11 Holiday Toasts
Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may…celebrate! We’ve found words from poets, writers, and sages from the ages to help you cheer, comfort, or inspire your guests this season. For a pitch-perfect toast, simply end each of the following with “Here’s to…” and repeat the last phrase (“grace and space to take flight”; “make mistakes nobody’s ever made before”).
For the optimists
“And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.”
—Rainer Maria Rilke
For those looking to make a change
“Go into the New Year emotionally lighter. Put down what you no longer need to carry. Make room for what is to come. Give yourself grace and space to take flight.”
—Dr. Thema Bryant
For a group who need to reawaken a sense of possibility
“The life in your veins
it is godly, heroic.
You were born for greatness;
believe it. Know it.
Take it from the tears of the poets.”
—Kae Tempest
For those who need a shot of courage
“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world.… So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make new mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before.” —Neil Gaiman
For those who define their own destiny
“The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written.”
—Melody Beatty
For the dreamers among us
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt
For the Francophiles
Here’s to a happy New Year, good health, and paradise at the end of your days!
Bonne année, bonne santé et le paradis à la fin de vos jours !
For those in quest of the truth
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
—Alfred Lord Tennyson
For the adventuring souls
“The world is not yet exhausted: let me see something tomorrow which I have never seen before.” —Samuel Johnson
For those reflecting on a tough year
“May you cherish the triumphs and learn from the trials you experience this year. No matter what you encounter, remember that God’s abounding grace will be covering your every step.”—Reverend TD Jakes
For the young (and young at heart)
Hark! It’s midnight, children dear.
Duck! Here comes another year.
—Ogden Nash
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