Basic Dining Etiquette - Tips for the Toast

Nancy Mitchell: Hello, I am Nancy Mitchell with the Etiquette Advocate and we are talking about dining etiquette. I would like to talk now about toasting. There are three types of toasts, which traditionally are part of the dining experience. There is something called the welcoming toast, which the host or hostess will propose as soon as guests come to the table. Thats a toast for the occasion for all of us who are present. We all sip that toast and participate as the remarks are being made. Then the service for dinner will proceed and dessert will be served. The host will again get up and at that point will make a toast to the guest of honor. In that case, he or she may stand, may ask us all to stand to recognize the guest of honor. What you do not what to do when you give a toast is to call attention to the toast by clinking the glass with a utensil. Either stand or with your voice, say would you join me in toasting the guest of honor. Then, we all raise our glasses and the host or hostess makes the remarks. We drink to that person or to the occasion that we are celebrating with that person. The person who is being toasted does not drink at that point.

Lets say I am the guest of honor, we are celebrating my promotion in the workplace. While everyone is toasting me, I sit there, I smile, I may hold my glass, but I dont take it to my lips to take a sip. Think about this for a moment, if everyone who is sitting there is singing happy birthday to me, I would not sing happy birthday to myself. So, I am not going to drink a toast in my honor. Thats something that brides and grooms need to be reminded about as well. After the toast in my honor, I may stand and reciprocate. I will thank our host or hostess for planning this lovely evening for me or for whatever the occasion. I will toast them and all of you who are with us here tonight. Thats called the reciprocal toast and then everyone will drink that toast. You may toast when you are in North America with water, with coffee, whatever the beverage is, if you dont have wine or you dont drink wine, you may toast with any other beverages that you have at the table. There are certain international cultures where that would be insulting to your host now to raise a glass of alcohol. Do some homework about international protocol. I would like to end the session by saying heres to each and every one of you and may you have successful timing experiences, cheers.