New Year's Eve · The host · Warm · about a minute
New Year's Eve Dinner Party Toast for Six (About 1 Minute)
A couple hosting a sit-down dinner for four friends wanted to toast the table between the main course and dessert, hours before midnight, while everyone was still sitting down and listening.
Given by Halina, hosting a New Year's Eve dinner for six. 120 words. The names are made up.
The toast
Before Arne brings out the pie, one quick thing, since there are only six of us and I can see everybody's face.
This table has a leaf that goes in the middle. We've owned it for four years. Tonight was the first time we ever put it in, and it took the two of us half an hour, a butter knife, and a video on my phone to figure out how.
Most of this year, we ate standing at the kitchen counter. I wanted the leaf in for you. You're the people we'd make a bigger table for.
So, before dessert and well before midnight, glasses up. To the six of us, and to the leaf, which is staying in.
Why it works: At a table of six, a toast can be about the table itself. The leaf is something every guest is sitting at, the butter-knife story is a small joke on the hosts, and the line about the counter says why tonight matters without a speech about the year.
Make it yours
Borrow the shape, not the lines. Put your own people, your own year and your own detail in each spot, or answer a few questions and get a first draft built from them.