Cheers! *clink*

May 15, 2009 5:40 PM

My family is very big on toasts, but generally the same ones are repeated throughout the holidays or birthdays - toasts for health, success, and happiness. I'm curious as to what kinds of toasts are your own favorites. Something beautifully worded you really liked? Or a subject you think is really worth drinking for? (Well, that last one is quite the slippery slope - but still!) What do you usually raise your glass for?
posted by Bakuun to grab bag (28 comments total)

Previously.
posted by misozaki at 6:19 PM on May 15

gratitude

friendship

hope for the future

those who can't be with us

those who have passed on

family

overcoming difficulty

enduring through difficulty and overcoming in the end

fresh starts

open hearts

joy

contentment

adventure

always finding something new

the undiscovered country
posted by amtho at 6:25 PM on May 15 [1 favorite]

My daughter (6) likes to toast "to giggles".

Oh yeah.
posted by plinth at 6:31 PM on May 15

NYE toast: May the best of your last year be the worst of your next year.
posted by BigVACub at 6:43 PM on May 15 [1 favorite]

Dr. Sidney Freedman: "Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice. Pull down your pants and slide on the ice."

Timeless.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 6:43 PM on May 15

A friend of my parents had the quintessential toast:

"Here's to us, the finest people."

She also had to have two drinks before dinner because as she said, "You can't fly on one wing."

She was awesome.
posted by Leezie at 6:43 PM on May 15 [3 favorites]

Love
posted by Taurid at 6:45 PM on May 15

My Dad always used to like "who's like us?" to which you respond "damn few and they're all dead." I don't get it.
posted by Hoopo at 6:52 PM on May 15

An old standby: "Here's to those who wish us well, and those who don't can go to hell."
posted by amyms at 7:23 PM on May 15

Here's to it, the birds do it
The bees do it and die
Dogs do it and get hung to it
So why don't you and I?
posted by Redhush at 7:47 PM on May 15

My go to is "To living in boston (or wherever you live) and dying in boston (or wherever you want to die)."
posted by pwally at 8:01 PM on May 15

This one goes over much better if you are a snarky feminist and not a leering frat boy (IMO):
"To honor - if you can't come in her, come honor!" Bwah ha ha etc.
posted by SassHat at 8:31 PM on May 15

I read something like this one in a book and have never used it, but I like it:

"To your coffin, which will be made from the finest cedar one-hundred years old from a tree I will plant in the morning."
posted by otolith at 8:37 PM on May 15 [3 favorites]

"May misfortune follow you the rest of your life, but never catch up."

"May our house always be too small to hold all our friends."

"May you live all the days of your life." (Jonathan Swift)

and I admit, I'm strangely partial to

"Here's to the lady in the red shoes: she'll steal all your money, she'll drink all your booze. She ain't got a cherry, but that ain't no sin, 'cuz she's still got the box that the cherry came in!"
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:08 PM on May 15 [2 favorites]

Not sure I'd ever use it with family, but I've always been fond of "To alcohol! The cause of... and solution to... all of life's problems!"
posted by andythebean at 10:41 PM on May 15

To wives and sweethearts...... may they never meet.

From Master and Commander, I assume originally from one of the books by Patrick O'Brien.
posted by kjs4 at 11:25 PM on May 15

"Here's to the men we love, and here's to the men who love us.
And if the men we love aren't the men who love us,
then to hell with them and here's to us."

[With champagne:]
"Champagne for real friends! Real pain for sham friends."

[With Swedish vodka in biker bars:]
"Skål för fan!"
(Skål being Swedish for "cheers" and för fan meaning "by the devil." The whole phrase roughly means "Cheers, goddammit!")
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:43 AM on May 16

"Here's to breathing in and out."
"Here's to one more trip around the sun."

(good birthday and new years toasts)
posted by By The Grace of God at 4:50 AM on May 16

In the movie Fear and Desire,* a sloppy, scenery chewing soldier who downs shots glasses with astounding frequency toasts the general with a slurred "TO YOUR HEALTH, GENERAL!" I use this way too often.

I know you already toast to health, but now you get to feel like a pretentious film nerd!

*Hey, everybody who thinks Eyes Wide Shut is Kubrick's worst movie? You have not seen Fear and Desire.
posted by Juliet Banana at 5:53 AM on May 16

To the Bordeaux that makes us think it
To the Burgundy that makes us say it out loud
and to the Champagne that makes us do it
posted by priested at 5:57 AM on May 16 [1 favorite]

Some toasts are actually curses (this one's Irish):

May those who love us, love us.
And those that don’t love us,
May God turn their hearts,
And if he doesn’t turn their hearts,
May he turn their ankles,
So we may know them by their limping.
posted by allkindsoftime at 7:21 AM on May 16

Here's to you and here's to me
Forever friends we shall be
But if we ever disagree
Fuck you and here's to me.
posted by lalochezia at 11:08 AM on May 16 [1 favorite]

An old one from friends:

It is a blessing to be,
It is a blessing to be here,
It is a blessing to be here now,
It is a blessing to be here now together.
posted by Cygnet at 11:25 AM on May 16

This is not beautiful, but sometimes I like to say "To Friends!" Then, after everyone drinks, I say, "Man, that was a great show."

I am not a popular toastmaster.
posted by cmoj at 11:28 AM on May 16 [1 favorite]

One of my all time favorites (from the movie Roxanne)
"I would rather be with the people in this room, than with the finest people in the world."
posted by reidfleming at 1:52 PM on May 16 [2 favorites]

"May you live as long as you want and never want as long as you live!"
posted by jasondigitized at 5:49 PM on May 16

"To women and horses and the men who ride them..."
posted by Muirwylde at 8:34 PM on May 16

My favorite toast is the chorus from Jason Webley's Drinking Song:

When the glass is full,
Drink up! Drink up!
This maybe the last time
We see this cup.
If God wanted us sober,
He'd knock the glass over,
So while it is full we drink up!

It's a little long, but it's pretty great.
posted by Caduceus at 2:36 PM on May 17