Oddly enough for an organization called Toastmasters we spend very little time actually giving Toasts. However, we do tend to give toasts at our anniversary parties and there is a speech, in the advanced manual 'Specialty Speeches', which exercises giving a toast.
The Toast is an ancient tradition owing to the influences of Roman, Briton, French, Irish and other cultures. By far the oldest 'Toast' on record, from long before it was called a toast, is found in Homer's The Odyssey. Toasts are offered on many occasions, including: engagement parties, weddings (the first of which is traditionally offered by the best man, much to the discomfort of shy best men), birthday celebrations, going away parties and ANNIVERSARIES.
Generally the toast makes reference to the occasion or person being honored and offers some thought or perspective on the occasion. Typically the toast will bestow best wishes as well as hopes of health, happiness and other positive thoughts.
The simplest toasts are probably "Cheers" or "Here's to you" but with a
little preparation a more complex, as well as more personal and satisfying,
toast may be given. The nicest toasts are personalized by the giver for the
particularly occasion. The toasts often include personal stories and
perhaps an appropriate quote. A toast can be as witty, sentimental or
poetic as the person giving the toast. Humor can be used but it must fit
the occasion. The following toast, from the book _Toasts_ by Paul Dickson
combines both wit and humor:
Points to remember when preparing a toast:
A good deal of etiquette has evolved for the toast. The toast is offered when everyone has been served the beverage. Changes in modern mores has made offering a toast with a non-alcoholic beverage acceptable (though I doubt the Romans ever thought of it). The person offering the toast should obtain the attention of the audience, perhaps by standing, make eye contact with various people while toasting and end by making eye contact with the person being honored.
If someone offers a particular person or group in an audience a toast that person/group would not drink (you do not drink a toast to yourself). After being toasted a person would rise and make a brief thank you. Many people feel uncomfortable not drinking to a toast even if it offered to them, the common solution is to propose a toast in return and drink with it. In the case of a club anniversary, where all the attendees are members, we consider the toast as offered to the club rather than the members or there would be no one left to drink the toast.
In the election of world's worst toast, I must cast my vote for a series of interminable political speeches thinly disguised as toasts. One of these ran nearly an hour! Besides violating the aesthetic of a toast to be brief, they lacked someone being honored, did not offer honor or best wishes and were inappropriate. About the only thing they had to make them considered toast was that they occurred after real toasts and when they were over the listeners needed a drink.
Here is the text of a toast I offered at the party celebrating the tenth anniversary of Cheshire Toastmasters:
*So why is it call a toast? The term comes from a Roman custom of adding a piece of burnt bread (i.e. an overdone piece of toast) to their cheap wine to absorb unpleasant contaminents before drinking an offering to the emperor as was required by law and custom. Eventually the piece of toast gave its name to the practice of making the offering