When you're newly sober it's best to avoid drinking occasions and places. This won't be true forever (though most people who have been sober for a while find it distinctly boring to hang out where drinking is the main event), but early on it is very easy to slip up if you are around it. For myself, I got ALL the booze OUT of the house, and only went to events like office parties and such IF it was a very important event (someone close to me retiring, for instance) AND I would arrive late and leave early AND have a plan to leave IMMEDIATELY if it became uncomfortable.
Getting sober and staying that way takes a lot of work under the best of circumstances. Personally, I see no reason to make it harder than it already is.
And incidentally, I find sobriety, once I got past the first few months, MUCH easier to manage than life as a drinking alcoholic. It takes some work, and please note that AA is not all about the meetings--there are 12 Steps involved--but I never want to feel again the way I did at the end of my drinking.