Birthdays are some of the easiest milestones to mark. They are a time to celebrate, reflect, and connect. This makes birthdays great opportunities to start new traditions.
What better way to make birthdays more memorable than with thoughtful and introspective questions that spark meaningful conversations? By asking the right birthday questions, you can turn any birthday into an opportunity to reflect on the past and dream about the future. It’s as easy as journaling your experiences or sharing memories with loved ones! A birthday interview can be a one-time activity or something you repeat yearly and look back at to see how you and your loved ones have grown and changed over the years.
Let’s go through a collection of engaging prompts and questions ready to help inspire self-reflection and strengthen bonds with family and friends. You can preserve the answers to these questions using FamilySearch Memories. In the years to come, you can look back and see how the answers to the same questions change as you age.
Birthday Questions to Ask Others
Thoughtful questions can deepen your relationships with loved ones, and there is no better time to ask these questions than a special birthday! You can interview your children, spouse, parents, grandparents, and other loved ones at a family gathering. You can conduct a birthday interview once at a family gathering, on special birthdays (like ages 5, 8, 10, 12, 16, 18, and 21), when someone turns a new decade, or even yearly.
Here are some meaningful questions to help you learn more about your loved one’s experiences, dreams, and personal insights.
Questions About Past Birthdays
- What’s your favorite birthday tradition or memory?
- If you could spend your birthday with anyone, past or present, who would it be?
- If you could give advice to your past self, what would it be?
- If you could spend your birthday anywhere in the world, where would it be?
- What’s the most meaningful birthday gift you’ve ever received?
Questions About This Past Year
- What’s your favorite memory from the past year?
- If you could relive one moment from this past year, what would it be?
- Did you accomplish anything this year that you’re especially proud of?
- What’s one thing you’re grateful for as you celebrate this year of your life?
- What’s one thing you learned about yourself this year?
- If you could describe this past year in one word, what would it be?
- Who has made a big impact on your life this year, and how?
Questions About Right Now
- What is your current favorite food?
- What is your favorite book?
- What is your favorite movie?
- What is your favorite TV show?
- What are your hobbies?
- What is your favorite song?
Questions About Next Year
- What’s something fun or exciting you hope to try next year?
- What’s one thing you’re looking forward to most next year?
- What do you think you’ll be doing this time next year?
- What is something you want to do differently next year?
Birthday Questions to Ask Yourself
Your birthday is also the perfect time for self-reflection! Take a moment to pause and ask yourself some questions to celebrate your growth, revisit fun memories, and set goals for the year ahead.
Questions About This Past Year
- What am I most proud of accomplishing?
- What challenges did I overcome, and how did they shape me?
- What’s one moment from the past year I’ll always treasure?
- How did I take care of myself this year (physically, mentally, emotionally)?
- Who or what brought me the most joy this year?
- What’s something I wish I did differently this year?
- What’s one goal I set last year that I achieved?
- How did I make a difference in someone’s life this year?
- What’s something new I tried this year, and how did it impact me?
- What am I most grateful for right now?
- If I could describe this past year in one word, what would it be?
- If I could relive one day from this year, which would it be and why?
Questions About Right Now
- What is my current favorite food?
- What is my favorite book?
- What is my favorite movie?
- What is my favorite TV show?
- What are my hobbies?
- What is my favorite song?
Questions About Next Year
- What am I most excited about for the year ahead?
- What goals do I want to set for next year?
- What’s one piece of advice I’d give myself for this new year?
- How will I take better care of myself next year (physically, mentally, emotionally)?
- What is something I want to do differently next year?
Record Your Birthday Questions
These questions are perfect to ask yourself and others as a memorable experience during a birthday celebration or even as an opportunity to start an anticipated yearly tradition. As you ask these questions, you can use FamilySearch Memories to preserve these memories and thoughts.
By default, FamilySearch Memories are public, so you can easily share them or have relatives look them up in the shared family tree. You can also mark special memories as private or to be shared within small groups. Here are a few articles to help you do this:
Here are some other formats you can use to preserve the answers to the birthday questions:
- Video. Take a video of the person answering the questions. If you repeat the interview in other years, you make a compilation video of their answers.
- Voice Recording. FamilySearch Memories has a free voice recorder. With the app, you can simply press Record on your phone and capture the voice of your loved one answering questions on their birthday.
- Scrapbook. Put the answers to the questions in a scrapbook along with photos from the birthday celebrations. If you repeat the interview, you can see the person change over the years through both their answers and the photos.
- Journal. You can write the answers in your own journal, or the person can use their journal.
Get ready to learn more about yourself and your loved ones by pondering these birthday questions!
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