an alcoholic drink of choice for special occasions (Irish whiskey all the way), but turning 21 wasn’t a drunken celebration for me.

Whether you don’t have a taste for alcohol or you prefer not to drink it at all, there are ways to celebrate your big day without getting belligerently drunk. Try gathering some friends together and have a night on the town. Go to your favorite restaurant and order something without worrying about the price for once.

You may feel pressured to finally experience whipping out your driver’s license to prove to the bartender you can legally drink red wine, but just because you can drink now doesn’t mean you have to.

I will admit that soon after I turned 21, a friend convinced me to order a cup of hot chocolate with a shot of peppermint schnapps. I didn’t get wasted, but I’m pretty sure the headache the next morning was my first “hangover.”

We need to keep in mind that we don’t just magically desire alcoholic drinks the day we become the legal age to consume them. I took sips of my parents’ wines and beers for months after my birthday and found them all disgusting. Don’t even get me started on cocktails.

If you feel left out and want to have at least one kind of alcohol to like for parties or special occasions, there’s nothing wrong with doing some taste testing. Start slow, since your body needs time to adjust to this new liquid running through your system.

Don’t do it without someone you trust in case you end up sick. Have a designated sober friend or family member nearby. Just keep in mind that if you get tipsy around your mother, she will hold it against you for years to come.

Ultimately, any kind of alcohol – beer, rum, whiskey, wine, tequila and the like – is just another type of drink. There’s nothing wrong with not liking the taste of it, and there’s nothing wrong with forgoing the Coors Light on your 21st birthday.

You want to explore your alcohol palette? Great. Just do it because you want to, not because the legal drinking age says you should.