36 Thanksgiving Conversation Starters To Keep Politics Off the Menu (2025 Version)

Thanksgiving dinner is a minefield. You’ve got hot food, strong opinions, and exactly one uncle who still thinks AOL is the internet. The good news? There’s a way to keep the turkey hot and the takes cool.

Remento’s 2025 Thanksgiving Question Set was designed to do one thing well: turn small talk into meaningful conversation, without venturing into the cultural thunderdome. We’ve curated 50 questions for your holiday table that won’t start fights, but might just start traditions.

Because it turns out, the stories we tell matter more than the opinions we hold. And when you ask the right questions, you get answers that last longer than the cranberry sauce.

So grab a seat, pass the rolls, and try one of these out:

🥐 Easy Icebreakers 

1. If a friend named a sandwich after you, what would be on it?
2. What’s one rule you think every person should follow — or every family?
3. What Jeopardy category would you choose for your secret area of expertise?
4. What’s one thing your phone knows about you that your family doesn’t?
5. What’s a tiny luxury that makes your life better than it is?
6. What’s a low-stakes opinion you’d defend forever?
7. What’s a habit you’ve picked up from someone at this table?
8. If you had to swap lives with a family member for one week, who would it be and why?
9. If you could only have one superpower, what would it be?
10. What’s your current “personality in one purchase”?
11. What topic could you give a 20-minute talk about right now?
12. What’s a job you would be terrible at, but kind of want to try?
13. What’s the most surprising thing that’s happened in your kitchen this year?
14. If you could research one topic for the rest of your life, what would it be?

🍂 Lighthearted Nostalgia

15. What’s one thing you wish someone had saved or recorded from your childhood?
16. What’s something you still don’t understand, but pretend you do?
17. What’s a tiny family tradition that means more than it probably should?
18. If your life had chapters, what would the title of this one be?
19. What’s a smell that instantly transports you somewhere specific?
20. How did you get your worst physical scar?
21. What was your favorite toy as a child, and what happened to it?
22. If you were a museum, what would it be like?
23. If this dinner were a podcast, what would the title of today’s episode be?

🌿 Reflective & Personal

24. What’s something one of your past selves would be shocked about your current self?
25. What’s something we as a family all have in common?
26. What’s an accomplishment from this year that made you truly proud of yourself?
27. What’s something you’ve done this year that felt truly brave?
28. What’s something you’re not that good at but enjoy anyway?
29. What is a sliding door moment in your life — a decision that changed the entire course of your life?
30. What’s a family memory that feels funny now, but actually meant something?
31. What’s one moment from this year that you wish you could bottle up and replay forever?
32. What’s a recent moment when you felt genuinely lucky?
33. If your past year were an emotion, what would it be?
34. When did you take the biggest leap of your life — and who was it for?
35. What’s something we take for granted about each other?
36. What’s a gift you got in the last few years that you deeply loved?