Our Monthly Tip: Toast a Loved One with a Personalized Glass

Toast a loved one at a celebration of life with a personalized glass.
Credit: glassengraving.com

Our Tip of the Month

Offer guests a personalized etched glass with the name of the loved one you’re honoring at a memorial service or celebration of life. When throwing any kind of celebration, it has become de rigueur for the host to offer some kind of keepsake for guests to take home, and this is a beautiful way to adhere to that tradition. You can choose the glassware to reflect the person’s favorite drink, or opt for the appropriate vessel based on what you’re serving. Most participants will probably want to drink out of the glassware while they’re there, but it would be a good idea to provide gift bags and tissue paper so they have something in which to safely bring it home as a keepsake. 

How-to Suggestions

Decide on the type of glassware. For example, choose a pint glass if you’re honoring a craft beer aficionado, a wine glass for the wine connoisseur, or a highball glass for someone who enjoyed fine whiskey. Then, narrow down the different possibilities within these categories, i.e. – should the wine glass be stemless, or a champagne flute? 

Design the etching. There are a few things to consider when designing how you want the engraving to look. First, you’ll need to decide what you want the glass to state the individual’s first name, full name, or just the initials. You can include dates, too – the date of the celebration/memorial, or birth and death dates. Then you need to select a font that will reflect both the person being honored, as well as the kind of atmosphere you want to set for the gathering. 

Serve the appropriate beverages. While it’s a good idea to have a wide variety of drinks at any gathering to make sure everyone can find something they enjoy, it would be silly not to serve the drink that is meant to be served in the glasses you’re distributing. If you’ve designed wine glasses, for example, have bottles of wine available for the guests to open and enjoy.

Provide packaging materials. Select gift bags and tissue paper that match whatever decór you have for the gathering. Then consider how they will be offered to the guests – will the glasses come already in the bags, or will they be separate? Will the bags be pre-assembled, or will you set up an assembly station of sorts?

Consider who will make the glasses. Engraved glassware is available online from a number of companies and small businesses, but if you’re crafty you could try to make them yourself. 

Materials: 

• If you’re opting to make the glassware yourself, you will need:
  • The glassware of your choice (enough for all the guests).
  • Etching acid (available online or at craft stores).
  • Some method of making a stencil of the engraving you’d like to do. (Many people use a Cricut or similar device to design and cut a vinyl stencil to apply directly to the glass.)
• If you’re having a large gathering, it’s probably best to order the engraved glassware from a business to save yourself time (and frustration). 
• Find and purchase small paper bags in which the glasses will fit.
• Buy tissue paper to match/coordinate with the paper bags.
• Purchase the appropriate beverages to share.

Toast the guest of honor with the engraved glasses.
Credit: aliexpress.com

To bring the whole event together, plan for a moment at the celebration of life/memorial gathering in which each guest has filled their glass in order to toast the person being honored. As the host you should start the toast, but encourage others to offer anything they’d like to add as well.