Birthday Toast Ideas
Giving a birthday toast can be a meaningful way to let the guest of honor know how much she means to her friends and family. Toasts can be humorous or serious and can cover a variety of topics, but all successfully executed toasts are tasteful, sincere and thoughtful. Does this Spark an idea?
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Humor
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Give everyone a laugh with your toast. Incorporating humor is an effective way to get and hold your audience's attention while keeping the mood light and fun. Start your toast with a joke about getting older. Recall a funny anecdote about the birthday boy that most of the guests will remember. If he is thick-skinned and good-humored, you can also tease him about a faux pas he committed or about his outfit. Use affectionate tones, and try to communicate feelings of camaraderie.
Quotes
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An inspiring quote may draw the audience together. Using someone else's words to communicate your feelings can be extremely effective. Read a few lines from a heartfelt poem on friendship or surmounting obstacles. If the guest of honor has a favorite poem, it may be appropriate to read it and then say a few words about how the poem represents her. Use famous or widely beloved song lyrics to create a feelings of kinship with the audience. You could also choose an inspirational quote, such as on the value of hard work, to start your toast. Follow up with a short speech on how the birthday boy embodies the quote.
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Pre-Written Toasts
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Avoid long-winded speeches with a few simple lines. Find a pre-written toast to fall back on if you can't think of anything to say or feel you don't know the birthday girl well enough to do a good job. Often just a few humorous rhyming lines, these toasts speak in general or humorous terms of getting older or of not being young anymore and can help keep the atmosphere light. You can also choose a toast from another culture. For example, one Irish toast says, "May you live to be a hundred years with one extra year to repent."
Multiple Toasts or Roast
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Everyone can be a comedian for a few minutes at a birthday roast. If the guest of honor is very well-known and liked, consider multiple toasts. Choose five people who are close to her and have each of them choose one of her characteristics to laud or mock good-naturedly. You could also hold a roast in lieu of a traditional single toast, as long as you are certain the guest of honor will find it amusing. Put the roast information on the invitation so that everyone will have time to think of something to tease the birthday boy about.
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References
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