Blackout Wednesday or “Drinksgiving” is the night before the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, which is always a Thursday. It is associated with binge drinking since very few people have work on Thanksgiving, and most university students are home to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with their families.[1] The name refers to “blacking out”, memory loss due to excessive alcohol intoxication. In the suburbs of Chicago in particular, Blackout Wednesday is sometimes a more popular partying night than even New Year’s Eve or Saint Patrick’s Day.[1] Reportedly the term was coined by college students at a famous west suburban Winfield bar, John’s Buffett, in the mid-1970s.

via Wikipedia