Questions for Thanksgiving Table + Menus
Life is hard; food doesn't have to be #107 [vol3, 11.3]
Before new friends come to dinner, I’ll tell the kids what I know about our guest and to think of one question to ask during dinner. We might brainstorm possible questions. Thanksgiving is a great time to remind our family about the categories of relationships and schedules. Read more in this article I wrote called Tips for Dinner Conversations with Awkward People.
The goal is to get people talking about something other than the weather. I’ve not decided if I will print the whole list below or just choose a few for our Thanksgiving table. Or, print the list and cut it apart and let everyone draw a question at random.
What Thanksgiving memories come to mind about your childhood?
If you could live anywhere, where would it be & why?
How did you meet your spouse / girl/boyfriend?
What is a fear you have?
What defines a good vacation?
As a kid, what was a meal you enjoyed? Tell us about the food of your childhood.
Ever turned mundane into adventure? Please share.
What's something you got in trouble for as a kid?
What would you change about yourself if you could?
It's your turn to pick where to go for dinner. What restaurant do you choose
What makes you angry?
Tell us about your first job.
What motivates you to work hard?
Looking back, what are some excellent life choices? What would you have done differently?
Think about something you're proud of. Why?
If you were given $1,000 what would you do with it? What about with $10,000?
What's a book you've read recently? Tell us about it.
Looking back on your career, what are you proud of?
What did you want to be when you were younger? What is something about your career you really like? What is a complaint about your job?
Would you rather ride a bike, ride a horse, or drive a car? Why?
What do you listen to in the car the most?
Would you rather lose your vision or your hearing? Let us hear your thoughts.
Would you rather: wash dishes, mow the lawn, clean the bathroom, or vacuum the house? If you could hire someone to do one of those, which would it be?
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Who is a hero of yours?
What's a lesson that you learned from your mom/dad or grandparent?
What were the pressures of your teen years?
What are/were your mother's best qualities? your father's?
What's something you had as a child that today's kids are missing out on?
I might print this whole list of would you rather questions for the kids’ table. Here are links to the other websites that prompted the above list of questions: here, here and here.
Kid Table Activity
When my nephew was in 3rd grade, he made a huge 3D snowflake at school. He’s in college now and my mom still pulls it out every year and hangs it from the chandelier. We’ve had fun making them too. You could set out the supplies and let the littles have a blast. We also have a blizzard on most of our windows from Schaeffer making 2D snowflakes.
I bought a table runner of coloring pages for the kid table. You could use the back of wrapping paper or buy an inexpensive roll of packing paper.
Texting Jokes
A friend has a prodigal son. To keep the communication line open she texts him a joke a day from this list. I love that she continues to pursue him in unconventional ways!
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9 Types of Intelligence
The boys at school were teasing a friend, calling him stupid. Schaeffer came home and said, “Dad I got really angry and yelled back to those boys, ‘My friend is NOT stupid!’” My husband remembered reading about schools typically value a few types of intelligence and told Schaeffer about the 9 types of intelligence. Intrigued, Schaeffer read the article and asked to print it. He took it to the school the next day to help his friend see that in fact he was intelligent. I love it when my kids see the good. I want to be more like them.
Menus
Alexandra Cooks is my fav no-fuss food bloggers and she knows her stuff! Check out her Thanksgiving tips and menu page.
Tieghan Gerard of Half Baked Harvest is a fav Instagram account and she also has a Thanksgiving guide.
Here’s the post I wrote last year about Mostly Make Ahead Thanksgiving Recipes. I’ll be repeating a lot, esp the roasted carrots and beets with tahini. Because I made Alexandra’s large batch tahini salad dressing earlier in the week and we’ve been eating it on everything.
Appetizer - Spinach Balls
Dessert - I’ve made Tieghan’s Molten Chocolate Crackle Pie before but this Chocolate Pumpkin Pie looks yum too. Here’s a decadent pumpkin custard recipe from another fav follow Nourished Kitchen. These Bourbon Maple Pecan Bars with a shortbread crust look amazing and he cooks by weight, which I love when recipe developers do this! Easy Gingerbread cookies are always on the menu this time of year.
Super Easy Bread - My top 3 bread recipes are this artisan loaf, The Best, Easiest No Knead Brioche Buns, and Peasant Loaf baked in bowls. I think I will try these No Knead Buttermilk Pull Apart Rolls this year.
Life is hard, food doesn’t have to be,
Julie
PS - Don’t sleep on the Beautycounter sale if you’ve considered switching to cleaner. This is the best sale all year. If you’re a Band of Beauty Member (recommended; it’s a rewards program), the sale gets better tomorrow for you with 20% product credit in addition to the above sale. As always, reply to this email for questions and let me help!