Author: Tiffany Champion

In 2025, there will be approximately 11 three-day weekends. Exciting, right? There’s nothing quite like the rare opportunities we get to take an extra day to relax, recharge, and recuperate before plunging into the obligations and responsibilities of the week ahead. Since they often coincide with holidays, long weekends have become somewhat synonymous with – well – either an extra day to drink socially, or an extra day to recover from drinking socially. Social drinking has its time and place – don’t get us wrong. But with such limited time, this cycle can leave us feeling more depleted than when we started. Have you ever had that glow of a long weekend spent really well where you’re not even disappointed that it’s over because you’re so glad it happened? What if we could have that every time by skipping the hangovers and restructuring our long weekends to allow for rest, productivity, and intentional fun?

As we covered in Dry January, skipping out on booze does not mean skipping out on a robust, full, social life. Each small swap we make adds up in the long run. If you participated in the challenge, hopefully you felt and saw the difference, especially if you experienced the Wynk difference in situations you’d ordinarily drink alcohol. Wynk is a refreshing, hangover-free alternative that enhances relaxation and social connection without the wear and tear of social binge drinking. With just a bit of planning and foresight, a well-balanced long weekend can leave you feeling more full than empty. If you’re wondering how, here’s our take on structuring your time off with intention, broken down day-by-day, enhanced with a garden seltzer twist.

Day 1: Resting, for Real

The reality of adulting is that most of us start the week already feeling tired. It often feels as if only two of three are possible at any given time: rest, a thriving social life, and meeting expectations with work obligations. With a proper rest day to kick off your 3DW, your mind and body can effectively decompress, which ultimately allows you to improve your overall mood, focus, and health. The key with relaxation is to be intentional as we recharge. To maximize yours, try these tips:

• Minimize your screen time to enjoy more of your time being and less time doomscrolling.
• Take a mindful bath or shower, devote extra time to your skincare routine, or meditate.
• Move your body with a walk, yoga, or pilates – whether you take 5 or 30 minutes, some is better than none.
• Fuel your body with the protein and hydration needed to start your days strong.
• Unwind with a Wynk.

Day 2: Do Everything You’ve Been Putting Off

With the limited time to spare in our precious weekends, the last thing we want to do is complete those administrative tasks that pile up with urgency, but maybe not quite enough to compel us to get to them right away. That’s where a third day comes into play: now that we’ve rested up, we can get to work with a full tank. Remember that a cluttered home makes for a cluttered mind. No judgment here, as this is an area we could likely all improve. To tackle those tasks head-on, take this day for things like:

• Identifying both completed and outstanding to-dos, breaking them down into bite-sized and achievable benchmarks.
• Decluttering spaces.
• Budgeting and financial planning.
• Grocery shopping, laundry, preparing your meals in advance (aka saving $ on DoorDash).
• Journaling and taking stock of how you’re feeling, what’s going well, and what could be better.
• Unwind with a Wynk.

Day 3: Let Your Hair Down

If you’ve already rested and caught up on organization, you’ve arrived at the best part of a balanced three-day weekend. Now is the time to reward yourself for your intentional recharge efforts and your productivity pushes on the previous two days. Ordinarily, this might be a day spent recovering from a hangover, but with the right structure to your weekend, this is a day to fill your cup with pleasure and connection instead. For this day, try:

• Hosting your friends or family for a hang (in your newly decluttered home) where you cook together, swap music and show recs.
• Engaging your creativity with doodling, collaging, painting, writing, or music.
• Answering calls or texts you’ve been meaning to get back to.
• Scheduling a FaceTime with a long-distance bestie.
• Moving your body in a fun way like a hike, bike ride, or dance class.
• Winding down and preparing for the week ahead by reflecting on all you’ve achieved with your time and energy over the weekend. With a Wynk, of course!

See what can be done without burning hours nursing hangovers and headaches? By replacing situations where we’re tempted to overdo it with alcohol, establishing balance allows us to have a little bit of everything. This year is all about out with the old and in with the new, and that includes habits and hobbies that we may have outgrown. Unlike alcohol, a garden seltzer like Wynk is safe and fun to enjoy any day, and any time, no matter what stage of your to-dos you’re in. With a mindful approach to the weekend in general, we can slowly but surely make friends with Monday. And in the case of a long weekend, we can make friends with Tuesday too 😉.