Icebreaker Questions for Adults
120 original icebreaker questions in four groups. Every question can be answered lightly, and anyone may pass.
Cut along the dashed lines.
For new acquaintances (30 prompts)
What is a small thing that made today better?
What is the best thing you have eaten this month?
What is a place you never get tired of going back to?
What job did you want when you were ten?
What skill would you love to pick up in a single weekend?
What is your usual order at a café?
What was the first music you remember choosing for yourself?
What is a hobby you have tried and happily given up?
Which season suits you best, and why?
What is something you are looking forward to this year?
What is the most useful thing you own that cost very little?
What is a smell that takes you straight back to somewhere?
Are you a morning person or a night person — and has it always been that way?
What is a film or book you can enjoy again and again?
What is the nicest thing about the place where you live?
What is a food you changed your mind about as an adult?
What was your first paid job?
What would you do with an unexpected free afternoon?
What is a small luxury you think is worth the money?
What is something you are quietly good at?
If you could have a view of anything from your window, what would it be?
What is your favourite way to spend a rainy day?
What is the best piece of everyday advice you have been given?
What is a tradition you would love to start?
What sound do you find most relaxing?
What is a subject you could happily talk about for ten minutes?
What is the longest journey you have ever made?
What is a board or card game you would never turn down?
What is something new you have tried recently?
How do you know the host?
Dinner-table conversation (30 prompts)
What meal would you like to have again, exactly as it was?
What dish reminds you of home?
What is the most memorable table you have ever sat at?
Who taught you to cook — or tried to?
What is one ingredient you could not do without?
What is the strangest food combination you secretly enjoy?
What is a restaurant you still think about?
If you could invite any three people to dinner, living or not, who would come?
What is a dinner-table rule from your childhood?
What is your idea of the perfect breakfast?
What did you eat on your best holiday?
What is something you would like to learn to make?
What is a kitchen disaster you can laugh about now?
Sweet or savoury — and what is your proof?
What food would you bring to a shared picnic?
What is a smell from the kitchen that makes you happy?
Which would you choose: a long lunch or a late supper?
What is the best thing to eat when it is cold outside?
What is a dish everyone else loves that you have never understood?
What do you always have in your fridge?
What was a special-occasion meal in your family?
What is the best thing you have ever eaten outdoors?
If this dinner had a theme song, what would it be?
What is a food you would travel a long way for?
What would be in your ideal sandwich?
What is a recipe you have changed to make your own?
What is your favourite thing about eating with other people?
Which course would you never skip — starter, main or dessert?
What is a taste you only came to like slowly?
What is a toast you would like to make tonight?
Light humor (30 prompts)
What is the most useless talent you have?
What is a harmless opinion you will defend to the end?
Which ordinary task do you feel oddly proud of doing well?
What is the silliest thing you have ever bought?
If animals could talk, which would be the rudest?
What is a word you always spell wrong?
What would your theme tune be when you walk into a room?
What is the most ridiculous thing you believed as a child?
What is a completely pointless rule you still follow?
Which household chore would you make an Olympic sport?
What is the worst haircut you have ever had?
If you were a kitchen appliance, which one would you be?
What is the strangest thing in your bag or pockets right now?
What would be the title of a film about your week?
What is something you pretend to understand?
Which fictional character would make the worst housemate?
What is your most overused phrase?
What is a minor inconvenience that annoys you far too much?
If you had a warning label, what would it say?
What is the funniest misunderstanding you have been part of?
What would you be famous for, if it had to be something trivial?
What is a food you eat in a way other people find odd?
Which animal do you think you most resemble before coffee?
What is the worst advice you have ever been given?
What would your superpower be, if it had to be mildly disappointing?
What is the most dramatic thing you have done over something tiny?
What was a fashion choice you once thought was excellent?
If you had to give a talk with no preparation, what would it be about?
What is a noise you make without noticing?
What is the least adventurous thing about you?
For multigenerational gatherings (30 prompts)
What was your favourite game when you were small?
What is something you learned from an older relative?
What is something a younger person has taught you?
What did your street or neighbourhood look like when you were growing up?
What is a family saying that everyone here would recognise?
What was a treat when you were a child?
Which invention has changed your everyday life the most?
What is a song that everyone in your family knows?
What was your first day at school like?
What is something that was better in the past, and something that is better now?
Who in your family tells the best stories?
What is a celebration you remember from long ago?
What is a skill you think everyone should learn?
What was the first thing you saved up to buy?
What is a place that was important to your family?
What kind of work was common when you were a child that hardly exists now?
Which family recipe should never be lost?
What is the best present you ever gave someone?
What chore did you have as a child?
What is something you hope will be the same in fifty years?
What is a toy or object from your childhood you still remember clearly?
What is a piece of advice you would give your younger self?
What is the funniest thing a child has ever said to you?
What is a journey you remember from when you were young?
What did you do on long summer days as a child?
Who was a teacher you remember, and why?
What is something you would like the youngest person here to know?
What would you like to ask the oldest person here?
Which family photograph do you like best?
What is a tradition in this family that you hope continues?