We were having lunch the other day at one of our favorite restaurants and we overheard a lady at the next table lamenting what a slow thinker she is at social functions. She admitted to being a good listener but wished aloud that she was quicker to come up with conversational topics.

As an example, she said she recently had lunch with a nephew she hadn’t seen in about 10 years and he introduced his girlfriend as someone he’d met in Chicago but who ironically came from his same hometown. Later she realized she could have asked them how they happened to meet in Chicago, but she let the moment pass and the conversation grow stale.

We here at I-ShopTheWorld.com like to party and honestly can’t say we have this problem so we evaluated our own style and gave some thought to what we are hearing and saying at parties this year to make for lively conversation.

Of course, favorite TV shows, movies, and books are always solid standby topics, and this time of year, “Are you ready for Christmas?” is getting a bit stale since we hear it even from store cashiers.

So we came up with a list of other possible questions and comments that avoid those taboo topics of politics and religion and create good food for thought and talk.

When you feel stuck and dull, don’t sit it out in a corner alone, approach someone and try these (the idea is to get the other person talking and let the conversation flow from  here):

•    What is your favorite holiday of the year? When they answer, be sure to follow up by asking why it’s their favorite and what’s their favorite memory of something that happened on that holiday.

•    How do you like to spend your birthday: with friends; with family; or alone?

•    What would you most like for someone to give you but are afraid to ask for? Use an example of something you’d like such as a piece of our gemstone jewelry.  Volunteering something personal like that warms up the other person to be more personable with you.

•    Do you have a collection? How long have you been collecting and do you buy collectibles for yourself or just receive them as gifts from others? How many do you have and where do you display or store them? If you don’t have a collection, tell them that you are starting one, for instance, collecting different sauces, like our Tortuga Rum sauces. Ask them “Have you ever tried to create a sauce from scratch? What ingredients did you start with and how did it turn out?” Tell them you are thinking about hosting a sauce tasting and ask if they’d be interested in attending.

•    Have you ever had a night-time dream that changed your life; like six winning lottery ticket numbers or the questions that were going to be on a test the next day?

•    Do you like to cook? What are your favorite spices? Do you like to try new flavors? Have you tried any of the unusual spices like dried kaffir lime leaf, galangal, boesenbergia rotunda, or krachaidum?

•    Have you ever just sat and watched a bee gather nectar and marveled at the contribution bees make to the food cycle, along with how that nectar gets converted to honey? You don’t happen to have ever been a beekeeper, do you?

•    What’s your favorite food to take to covered dish parties? What do you look forward to someone else bringing?

•    Did you ever go to a party just because you know they’d be serving something special, like gourmet coffee or other gourmet snacks and you needed comfort good at the time?

•    How did you come to know the host/hostess?

•    Have you traveled much? Where have you been? Where is your favorite place?

•    Do you buy local merchandise when you travel? How do you get it home; through customs, etc.?

•    Do you prefer to shop online or at the mall and why?

•    Have you ever visited I-ShopTheWorld.com? What’s your favorite item to order from them? Was the service good? Are you pleased with your purchase?

If you ask that last question, Please share the answers with us, at:

http://i-shoptheworld.com/2008/07/31/please-reply-with-your-feedback/

We’d love to have that conversation with you.

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