Who/what is being toasted? If it’s a best friend, it can be a little more informal.As you’re doing that, ask yourself the following questions: If you don’t trust yourself to do even that, go ahead and write something out. While toasting is meant to be improvisational, that doesn’t mean working entirely off the cuff in the moment as Mark Twain once said, “It usually takes three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.” Even if you plan to give your toast extemporaneously, you ought to have a repository of some famous toasts/quotes in mind, and/or have been thinking about a theme for a few weeks and can pick just the right length and specific words once the occasion comes. “Flubbing the toast is like serving stale champagne: it flattens the mood.” –Paul Dickson, Toastsįirst, you need to be prepared. The instructions below will help you raise a glass with real confidence, style, and event-enlivening effect. ![]() If you’d like to help bring back toasting, how exactly do you do it? But the tradition is so rare these days, that most of us have had little instruction and practice in it. Wouldn’t it have been far better to have had just the right words that would have perfectly suited the occasion and enhanced everyone’s mood?Īs we talked about previously, toasting has a long (and often manly history), and we really ought to revive it more in the present age. Rather, my toast was sort of an off note in the “music” of an otherwise wonderful evening. It didn’t elevate the room or brighten people’s hearts, which is exactly what a toast is supposed to do. And although our friends have assuredly already forgotten (or at least forgiven) that moment, I obviously haven’t. I don’t remember previous years, but this year I didn’t take any time to think about or prepare a good toast, and I fumbled through trying to recite that toast that Will Smith gives in Hitch. Each year, I’ve been called upon to say something before we all sit down and eat, and each year, I slightly dread that short block of time in which I’m supposed to articulate something memorable. It’s a chance to gather our social group together for a potluck turkey dinner and give thanks for all the good things in our lives (like friends!). For each of the last four years, my wife and I (Jeremy) have hosted a Friendsgiving dinner the Sunday before Thanksgiving.
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