The Best Conversation Starters for Meeting New Relatives

Meeting new relatives for the first time can be quite a challenge. I had a rather odd experience a few weeks ago when my parents discovered that we had relatives we never knew about that had kids as well. So what exactly do you say to people who are now your family who you have never met before? How do you interact with them? How do you first meet up with them and where?

Probably the best place to meet with them is at either of your houses. Hopefully your new relatives will live in the same state as you or within driving distance. If not you could always hop on a plane to meet them. It's not everyday that you get to meet new relatives. If you are hosting the family get together, a good idea is to set up chairs in your living room with your couches. You can set up snacks like chips or pretzels. You can also set up a salad or fruit platter with a dip like ranch dressing which is always popular for food.

You can also buy a cake or tell your relatives to bring a cake. You can make tea and coffee for people to drink as they sit around and talk. At first, making conversation was very difficult but we were able to break out of the tension through several conversation starters that I share with you now.

For young adults between the ages of 15-21, the best conversation topics are school and education. Where are you planning on attending college? For two people who are in college, there should be plenty to talk about like what career goals you have, what your major in college is, what activities you are involved with, what is there to do at your respective colleges, are you involved with campus life. You might also want to ask them to go in depth about their college lives such as what sports they play, what the weather is like, and what the dorm rooms are like. Some people have on campus jobs or off campus jobs and the professors are all unique in each school. If there is one person already in college and the other relative is in high school, the college person can tell the younger relative about the college application process and what it entails.

Cars are also a popular topic to discuss because young people all love cars and either want to get a car or want to talk about their own car. Cars are also a popular topic among adults as well.

Careers are always a great topic because people are usually passionate about what they do. Sometimes careers overlap or you go through similar processes. People can talk about their bosses' and how much they hate or like them as well as what they do at their jobs on an every day basis.

Family: When you are with new relatives, family is one of the first topics that can be brought up to reach common ground. Somehow, baby pictures and old pictures always get brought out, especially with women.

The final topic that usually is popular and a great conversation starter are to talk about your house and your relatives can talk about their own. If you have had a part of your home renovated you can talk about that and what the neighborhood is like.