--- title: Thanksgiving: 12 Conversation Starters for the Dinner Table description: You want to stay away from controversial topics, but what do you do if you don't want to revert to retelling old family stories? canonical: https://time.com/4578439/thanksgiving-coversation-starters/ author: Real Simple article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-21T16:15:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:56.197Z og:title: 12 Conversation Starters to Help Break the Ice at Thanksgiving og:description: Avoid any awkwardness with these fun ideas og:url: https://time.com/4578439/thanksgiving-coversation-starters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcaeae14dac220466/6988af38428a9ecb67cd5127/thanksgiving-coversation-starters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6048 og:image:height: 3402 og:image:alt: Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 12 Conversation Starters to Help Break the Ice at Thanksgiving twitter:description: Avoid any awkwardness with these fun ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcaeae14dac220466/6988af38428a9ecb67cd5127/thanksgiving-coversation-starters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 12 Conversation Starters to Help Break the Ice at Thanksgiving > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Real Simple](https://time.com/author/real-simple/) ## Real Simple Nov 21, 2016 4:15 PM UTC  Thanksgiving dinner. Roasted turkey with pumpkins and sunflowers on wooden table Thanksgiving dinner. Roasted turkey with pumpkins and sunflowers on wooden table Getty Images by [Real Simple](https://time.com/author/real-simple/) ## Real Simple Nov 21, 2016 4:15 PM UTC At your holiday dinner table, you know it’s important to stay away from controversial topics like politics, but what do you do if you don’t want to revert to retelling old family stories over and over again? Luckily for you, we have some funny conversation starters that will get your family and friends bonding during the meal. We guarantee no one will want to escape the Thanksgiving table with these conversation starter questions. **For Parents to Ask Kids (Of All Ages)** * Who is the funniest person at the table and why? * Pretend you just won $5 million. What’s the first thing you would buy? * What do you think is the hardest thing about being a parent? * What are you most thankful for this year? (You knew it was coming.) **For Kids to Ask Parents** * If you could have named yourself, what name would you have picked? * What do you think is the hardest thing about being a kid? * What about me is the most (and least) like you? * If you could eat only one food on this table for an entire year, which one would it be? **_(Gifts for every family member:_** [**_The 100 Most Influential Images of All Time_**](http://shop.time.com/storefront/subscribe-to-time/link/1039114.html?xid=cm-TIMEShopscTIMEArticle)**_)_** **For Friends to Ask Friends** * Which person here do you wish you knew better? * Which person at this table would make the best news anchor? * If you had a uniform that you had to wear every day, what would it be? * Your most creative leftover-turkey idea: Go! **For Kids to Ask Grandparents** * How did you celebrate Thanksgiving when you were my age? * What was your favorite thing about where you grew up? * What about my mom/dad drove you crazy when she/he was a kid? * If you could live in any decade of your life again, which would it be? **For Partners to Ask Each Other** * What did you really think of me on your first date? * What phrase would you like me to _never_ again utter? * If I were a pair of shoes, what kind would I be? * What is the best holiday we’ve ever spent with each other? _This_ [_article_](http://www.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining/holidays/thanksgiving/thanksgiving-conversation-starters/?xid=motto-rs) _originally appeared on_ [_RealSimple.com_](http://realsimple.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4578439/thanksgiving-coversation-starters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4578439/thanksgiving-coversation-starters/"},"headline":"12 Conversation Starters to Help Break the Ice at Thanksgiving","datePublished":"2016-11-21T16:15:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:56.197Z","description":"Avoid any awkwardness with these fun ideas","url":"https://time.com/4578439/thanksgiving-coversation-starters/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcaeae14dac220466/6988af38428a9ecb67cd5127/thanksgiving-coversation-starters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Real Simple","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/real-simple/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcaeae14dac220466/6988af38428a9ecb67cd5127/thanksgiving-coversation-starters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey","caption":"Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4578439/thanksgiving-coversation-starters/","name":"12 Conversation Starters to Help Break the Ice at Thanksgiving"}}]}] ```