St. Patrick's Day, Mardi Gras, and Halloween rank among the most popular "alcoholidays" for college students -- days where it is considered socially acceptable to drink to excess even on a weekday afternoon, the Roanoke Times reported Oct. 21.

As college administrators try to change the drinking culture on campus, the notion of "alcoholidays" presents a formidable opponent. "The best we can do is try to educate and make them aware of the situation," said Steve Clarke, director of Virginia Tech's Alcohol Abuse Prevention Center.

At schools like Virginia Tech, even dates of home football games fall into the "alcoholidays" category. "During the fall there's like six home football games. We have Halloween," he said. "And so that's seven weekends when we're going to see drinking go up. And there's typically only about 14 weekends a semester."

Other drinking days include the last day of classes each semester, the weekend before classes begin each spring semester, and even the weekend before Martin Luther King Jr. day, because students have the following Monday off from school.

"We know all those days because they affect our business," said Gary Walker, owner of Cabo Fish Taco in Blacksburg, Va., which hosts an annual Halloween party each year that attracts Virginia Tech students. "Bars like to take advantage of days when people are planning to party."

Halloween is an especially popular "alcoholiday," and observers say that costumed revelers are more likely to drink heavily.

In recent years, even Thursday nights have been designated "alcoholidays" by college students. "Students do that, they make things into holidays. Thursday. Let's party, let's celebrate," Clarke said. "Once some students grab ahold of that idea -- that there's a reason to break out the alcohol and grab hold of it -- that's what happens."