Turning 21 Soon

Hey guys, it's been a while since I've posted something on this, but I've been having a really hard time lately. Right now, I am currently 20 years old and the past few months have been really upsetting because most of my friends are turning 21 one after the other. My birthday is coming up in the next few months. Naturally, the tradition is to go to the bars while everyone buys drinks for you. I really want to do this, but sadly, I do not have a Driver's License or a State ID. How do you think I can get around this? I don't want a group of people to find out about my status because I don't think I'm comfortable with that many people knowing. Should I use my passport? Arrive to the bars before everyone else? After everyone else? Any other ideas? I'm really stressing about this because it's a tradition that I would very much like to be a part of. I know we have many other problems to worry about and I worry about all of those every day, but I feel like this is a life experience that would be very hard to ignore.
-Thanks

It's always the little things that get in my head too, man.
I say use your passport, just make sure it's up to date, and come early when you can, so that people don't know. Explain the situation, maybe, to some of the people of the group whom you trust.

passport should be fine.
Also, if you're not comfortable with your friend knowing. Showing up first isn't a bad idea.

Perhaps you can tell a close friend about your situation and go with him/her to the bar, etc. while using your passport to get in.

Telling a few friends and going early would probably be the safest idea for you. If you, however, ever go with a big group, let everyone go in front of you in line. Most likely, when they're done getting their IDs checked, they'll just walk into the club/bar. Chances are they won't be in line anymore when the bouncer checks your passport. It's what I used to do when my friends didn't know about my status.

yeahh hun just show up early with you passport and tell a close friend
have fun!!!!

same here im turning 21 in oct but my friends know of my situation i have my matricula but i still get worried sometimes cause some ppl can be assholes and not accept it.

I was mugged before I turned 21, I just told them I was using my passport because that's the only ID that I had.

Just say you missplaced your wallet or something and that you did not want to spend too much time looking for it and arrive late so you brought the first ID with your birthdate on it and it happens to be your passport.

I'm 21 now and I use my passport for everything in front of everyone lol...None of my friends know my situation...sometimes they do ask me why I brought my passport and I just say I dont have a license so this is all I have...sometimes you get the "really? how come you dont have a license?" and I usually say "long story" lol.. just be confident and straight forward with your answers...if they continue asking questions just jokingly say something like "damn, are you writing a book or conducting an interview??" lol..and move forward with other conversation...ive been doing this for about a year and now the ppl I go out with just know I use a passport now and dont ask questions. =]...it could also help that i live in a big city and im always in manhattan...these things arent unusual around these parts.

true.... specially when those places have a very wide public transportation network which makes driving somewhat obsolete. Chicago for example you can expect to fork over 10-20 bucks for parking just about everywhere in downtown and meters have a time limit.