Guides

💬 60 Conversation Starters for Hanging Out With New Friends

By the We-Collided team · Updated October 2026 · 4 min read

The first few hangouts with a new friend can feel like a job interview if you're not careful. You both want it to go well, so you play it safe, and the conversation never gets past jobs and the weather. The fix isn't being more interesting. It's asking better questions and actually listening to the answers. Here are sixty starters, grouped from light to deep, and a few simple habits that keep a conversation going on its own.

How to use these without sounding like a quiz

Don't fire questions one after another. Ask one, listen, then share your own answer or a related story. A good conversation is like a game of catch: the question is the throw, your story is the throw back. Follow-up questions ("Wait, how did that happen?") matter far more than the first question. If an answer surprises you, chase it. That's where the fun is.

Also, read the room. The deeper questions near the end of this list work best one-on-one or late in a relaxed evening, not in the first five minutes at a loud bar.

Light and easy (good for the first hangout)

1. What's the best thing you've eaten lately?
2. What did you do last weekend?
3. Are you a morning person or a night person?
4. What's a show you'd recommend to anyone?
5. What's your go-to order at a coffee shop?
6. Do you have any pets, or want any?
7. What's a small thing that made you happy this week?
8. What's the most-used app on your phone besides texting?
9. What were you obsessed with as a kid?
10. What's your ideal lazy Sunday?
11. Beach, mountains or city?
12. What's a song you never skip?
13. What's the best concert or live event you've been to?
14. What's something you're weirdly good at?
15. What's on your list of places you want to eat around here?

Fun "would you rather" and hypotheticals

16. Would you rather have a personal chef or a personal driver?
17. If you could instantly master one skill, what would it be?
18. Would you rather live without music or without movies?
19. If you won a free trip anywhere tomorrow, where would you go?
20. What would your perfect day look like if money didn't matter?
21. If you had to eat one cuisine forever, which one?
22. Would you rather go back in time 100 years or forward 100 years?
23. What's a hobby you'd pick up if you had more time?
24. If you could have dinner with any three people, living or not, who?
25. Which fictional world would you most want to live in?
26. Would you rather be famous for a day or rich for a month?
27. If your life had a theme song, what would it be?
28. What would you name your boat if you had one?
29. If you opened a small business, what would it sell?
30. What's a "useless" superpower you'd still love to have?

Getting to know them better

31. What's keeping you busy these days, outside of work or school?
32. How did you end up living where you live now?
33. What's something you're looking forward to this month?
34. Who in your life makes you laugh the most?
35. What's a tradition from your family you still love?
36. What's the best advice anyone ever gave you?
37. What's a goal you're working on right now?
38. What's a place that feels like home to you?
39. What did you want to be when you grew up?
40. What's a book, movie or show that changed how you think?
41. What's the most spontaneous thing you've ever done?
42. What's something people usually get wrong about you?
43. What are you proud of from the last year?
44. How do you like to recharge after a long week?
45. What's a skill you learned that surprised you?

Deeper conversations (for when you've clicked)

46. What's a moment that changed the direction of your life?
47. What does a good friend mean to you?
48. What's something you've changed your mind about?
49. When do you feel most like yourself?
50. What's a fear you've gotten over?
51. What's something you wish more people asked you about?
52. Who has had the biggest influence on you?
53. What's a risk you're glad you took?
54. What does a really good year look like for you?
55. What's something small that you think makes life better?
56. What's a lesson you learned the hard way?
57. What are you curious about lately?
58. If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?
59. What's a memory you go back to when you need a smile?
60. What's something you'd love to do together sometime?

Keep it going after the hangout

The last question on that list is the important one. Great conversations are a start, but friendships grow from the next plan. If they mention a restaurant they've been wanting to try, a hike or a show, that's your opening: "Let's do that. Saturday?" Remember the details they shared, too. Asking "How did the interview go?" a week later tells someone they matter more than any clever question ever could.

On We-Collided, you add friends by meeting in person, so every new connection already started with a real conversation. The app's events and group chats make it easy to set up the next one.