HOLIDAY TOASTS

THE WELL-MADE TOAST

A toast is essentially a small speech honoring or expressing good will toward someone. The best toasts are original, created for a particular person and occasion. Here are a few guidelines to use the next time you’re standing with a glass in your hand looking at a sea of expectant faces.

Be succinct. Unless you’re the best man at a wedding, your toast should generally be short and sweet. Otherwise your audience will get awfully thirsty waiting for you to finish.

TOASTS FOR HOLIDAY GATHERINGS

Blessed is the season that engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.

Dazzle ’em. Use your creative powers to create something witty, eloquent and truly memorable.

Joy to the world— and especially to you.

Spontaneity is over-rated. Very few people can be witty and eloquent off the cuff, especially after a few glasses of wine. If the toast is important, write it up beforehand.

Here’s to the year past and the friends who have left us. Here’s to the present and the friends who are here. Here’s to the New Year and the new friends who will join us.

It’s not about you. The point is to make the toastee look good. If you happen to come off well in the process, all the better.

In the coming year, May good fortune precede you, Love walk with you And good friends follow you.

Here’s to the food And here’s to the wine And the friends who gather together.

Practice makes perfect. Practice your toast in front of a mirror. You might feel silly, but you’ll feel even sillier if you flub it.

May peace and plenty be the first To lift the latch to your door, And happiness be guided to your home By the candle of Christmas.

Be yourself. Natural and heartfelt is best. If you’re not Oliver Wendell Holmes, don’t use words like “indissoluble” and “somewhither.”

Eat, drink and be merry, For tomorrow, we diet!

May all of our troubles This coming year Be as short-lived as Our New Year’s resolutions.

End with a bang. Clearly define the end of your toast by raising your glass and saying something that ends with an exclamation point, like “Cheers!” or “L'Chaim!”

Here’s to us all! God bless us every one!

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