Fun! What about lining them up on a simple wall shelf and using as mini flower vases? you could vary the heights of flowers and shot glasses out of order so that it adds a little contrast...

Linear shelving (or that picture shelving with three inch deep molding fronted units) using them as votive holders??

I'm so relieved my guy doesn't collect anything!!! ;^)

How many are we talking about? If the "massive" collection is a lot, like at least enough to cover a coffee table, you should build a thin display case with slots for each glass (and maybe a lip to keep them from toppling). If you arrange them by color or by a certain pattern, you could probably put together a cool mosaic effect.

You could glue flat magnets to the bottoms and place the upside down on some shelves or vertically on a wall (with sheet metal). I would also use coloured lighting to play with the reflections and shades. They could even cast huge shadows on the opposite wall, which would look very interesting.

how about just pull out 6 of the most interesting/memorable and store the rest?

I would think it's okay to display a healthy portion but not the entire collection. Decide on a suitable size, build or find something to hold that allotted amount, and save the rest to swap out when you get tired of looking at the same objects all the time. Having too many things out can tend to make your home very busy and cluttered. Food for thought.

I would look to wall-mounted spice racks for inspiration since shot glasses are similar in size to spice bottles. You might be able to buy a spice rack that would work. Or here are a couple more creative ideas. ;-)

http://www.ikeahackers.net/2011/05/sleek-wall-mounted-spice-rack.html

http://duhbe.com/blog/2010/01/the-wall-of-spice/

you can place them on a floating shelve and hope that it falls of the wall shattering every single shot glass. Oh well, at least he doesn't collect beer cans.

There is only one correct way to display a massive shot glass collection: in a cardboard box, at the back of a closet.

But, in the interest of peaceful co-habitation, you could showcase a few at a time on a shelf (like, six) and rotate them periodically so they all get a chance to be admired.

If you're feeling really creative, you could try incorporating them into a chandelier. Use some heavy gauge wire to wrap them--creating loops to hang them by--and then suspend them in circular tiers.

I have a shot glass collection as well! I collect the ones that look like little wine glasses and mini glass mugs. I also have some in other interesting shapes. I have a few old pictures up here of the some of the glasses in their old display case. It was a small tabletop unit that served them very well until the collection got too big.

My apartment has a built-in shelving unit where there used to be a window. The shelves are of varying height. I now have my collection arranged on the narrowest one, which is only 6" high. The other shelves are filled with an eclectic variety of picture frames and knickknacks, so the little colored glass on their low shelf make for an interesting contrast in their unity.

@JUSTANOTHERCULTURALREFERENCE what a great idea.

I like @Kara Hansen's IKEA RIBBA picture ledge / spice rack idea, perhaps adding a strip of LED lights along the picture ledge if you want to highlight them. But I would suggest using vintage Coke crates to display them...I did a quick Google image search and found someone else has done that:

http://mmscrapshoppe.blogspot.com/2012/02/social-saturday-coke-crates.html

I personally think collecting shot glasses is tacky and not my thing, but if that's your boyfriend's thing than good for him. I don't like seeing the passive aggressive comments on here of people ridiculing his collection and suggesting to hide it. Good for you for embracing something he enjoys and trying to find a way to mesh together.

This doesn't require you to make anything, but can look classy--a vintage soda bottle crate hung on the wall has little compartments that are just the right size for shot glasses. I have one for my knick-knacks, and it makes my random collection of stuff look right at home in my prewar house.

YOU'RE looking for a way to display them? Does he care? Has he added any ideas to the process? It's his collection. How did he have them at his place? Why does he collect them? Those would be keys to better understanding a display.
Does he like the colors or shapes? I'd go with the ideas presented about having 6 or so out at a time or maybe more in different rooms paired with things YOU like in the same color.
If it is a record of places he visited, how about some kind of picture box with a cool/artsy map of the state/city etc..with a row of the glasses along the bottom?
I like the magnet idea @justanotherculturalreference but that depends on adhering the magnets to the glass which is not the best material to adhesive...it could damage the glass.

I would build a HUGE shadowbox and pile them up chaotically inside of it about 2/3 the full if not all the way to the top.

The soda bottle crate idea is awesome. A quick Etsy search revealed a bunch, at very reasonable prices! Like this one:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/94829969/7up-24-bottle-crate?ref=sr_gallery_24&ga_search_query=soda+bottle+crate&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=all

Must not let people on the interwebs think I don't know the difference between 'then' and 'than,' must correct lack of sleep typo...
Earlier I said "than good for him" when I meant to say, "then good for him."

@t-dawg Don't buy those crates on Etsy with inflated prices, go to an antique store and ask if they can do any better on their price (you should be able to get non rare crates for $12-16 or less depending on your location). I've been displaying things in those crates for years now and get mine at auctions and have managed to pay an average of less than one dollar per crate because I go to many and can selectively bid...but you can get them for $5 pretty often.

I instantly thought of a second-hand/vintage medicine cabinet. I've seen them in a lot of different styles (mirrored, clear glass, aluminum with red crosses). I guess it would function the same way as a curio cabinet, but perhaps it would be more interesting than the typical display cabinet.

I like the idea of thin picture shelves or spice racks, but I personally would choose anything with some kind of door so that way I wouldn't have to constantly dust them!

Picture ledges. As many as it takes. I used to display my salt and pepper shaker collection that way until the collection grew to over a hundred sets. Now I just displatly them on a book case, four bookcases actually.

I've found myself working tirelessly to incorporate my boyfriend's taste into our apartment as well but he's admitted that the only thing he even recognizes in a room is artwork.

I would recommend creating a temporary display and photographing it (if you don't have an awesome camera, borrow one for this!).Then, keep a couple of shot glasses out to use, put the rest away for his someday Man Cave, and create a really great print! Then, you can make it whatever size works well for your space, and marry his treasure with the overall aesthetic. I think this would look exceptionally cool on canvas! Good luck!

Glad I'm not the only one lol, my boyfriend collects old bottles that were dug out of the ground from when he was a landscaper. He won't even let me wash them, preferring to have the dirt still stuck to them. Drives me insane!

I hate seeing so much of the "man things must be hidden in closets/man caves/trash" attitude. But I've also got a huge sports memorabilia collection and a couple of ovaries so hey, what do I know.

I collect shot glasses too, although my collection is relatively tiny compared to some. I recently picked up a vintage blue and yellow round beer tray at the flea market for just five bucks and they all fit nicely in that on top of my fridge. Wouldn't work as well for a huge collection because they're a pain to keep dust-free, but for the forty-odd glasses I have it's a perfect solution.

Have fun!

@SAMELAANDERSON - I don't get it, either! It's downright hostile, actually. How can you be in a loving relationship but deny the other person the right to have a say in decorating a shared home? And "have a say" doesn't mean "have a say as long as I agree"... I just don't get it.

It's a terrible attitude to have because all it does is reinforce gender roles forced on society. Men like meat and sports and know nothing about decor (hello, last time I checked, many of the world's foremost designers are MEN) and women like pink and cooking and know everything about what looks good.

It's not true, and saying "ugh, sports stuff" or "ugh, shot glasses" is really doing a disservice to men and women. We're all different and we like different things.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to display a shot glass collection, people.

I use my boyfriend's as propagation pots for cuttings and seeds. Lovely to see the roots grow and adds small hints of green to windowsills.

shot glass chandelier...think about how to do it, there are endless ways, hang it over a bar or over a corner table with a reading chair.

Another aspect of the shadowbox idea that adds to the potential is the way it would keep dust off of the collection...It's certainly nothing to sneeze at!

I put my shot glasses in a large glass cylindrical vase. The vase doesn't have any patterns on it-- it's a cylinder with simple clean lines. I pour some sand at the bottom (at an angle), throw some wine bottle corks and pile on the shot glasses in random directions. I don't fill it to the brim. And when I get bored, I rotate the shot glasses with others.

For a large collection you could try this idea with a large plexiglass cube with a lid.

I would probably try to incorporate the shot glasses into some kind of bar display. If you don't have room for a bar, maybe one of those cool rolling bar carts. Perhaps hack the cart to incorporate shot glass display, or use the tray idea samelaanderson had above? Anyway, I would be likely to want to incorporate shot glasses with their intended purpose: booze! So I'd probably have some kind of bar, or I would put them in the kitchen with the wine glasses and whatnot.

For some reason I have an idea of a shot glass clock in my head, where each glass is in the position of a number on the clock. Or you could try to make one of those starbursts mirrors with the glasses radiating out of the mirror. On second thought that might get too heavy. You could also make them into candlesticks by glueing them lip to lip and base to base to create different heights. If you did that and then drilled them out they could then be bud vases. If you could find some way to seal them up you could use them as spice containers. Cut off the bottoms they could be napkin rings... notch the tops they could be place card holders... If he doesn't object to them being cut up you could make a mosaic tile top table, it wouldn't be exactly flat but you could always put glass on top. Bar backsplash? If they are from his travels it would be interesting to incorporate them into a map.

Interesting challenge! I love that you want to integrate your style with his! Here is my brainstorming "seed" for you:
It would be nice to see through the glasses, not just have them in a dark box, so I thought of something like a light box. Either over a window with a less than interesting view, or in front of led lights and/or a vintage mirror ? You could make a cabinet with a re-claimed window, and then open the window to access the glasses.
Good luck!

I think they might look cool if you glued them to something, like a canvas. With the bottom glued to the backing and the sides close together in an interesting pattern or shape you might not even realize they are shot glasses.

I agree with Lazysmurf. I think that you should make wall art out of them. I don't think a canvas would be strong enough to hold several shot glasses but if you painted a board the color that you would like to show through the shot glasses and then found a way to either hang (if you wanted them to still be usable) or adhere the shot class to the board and then display the glasses with the rim facing out toward the viewer so it looks like tons of small glass circles... that would be interesting. Take a look at this: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0134899d6fbc970c-pi

or

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0147e04143df970b-pi

agree with @samelaanderson and @PI =^).

This post comes at a good time, because I've been on a decorating kick, and have been trying to think of ways to incorporate -- you guessed it -- my boyfriend's shot glass collection. Also trying to think of ways to display his collection of keychains.

Now that I'm thinking of the two collections together -- I'm coming up with ways to combine the display of the two which would be a lot more interesting than either collection on it's own. Hmm...

Which is a thought for the OP -- do either of you have another collection that would mix well with the shot-glasses to create a more unique display?

For the record, I LOVE my shot glass collection, so much better than stamps or spoons! They make amazing talking pieces at parties, I collected mine during travel and have over 40 now.

I just made a picture ledge a little wider and I have a row of them (think bookshelf style) on my wall. I put my more valuable ones on the top so they get used less often but other than that, I can reach up and grab however many I need and then put them back when I'm done!

http://ana-white.com/2010/10/plans/ten-dollar-ledges

http://esculonsays.com/2010/02/12/diy-shotglass-project/

What about a nice box in the garage.

You guys are so mean! :( She didn't ask how best to get rid of the shot glasses, she asked how best to display them.

Some people like to actually LIVE with their partners, instead of hiding them away in a garage.

Displaying the shot glasses in shot glass cases is the only way to go so that every one can be seen. I myself have 17 shot glass cases with over 675 and counting. My family and friends help me collect them so there is no problem because eveyone enjoys being a part of my collection.

My boyfriend and I dated long distance (NE and MI) for almost two years when we first met. One of the ways we were able to feel close even when we were 700 miles apart was to take a nightly shot together either on the phone, with facetime, or just through text messaging. There were MANY times when the shot was just water, but some times one of us was out at a bar or had friends over and it was a way the other could feel included. We have lived together for a few years now and although we are both quite minimalist in our decorating style we have amassed quite a collection of shot glasses from the places we have traveled. We still take a nightly shot together (again, usually just water or sometimes wine) and get to choose "where" we will take it from.

Sorry for the long sappy story. My point is that I think even in the classiest of homes there is room for sentimental items whether they are meaningful to both of you or just one. The most beautiful homes show the personality of everyone who lives there!

We use the Ikea Ribba picture shelf and alternate shot glasses with pictures of us at the places we got them. It's one of the biggest conversation starters in our apartment!