Blank Brain, Full Jar

It's summer time! One thing that I love about summer is getting together with family and friends. I enjoy having people over that I have known for years and others that I have just met and desire to know.

For the longest time, when new people came over I struggled with coming up with some fun conversation starter questions on the spot. I am good at think of them right after they leave, but when I have someone over and we are sitting down together, my mind goes BLANK.

My heart desire to get to know others, so I realized that in order to be intentional in starting conversations I need to prepare in advance.  Last summer I wrote out some fun questions that I can easily pull out any time.  I keep a jar of questions written on notecards in my pantry so that they are easily accessible for any occasion (dinners, bible study, game nights, desserts).  I have really enjoyed using them over this past year with several groups of people.  They have worked great for conversation starters and some good laughs.  It has been a great way to open up conversation with some fun and lighthearted questions, which often leads to more personal questions and meaningful conversations.

I have this feeling that I am not the only one who draws a blank when company is over, so I thought I would share the questions with you.  I hope that you will also find these questions to be a fun way to start conversation at the dinner table with your family and an easy way to start getting to know new people in your home this summer.

• If you could invent something that would make your life easier, what would it be?
• What is the most interesting/exciting thing that happened to you this past week?
• If you were to write a book, what would it be about, or what title would you give it?
• If you could start a family tradition, what would it be?
• What was the most surprising thing that happened to you this week?
• List 10 things in 60 seconds that you are thankful for.
• If you had to sell one product for a living, what would it be and why?
• If you could have any superpower, which would you choose?
• What skill would you like to master in one day and why would you choose that skill?
• If your body did not require sleep, what would you like to do with your extra time?
• What is something you would like to learn how to do and why?
• If you were an Olympic athlete, what event would you like to do and why?
• What was the nicest thing that someone else did for you today?
• If you had to pick 5 different foods to eat for the rest of your life what would they be?

Do you have any fun conversation starter questions I can add to my jar?