Goodtalk
Goodtalk

Holiday Conversation Starters

When the family gets together for the holidays, the conversation often runs along the same old tracks. These cards ask about traditions, memories, food and the year that's ending, with room for both laughter and a quieter moment.

Good for: Families and friends who are celebrating something together.

Play 100 cards

Tips for playing

  • Put a card by every plate before dinner.
  • Save the deep cards for toasts and the end of the meal.
  • Let the oldest guests tell you how the holidays looked when they were kids.

Depth: lightLight questions

Easy to start with. Good for warming up.

  1. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word Christmas?
  2. What's the best white elephant gift you've ever won or seen someone get stuck with?
  3. Which holiday song can you never get out of your head?
  4. What has to be on the table for it to feel like a real holiday dinner?
  5. Turkey, ham or something else entirely for the big holiday dinner?
  6. What's the funniest gift you've ever given?
  7. How do you love to spend New Year's Eve?
  8. What's the New Year's resolution you've kept the longest?
  9. What's the best part of Easter?
  10. Where did you have your best summer vacation?
  11. What do you always do on your birthday?
  12. What's the best birthday present you've ever gotten?
  13. What kind of cake has to be there for a birthday?
  14. Who in the family is best at wrapping presents, and who's the worst?
  15. What do you do in the days between Christmas and New Year's?
  16. What's your favorite holiday movie?
  17. Who always wins the gift swap, and how do they do it?
  18. Have you ever celebrated New Year's in another country?
  19. Which Halloween costume do you remember best?
  20. What's the best dish for an Easter brunch?
  21. What does the perfect summer vacation day look like?
  22. What's your best memory from a summer bonfire or Fourth of July night?
  23. When is it okay to put up the Christmas tree?
  24. Which holiday TV special do you remember best from when you were little?
  25. What's the strangest holiday tradition you've ever heard of?
  26. What do you love to do on a long fall weekend?
  27. How many holiday gifts is too many?
  28. What was the best thing about summer break when you were a kid?
  29. What's the oldest ornament or decoration your family still puts up?
  30. What does a good birthday look like when you're a grown-up?
  31. What's your best memory from an Easter egg hunt?
  32. What has to be in a good picnic basket?
  33. If you could invent a brand new holiday, what would it celebrate?
  34. What sound do you connect with the holidays?
  35. What's the best holiday cookie?
  36. What's the best costume you've ever worn?
  37. What's the weirdest place you've ever rung in the New Year?
  38. Which Easter dish can you not do without?
  39. Which song should be sung on a birthday, besides the obvious one?
  40. Which present have you been most excited to open?

Depth: mediumA bit more personal

For when the conversation is flowing.

  1. Which tradition from your childhood do you still hold on to?
  2. Which tradition have you let go of, and do you miss it?
  3. How have the holidays changed since you were a kid?
  4. Who do you miss most around the holidays?
  5. What's the best part of spending the holidays with family, and what's the hardest?
  6. What do you wish for that can't be wrapped?
  7. How can we make the holidays less stressful next time?
  8. What should we do this year that we've never done before?
  9. What has the past year taught you?
  10. What are you most looking forward to in the new year?
  11. How did your family celebrate birthdays when you were a kid?
  12. Who was the best guest you can remember at a family get-together?
  13. Which story always gets told when the family is together?
  14. How do you split the holidays between the different sides of the family?
  15. What's the best holiday gift you've ever given, and why?
  16. What does it mean to you to have time off together with other people?
  17. Which holiday means the most to you, and why?
  18. What makes a vacation a good one for you?
  19. What would have to happen for this year's holidays to be the best ever?
  20. What could you do for someone who's spending the holidays alone?
  21. How do you mark the end of a year?
  22. What do you hope the kids in the family will remember about our holidays?
  23. Which holiday food tastes most like your childhood?
  24. What's the loveliest thing anyone has written to you in a card?
  25. How do you celebrate the holidays when you're not with your family?
  26. What do you do to keep the peace at family gatherings?
  27. Who has shaped your holidays the most over the years?
  28. How has your birthday come to mean something different as you've gotten older?
  29. What's the best trip you've ever taken during a holiday break?
  30. Which holiday from another culture would you love to celebrate?
  31. Which holiday could you happily skip?
  32. What's the hardest part of the holidays for you?
  33. What new tradition have you started yourself?
  34. How would you like to celebrate your next milestone birthday?
  35. Who would you like to invite for the holidays who doesn't usually come?

Depth: deepDeep questions

Take your time. These are the ones people remember.

  1. What do traditions mean to you?
  2. Which holiday has been hard for you, and why?
  3. What are you most grateful for this year?
  4. What do you want to leave behind when this year ends?
  5. Who do you wish you could celebrate the holidays with one more time?
  6. What does it mean to belong to a family, even when it's hard?
  7. What do you want to pass on to the next generation about celebrating together?
  8. How do you feel about turning a year older?
  9. What has a holiday taught you about your family?
  10. When has a celebration meant more to you than you expected?
  11. If you gave a completely honest toast to the family, what would you say?
  12. What do you hope is different when we get together for this same holiday ten years from now?
  13. What do you need to remember to say to someone before the year is over?
  14. Who has given you the most this year?
  15. How do you keep the mood warm when someone is missing from the table?
  16. What does going to a religious service over the holidays mean to you, or choosing not to?
  17. Which holiday moment will you remember for the rest of your life?
  18. What do you need during a busy December?
  19. What has the past year taught you about what really matters?
  20. If you could keep only one tradition, which one would it be?
  21. What will you do differently next year?
  22. How do we look out for the people who find the holidays hard?
  23. What do you wish the holidays were more about?
  24. Which holiday has changed meaning for you over the years?
  25. What do you want to bring with you from the old year into the new one?

100 cards in this deck.