questions to ask at a dinner party

Easy, funny, answerable by a stranger. Nobody should have to think for more than five seconds.

1. What was your last internet deep dive about? (from the deck)
2. What's the best thing you ate this week that you didn't cook?
3. What is a trend you wish would end and why? (from the deck)
4. Who here did you meet first, and where?
5. What's an absurd excuse you've used to get out of something? (from the deck)
6. What's the most overrated restaurant you've ever been to?
7. What did you almost do tonight instead of coming here?
8. What's a skill you have that nobody at this table knows about?
9. Did you have hamsters? If so, how did they die? (from the deck)
10. What's on your phone's home screen that you're embarrassed by?

The middle course. People have wine, the host has stopped running to the kitchen, and the table is ready for a story.

1. What's a story your family and friends always tell about you? (from the deck)
2. What have you changed your mind about recently? (from the deck)
3. What's a meal you think about more often than you should?
4. What's the most fascinating story about someone from your hometown? (from the deck)
5. If no one was allowed to know what you did for work, what would your job be? (from the deck)
6. What's a tradition from your family that you've kept, and one you've dropped?
7. Which friend would you call to help you move a body, and which friend would you call to help you hide it from the first one?
8. What's the worst trouble you've ever gotten into? (from the deck)
9. What's the best advice you ignored?
10. If this dinner were a restaurant, what would the one-star review say?

The plates are cleared, the candles are low, and the table is small enough to go deeper. Read the question out loud and answer it yourself first.

1. What's the dream? (from the deck)
2. What's something you didn't feel ready for but did anyway? (from the deck)
3. What's a version of you that you've outgrown?
4. Who makes you feel most like yourself and why? (from the deck)
5. What's something in your life now that would surprise you at fifteen?
6. What's a decision you're glad you made slowly?
7. What's the kindest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
8. When was the last time you did something for the first time?
9. What do you want more of next year, and what are you willing to give up for it?
10. Who at this table would you trust to give the toast at your wedding, and which story would they tell?

Go first, and go honest; the table answers at the level of the host. Say the skip rule out loud: anyone can pass, and it changes the mood more than you'd think. And don't go in order. Pick one question per course and let it run.

CANDID is a real deck of playing cards with a question on every card and a chicken in fishnets on the front. Leave it in the middle of the table. Deal a hand of something easy while the coffee brews and answer the card you put down. $29, or 2 for $50 with free shipping.

Who at your next dinner hasn't been asked a real question in a while? Start with them.