Holiday Toasts, Giving and Receiving (Private Parties)

‘Tis the season. Whether you attend a family dinner or a black tie soiree, the occasion is always enhanced by a toast. What did you think we would say?
Holiday gatherings are unique events on the toast giving calendar. Much like seasonal foods and decorations, holiday toasts are their own specialty. Instead of acknowledging an individual and their accomplishment, we are celebrating a day and its meaning for all. Anyone with a festive spirit can excel at them, and they are free of the classic pitfalls of personal tributes. You can’t say something that will embarrass Thanksgiving, you cannot leave out an important fact about the life of (insert your favorite Festival of Lights), or forget to share enough of your feelings about New Year’s Eve. It’s virtually fail safe, and we encourage each and every one of you to give it a whirl!
The simplest holiday toasts are very brief. Raise your glass and extend a one-line sentiment to your hosts and/or fellow revelers. Signal your conclusion with the actual toast, such as “Cheers!” or “Happy Holidays!” or “To our gracious hosts!”, and then its bottoms up. No fuss, no muss and easily prepared right on the spot.
If you are in doubt as to the formality of the situation here is some etiquette to observe, even when offering the most succinct toast:  If your hosts have not spoken, you might want to discreetly ask them if they mind if you do. Stand and raise your glass to indicate your intention to toast versus tapping on a glass with a dining utensil. If you are the first guest to toast, it is popular as well as tasteful to make your toast in thanks to your hosts. Putting these basics into practice should boost your confidence in any setting, but if you are at a casual get-together with a tight-knit group of friends, dropping the rules and going with the flow in favor of spontaneous, heartfelt expression has its merits.
Of course if you want to melt Frosty the Snowman’s heart, read on.
A truly dynamic toast captures a moment in time, holding it long enough for those in attendance to grasp its significance. True, holidays come and go, but this particular day, time, experience, and group of people only exist in the here and now. Just like an occasion for a personal tribute (e.g., an anniversary, retirement, or birthday) all of these holidays are chances to offer appreciation, hope, and good will. You too can create a moment of dynamism without much stress or difficulty by following our formula below. Incidentally, one benefit of going the extra mile during the holidays is it gets your toasting muscles in shape for any weddings coming up in spring.
 A  vowelesque  formula for holiday toasts- A, E, I Or Q
 Address the occasion. All toasts have a subject and on a holiday it’s implicit.
Express the theme of the holiday. What are the sentiments, values and characteristics associated with this tradition?
Individualize your offering by including your personal feelings of gratitude, love, or wishes of good fortune, to a specific person or all in attendance.
Or
Quote the words of another, so long as they reflect your personal feelings.
The first two letters of this anagram, A and E, are fixtures of a holiday toast. As I and Q are interchangeable, you may choose to include one or the other.  When you need an instant, yet special, holiday toast just remember A, E, I…Or Q if you have a little time to prepare and you prefer to say a quote over your own words. Address, express, individualize or quote.  A, E, I Or Q!
Here is an example of each:
(A) Thanksgiving (E)  is a time for our family to reunite and share delicious foods that our mothers and grandmothers taught us to make.  Each year I find myself feeling more gratitude for this day than ever before. (I) Thank you, Aunt Beth and Uncle Joe, for hosting our tradition once again. I wish everyone a holiday to remember, and may the thankfulness we have for one another, as we gather at this table, inspire us in our everyday lives.
 Or
(A) Thanksgiving (E)  is a special time for our family to reunite and share delicious foods that our mothers and grandmothers taught us to make. Each year I find myself feeling more gratitude for this day than ever before. (Q)  I think JFK summed up the way our family aspires to honor the spirit of Thanksgiving all year long when he said, “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
With our compliments, here is a crib sheet on themes for the upcoming holidays:
THANKSGIVING
The theme of this holiday is implied in its name, giving thanks, gratitude. Yes, all Thanksgiving toasts should touch upon this virtue.
If you’re a guest at a dinner, at the very least it is advisable to offer thanks to your host, as well as to any and all who are responsible for providing the food. If you are the host, a fundamental toast might be to thank your guests for coming. It is always favorable to mention something in life you are grateful for above and beyond the immediate. If something good has happened for you and those in attendance, you may choose to express gratitude for the collective. Gratitude, by the way, is a reliable fallback position for most holiday toasts.
THE WINTER HOLIDAYS:  CHRISTMAS, HANUKKAH, CHRISMUKAH, YALDA, DIWALI, KWANZA, YULE
While this is a diverse bunch of holidays, all of them have a spiritual and/orcommunal legacy. They are full of unique ritual, ancient stories and particular wisdom. Shared themes include birth, miracles, joy, the triumph of goodness, and wonder. One of their common activities is sharing and gift giving. All of them involve celebratory feasts and opportunities to give toasts, albeit with diverse beverages.
In addition to the compulsory thanks to anyone hosting you, there are endless ways to creatively toast on these days. Here are a few ideas:  you can express gratitude for a gift you have received, you can cite the particular good fortunes of those present as a gift itself. You can mention the true spiritual or ethical meaning of the holiday and honor its significance in general, to yourself, or to others celebrating with you. Along the same lines, it is important to be sensitive to those who may not share your beliefs and be inclusive of them in any toast you offer.
THE NEW YEAR’S TOAST
This is without a doubt the most toasted holiday. Most likely this is because all it requires is a clock striking midnight on January 1st, lifting a glass and hollering “Happy New Year!” Yet it is common for people to give fuller toasts before and after the first minute of the New Year.
The overarching themes of this particular holiday involve time. Looking back upon milestone events or achievements of the year, or looking forward to an exciting new year, or both, are suitable themes. Making a wish for the New Year or the auspicious start of a new era are vintagetoasts, as are reflections upon things gone by.
Using quotes in your holiday toast
The perfect holiday quote is just a Google click away. However, we recommend something short because unlike during a personal tribute, you may want to recite it without using a note card.
Some examples:
1) “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”  -Thornton Wilder
2)” “Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!”-Hamilton Wright Mabie
3) “Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.”  —Benjamin Franklin
We hope making your holiday toast is as satisfying as carving a turkey, ham, watermelon or pumpkin. Indeed, now that you’ve got the idea, you are ready to sculpt these toasting tips into appropriate shapes for any holiday of the year. The only danger in handling sharp objects, or in this case subjects, is when you have had too much to drink.
Now that we have covered giving, it’s time for a word on receiving.  Should you be so fortunate as to be mentioned in the toast of a loved one or friend this season, we have some instructions for this as well: Smile, raise your glass, take a deep drink of holiday spirit, as well as a sip of your beverage, and enjoy.
You can always return the gesture, after all, you know how.

source:http://makeatoast.tumblr.com/pos