 Poster: A snowHead
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We're taking our nieces to Paris in July to celebrate them finishing their GCSEs. They are both 16 and i understand the drinking age in France is 18 now (changed from 16 in 2009). Whats less clear is are they allowed a drink at dinner with parents/guardians? I've seen several forums that suggest you are but nowhere on say an official website.
Just want to save the ladies from any awkward situation 
Does anyone know?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Russeh wrote: |
| We're taking our nieces to Paris in July to celebrate them finishing their GCSEs. They are both 16 and i understand the drinking age in France is 18 now (changed from 16 in 2009). |
I don't know what the legal drinking age in France was in 1968 when I went on my school French exchange aged 13 staying with the family of my French penfriend, however one of the local cafes seemed to have no objection to selling us a small bottle of Kronenbourg! 
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Fri 19-04-24 16:13; edited 1 time in total
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Russeh wrote: |
| with parents/guardians? |
but you wouldn't be either of those?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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They would be their guardians while on the trip.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I don't know what the law says but friends were quite happy a week of so ago with their sub 16-yos to have a glass of win in restaurants with dinner (and the restaurants didn't bat an eyelid).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Russeh wrote: |
We're taking our nieces to Paris in July to celebrate them finishing their GCSEs. They are both 16 and i understand the drinking age in France is 18 now (changed from 16 in 2009). Whats less clear is are they allowed a drink at dinner with parents/guardians? I've seen several forums that suggest you are but nowhere on say an official website.
Just want to save the ladies from any awkward situation
Does anyone know? |
Ultimately at the discretion of the establishment.
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we were in val thorens a couple of weeks ago, the french resto's did not ask for id for a couple of 17yo in our group, including my youngest daughter, whilst having drinks with dinner.
however any of the brit run bars had big signs outside stating that only over 18's would be served, and ID would be asked for if required.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Our local restaurant in Normandy was happy to serve Cider (usually no more than 4% abv) at the same time as a meal to our daughter when she turned 16, do not believe they are allowed anything stronger until aged 18.
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@andmelffion, our local bigger Carrefour stocks the ciders in soft drinks (some of them quite spicy )
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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According to https://frenchly.us/understanding-the-drinking-age-in-france-laws-and-regulations/ from 16-years-old, French teens may order alcoholic beverages at restaurants in the presence of their adult guardians.
Interestingly the article says that wine was served in school canteens until 1956, at which point the Ministry of Health banned schools from serving alcohol to students under the age of 14.  Serving alcoholic drinks in schools wasn’t outright banned in France until 1981.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Alastair Pink, "back then?" I think quite a few workers consider breakfast incomplete without a couple of glasses of St Joseph.
French gov were caught out many years ago (this my be apocryphal) when endeavouring to establish drinking habits and surveyed a decent sample.
Imagine their surprise when virtually no respondents admitted to drinking "alcool" ... 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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It's badly worded, but only says that they're not allowed to _sell_ alcohol to under 18s. It also says it's not allowed for an adult to buy alcohol for under-16s, unless they're accompanied by their parents, so I don't think it's changed much - the implication is that an adult _is_ allowed to buy alcohol for an unaccompanied 16-y-o, subject to the normal rules, i.e. only beer, cider etc. and that under 16s with their parents are sstill allowed to drink with a meal.
Also, and this made me laugh, it's Interdit to be visibly drunk in a public place! Ha, good luck with that in val d'Isère.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Chaletbeauroc, it used to be you could drink at dinner with your parents from 14 …
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Gored wrote: |
| Russeh wrote: |
| with parents/guardians? |
but you wouldn't be either of those? |
Guardians 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Alastair Pink wrote: |
According to https://frenchly.us/understanding-the-drinking-age-in-france-laws-and-regulations/ from 16-years-old, French teens may order alcoholic beverages at restaurants in the presence of their adult guardians.
Interestingly the article says that wine was served in school canteens until 1956, at which point the Ministry of Health banned schools from serving alcohol to students under the age of 14. Serving alcoholic drinks in schools wasn’t outright banned in France until 1981. |
I spent a year in France in 1986/7 as a teaching assistance in a lycee. Jugs of red and white wine were available every lunchtime on the teachers' tables in the communal dining hall.
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@FionaG, I presume the "serving alcoholic drinks in schools wasn't outright banned in France until 1981" refers to banning it for the students, I expect your experience of wine being available for the teachers still applies....
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Alastair Pink wrote: |
| @FionaG, I presume the "serving alcoholic drinks in schools wasn't outright banned in France until 1981" refers to banning it for the students, I expect your experience of wine being available for the teachers still applies.... |
I suspect so too. I did a long-distance cycle last year (Paris-Brest-Paris), all of the controls were in collèges and lycées, in the riders’ cafeterias all were without fail selling vins rouge et blanc and beers. Not my first choice of refreshment in 40 degrees C temperatures…
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| DidierCouch wrote: |
| I suspect so too. I did a long-distance cycle last year (Paris-Brest-Paris), all of the controls were in collèges and lycées, in the riders’ cafeterias all were without fail selling vins rouge et blanc and beers. Not my first choice of refreshment in 40 degrees C temperatures… |
Yep, clearly they should have had rosé at those temps.!
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Wine consumption per-head in France has collapsed -90% since 1960.
The days of France serving wine to 11yo children in gradeschool for lunch are long gone.
Wine has gone out of fashion.
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what's "gradeschool"
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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They still served wine (and something they tried to pass as beer) in the staff restaurant at Decathlon when I worked there - but that was about 20 years ago.
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| musher wrote: |
| They still served wine (and something they tried to pass as beer) in the staff restaurant at Decathlon when I worked there - but that was about 20 years ago. |
Well yes, why not? Swiss company canteen/restaurants also have beer and wine if you want it - not many do, but it's a perfectly normal choice to have available.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Chaletbeauroc, so do nice Swiss hospitals.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| under a new name wrote: |
| @Chaletbeauroc, so do nice Swiss hospitals. |
As do Austrian hospitals 
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Yeah we'd be their Guardians while on the trip - interestingly you're advised to take a consent letter with you in case challenge at the border.
OK so in conclusion, the law says 18 but in practice is discretionally enforced.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Russeh wrote: |
Yeah we'd be their Guardians while on the trip - interestingly you're advised to take a consent letter with you in case challenge at the border.
OK so in conclusion, the law says 18 but in practice is discretionally enforced. |
Definitely take the letter. We've been asked for it both times we've taken children overseas without their mother, on one of those occasions despite having the father along (which we hadn't seen coming, so we didn't have a letter, just an argument).
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Quote: |
Yeah we'd be their Guardians while on the trip - interestingly you're advised to take a consent letter with you in case challenge at the border.
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You will also require a letter giving you authority to authorise medical treatment in case it is needed.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Hijacking this thread a bit, in Les 3 Vallees (and in particular, Val Thorens), would boys a few weeks short of their 18th birthday be permitted into and/or served at apres spots like Le Foile Douce, etc. They would be in a small group where roughly half will be 18, while the other half nearly so.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@wjrlaw, I'd imagine FD might be the sorts of venues who might expect underage attempts. But I can't recall ever seeng checks in Chamonix (or that one time in Mégève) ...
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| johnE wrote: |
| what's "gradeschool" |
I am given to understand it’s what left-pondians call “school” …but only after the word has suffered some awful American “grade-inflation” ;-}
Of course the USA’s prohibition on drinking while under-21 hasn’t improved their relationship with alcohol any more than having to keep bottles in brown paper bags while drinking in public - according to documentary films I’ve seen. That said, France’s much more civilised approach hasn’t prevented them having some of the worst liver problems in Europe, or for that matter, much of the Western^W middle/eastern world:
(I notice that the USA & Russia aren’t on the lists, though many former Soviet republics appear to have a much bigger problem on much lower nominal consumption)
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01701-3/fulltext
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Grade school is slang for school before high school, or in some context, before middle school/junior high. So basically grades 1-8, or 1-6. In 8th grade you are 14-15 years old, for example.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| wjrlaw wrote: |
| In 8th grade you are 14-15 years old, for example. |
So that would be the Fourth form in old parlance then?
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I would imagine it’s the same as this country - whatever you can get away with. 
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As raised earlier there is no simple “drinking” age. There will be a takeaway sale age, a serving age. Possibly an “in public places” age (as likely local as national), and perhaps an “accompanied by parents” age. Those ages may also vary for beers, wines and spirits.
And there will be a “can we get away with it” age. Very location dependent.
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@wjrlaw, see below what i posted the other day regarding VT, not sure about folie douce, as i have never been there, but have travelled past it on the chairlift multiple times. as most of it all seems to be outside, i assume that unless you are checked when entering the area they should be ok if one of the group who can buy booze goes to the bar area.
there is another bar on the slopes on the other side of the resort (bar 360), attached to chalet val thorens resto, it also stays open later than the FD, they have security on the door that actively checks all entrees for hidden booze not sure if they checked ID though.
it was quite funny last couple of seasons, watching from our balcony all the drunks leaving the venue around 6pm and making their way down the slope down to the centre, its like a swarm of ants, then the stragglers taking forever.
one word of warning, is that all the lifts are closed by then, so depending on your accommodation they may need to get the free shuttle bus that stops by the exit from the piste home afterwards
| Quote: |
we were in val thorens a couple of weeks ago, the french resto's did not ask for id for a couple of 17yo in our group, including my youngest daughter, whilst having drinks with dinner.
however any of the brit run bars had big signs outside stating that only over 18's would be served, and ID would be asked for if required.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@terrygasson, as an aside, I'm surprised there's a bar "on the slopes" open beyond piste closure hours? Unless it's accessible on foot?
(or at the bottom of a piste) ...?
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| under a new name wrote: |
@terrygasson, as an aside, I'm surprised there's a bar "on the slopes" open beyond piste closure hours? Unless it's accessible on foot?
(or at the bottom of a piste) ...? |
There are quite a few places with bars on the home run that stay open long after the ski pistes. St. Anton is famous for at least two of theirs, which kick out their punters late in the evening. Only visited there once but we stayed right next to the bottom lift station and watched wuite a few people skiing doan around 10pm, completely failing to stop when they reached the road at the bottom and raising sparks as the skied across the snow-free tarmac.
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