If you're planning to have a drink on Friday, you better get down to the bottle store right away.
The law forbids most sales of alcohol on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and while there are loopholes, they're not exactly easy to jump through.
Under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012, no off-licences are allowed to sell or deliver booze.
There is just one exception: wine made "on the premises" or "from produce harvested from land on which the premises are situated" can be sold on Easter Sunday. Good news for vineyards, and anyone who lives close to one. But they're still out of luck on Good Friday.
On-licences can't sell drinks on Good Friday and Easter Sunday unless the buyer lives or lodges on the premises, or is there to eat.
Don't think that buying a burger will give you an all-you-can-drink ticket, though. The law bans selling alcohol to anyone there more than an hour before they eat, or hanging around more than an hour afterwards, since they're probably not really there for the food.
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The other option for on-licences is to get a special permit. A number of Auckland bars have been granted permits to sell booze on Sunday morning for punters keen to watch the Joseph Parker-Anthony Joshua fight, including The Paddington Parnell, the Flying Moa in Mt Wellington and the Elephant Wrestler in Takapuna.
You might be thinking to yourself, 'It's 2018! I can just go online to get my beer.' Which is true - but you better hope you've got an emergency stash, because you'll be waiting until the day after for your tipple to be delivered.
While the law states a "remote sale of alcohol may be made at any time on any day", it's not allowed to be dropped off until a less-religious day rolls around - Saturday, or Easter Monday, in this case. And not until 6am.
And think twice trying to get hooked up on Facebook - if the seller doesn't have a licence, they're probably breaking the law no matter what day it is.
"Generally speaking if I got some booze, or had some booze left over from my wedding, I can't go onto Facebook and flick it off without a licence," says Robert Davies of law firm Harkness Henry, which specialises in alcohol licensing law.
Even buying it is "not a good idea".
"There might be some liability that attaches to that under the Crimes Act if you're party to the offence… My advice would be don't do it."
It might come down to whether you knew the seller was unlicensed - which could be a hard argument to make since you're shopping on Facebook, rather than a bottle store or bar.
Newshub has contacted the police to ask if they'll be proactively monitoring potentially illegal sales on social media and bars.
Newshub.
