Questions for Couples: Communication

What is your favorite way to talk with friends? What about family members?
Do you prefer to talk with people face to face? Does talking face to face scare you? What if it's a really ugly face? What if it's a really pretty face?

How do you feel about text messages? If somebody sends you a txt, how quickly will you respond?
Does every txt require a response? How do you feel about texts that only have one word in them? what about one letter? Blank text messages?

Do you write a blog? Have you ever told someone that you couldn't tell them something because it was in your blog? Do you like Instant messaging? How do you feel about communicating through Facebook?

Have you ever used a video chat service? Do you think video calling is the way of the future? Have you ever noticed yourself doing something weird while video chatting?
Have you ever sent a telegram? A singing Telegram?

Do you like to talk on the phone? For hours at a time? Have you ever said "no, you hang up first." or "I love you more"?

Do you write a lot of emails? Do you like to communicate through emails? How important is spelling in an email? Do all your emails include a salutation? Do you sign your emails? All of them? Does your computer/ email client sign them for you?

Do you ever write a letter? By hand? Do you like to receive hand written letters? Mail? How often do you write thank you notes? Does a thank you note merit a thank you note in return?

How do you feel about conversations that continue in perpetuity? Is it better to have a lot of little conversations? or one conversation that just picks up where it left off?

Questions for Couples: Ice Breakers

If you could pick any 5 stores to spend time in what would you pick? What are your favorite stores to buy things from? What makes them your favorite?
What are your top five favorite restaurants? What do you like about them? What do you look for in a restaurant? What turns you off in a restaurant?
Do you have favorite hotel chains? or hotels? What are your primary factors in choosing where to stay?

If you could drive any car in the world what would you pick? Why? What are the top five cars you would like to own? Why would you pick them?
What is your ideal type/size of city? Is there a specific city you would like to live in? Is it underground?
What are the five states that you would like to live in the most? Why?
If you could live in any other country in the world what one(s) would you pick?
What if you could live on any planet?

What are your favorite leisure activities? What are your favorite things to do at home? someone elses home? not at a home?
What are your five favorite foods? Favorite snacks? Are your favorite snacks different if no one is looking?
What are your top five current TV shows? All-time favorite TV shows?

What are your favorite clothing brands? least favorite clothing brands?
Is it favorite or favourite?
What are your favorite types of fairs, expos, or festivals?
What is your favorite "fair food"?
What are your five favorite types of flowers?
What were your favorite classes in School? What were your least favorite?
Who were your favorite teachers? and why?

Questions for Couples: Sleep

Do you like to go to bed early or are you more of a night owl? How early is early?
Can you tell when someone is tired? Will you tell a person when you are tired? How hard is it for you to adjust to another persons sleep schedule? How important is your sleep schedule to you?

Do you use something to help you get to sleep? Music? TV? Movies? Tranquilizers?

Do you sleep with the door open or closed?
Can you sleep with the lights on? Can you sleep when there is noise? a baby crying?
Do you sleep with a night light?

Do you sleep with a window open? With two windows open to create a breeze? Do you feel less safe if your window is open at night?

Do you wake up naturally each morning? Do you have an internal alarm clock? can you pick the time?
Do you like to wake up to the sunlight? what about a rooster? Do you use an alarm clock? Clock radio? Do you wake up to the smell of bacon? From a bacon bakin' clock?

Special Edition: Date Ideas - Winter II

Communication is the foundation of any good relationship. That is the main purpose of this blog, however, a good date never hurt any relationship. Here are some fun ideas for winter dates that may also provide a good atmosphere for communication.

1. Find a local sporting good store, or university or outdoors club and rent some snowshoes.  Go snowshoeing.
2. Rent cross country skis, pack a picnic and go for an adventure. 
3. Buy some large tubes from your local tire store fill them with air, and find a nice hill to tube down.
4. Go to a local ski resort and go skiing, or snowboarding... Make sure you ride the chairlift with your date, and maybe even enjoy some hot chocolate, so you have some time to talk. :-)
5. Go to your favorite ski resort, but don't ski, just sit and talk by the fire. Maybe pretend you can hear what the other guests are saying as they come into, or out of the resort. Take turns "being the voice" for different guests.
6. Karaoke
7. Go Country dancing, line dancing, swing dancing... or just dancing. Not perhaps the best activity to promote communication, but it can be a lot of fun, get your heart pumping, and it usually happens in a nice warm building... sometimes vary warm.
8. Buy some poster paper and some finger-paints and recreate your favorite artistic masterpieces together. 
9. Find a couple snow shovels and clean the sidewalks of your neighbors... or random strangers. Ü
10. Visit people at a care center, or find a local widow (or Widows) and play boardgames with them.
11. Get a few other couples and have a progressive dinner.  One couple is in charge of the appetizer. One couple takes the main course, one couple takes desert. Maybe one couple does a salad. Etc. Go from one house to the next for each course.
12. Find a recipe for something fun that you've always wanted to make... Like bougatsa, or baklava, or even sugar cookies. Make it together. (Note: if this is experimental, it may take longer than you expected it to, this is not necessarily a bad thing Ü) 
13. Go Ice Skating... or Rollerskating if you can't find any place to ice skate, but you have access to a roller rink. If you are new to ice skating stay close to your date so you can help them if they fall... but not so close that you cause them to fall. :-)
14. Set up a tent in your living room. Light a fire if you have a fireplace. Tell ghost stories, and roast marshmallows (and make s'mores of course). If you don't have a fireplace you can also melt your marshmallows in the microwave... it only takes a few seconds. You can also roast marshmallows on a stove (In my experience gas stoves may flavor your mallow a bit, but a nice electric stove top is amazing!)
15. Cook breakfast for dinner. Make pancakes or waffles or my personal favorite, French toast. Most breakfast foods are surprisingly simple to prepare, but if you're not confident in your abilities, there are some great breakfast foods in the freezer section. Spruce it up a bit with fresh berries or juice. ;)

Questions for Couples: Camping

How much do you like camping?
How often do you go camping? how often would you go if you could?
What do you consider camping? is it anything away from home? Is a motorhome camping? Can you have electricity and still be camping? what about a cabin? tent? Do you believe that all real camping is out under the stars? even if it's raining?

How do you feel about camping in the snow? Rain? Heat? Wind?
Can you start a fire? with a single match? without any matches? can you teach me how?

Are you usually the first person to get up in the morning when you go camping? are you the last one to get up?
Do you like to get up and get the fire going? what about food? do you like to wait until breakfast is ready to get up?

How do you feel about living off the land while you camp? Wild mushrooms? Fishing?
Do you like fishing? are you any good? Does that question inspire you to tell a "fish story?" Do you prefer fly fishing? catch and release? trolling? casting?

Do you own a boat? Kayaks? do you like boating? Kayaking? canoeing?

How often when you go camping do you take boats? Bikes? other recreational activities? Gameboys? Ipods? Cell phones?

When was the last time you went camping?
Do you like to camp with reservations? on reservations? along the side of the road? in the middle of nowhere?
in caves? with bears?

Questions for Couples (Advanced): Anger

These are advanced questions. That means they may not be the kind of thing that would be fun to talk about on a first date, but they are questions/ or a topics are important to discuss as a relationship progresses.

Do you play Angry Birds? And why are those birds so angry?
What kind of things make you angry?
Traffic? Work? Family? Friends? The World? Other?
Are there things that make you really angry?
 
How often do you get angry?
When was the last time you got really angry? What was the circumstance?

How do you act when you feel angry?
Do you keep it to your self? Do you talk about it? Do you yell? Do you say mean things? Does it make you want to hit something? Do you ever feel the need to take out your anger on another person?
When you get angry do hit people? Slap? Kick? Push?
Do you ever feel the need to restrain or control someone? Are there other things of a physical nature that you do when you are angry? How often do you get physical because of your anger?

How frequently do you feel like you have anger that is uncontrollable (ie you just can't help yelling at someone)?

Since turning 18 (and becoming an adult), has your anger changed? Has the way you deal with your anger changed? In general, how do you deal with your anger? What do you do to try to get over your feelings of anger? What do you do to deescalate your anger? Do you think it is better to sleep on a problem, or to make sure that you never go to bed angry?
If you could pick one role model from Sesame Street would you pick Oscar?

Questions for Couples: Travel II

How often do you like to travel? Do you like to get away for a night? How often?
Could you? How often do you need to leave for a weekend? How often would you like to get away for a weekend? How long is the weekend? How much do you spend on travel in a month/ year? Is there a formula for how much you would spend... i.e., 1/5 of your income or 1/10? Would you rather travel a lot while you are young, or travel more when you are retired and have more time? How do you feel about taking time off of work for travel? unpaid time?

How do you feel about traveling alone? with your spouse? without your spouse? How long would you be willing to be away from your spouse for the sake of a good vacation/ adventure? If you were traveling without your spouse who would you travel with? Would you take a vacation with married friends of your own gender? Would you take a vacation with married friends of the opposite gender? What about single friends? Would you travel with other married couples?

How do you think you would feel about traveling with your family? With your spouse, but not your kids? With your kids but not your spouse? Would you ever take a vacation with some of your kids but not others? How much of a vacation do you think parents should pay for? Would you ever treat a relative to a vacation? What about a friend? a stranger?

What is your idea of a great vacation?

Questions for Couples: Music

Do you like music? Do you listen to music when you are working? How often do you listen to music?
What is your favorite kind of music? What is your least favorite kind of music?

How loud do you play your music? How do you feel about listening to other peoples music?  Do you always listen to the same type of music? If your listening style change, what is the main factor?

Do you like music with a fast beat? with a loud beat? irregular beats?

How do you feel about opera? How do you feel about opera-style music that is not in English? What about opera-style music that is in English?

Do you have a favorite singing competition on TV? Do you watch every singing competition on TV? what if you miss an episode? Do you have a favorite star from your favorite singing competition?

How do you feel about music that has suggestive lyrics? do you ever notice the lyrics of a song?
What about explicit lyrics? If it's only a little explicit does that make a difference? Does it bother you if a song takes the name of the Lord in vain?

Do you like music played on unusual instruments? Do you play any unusual instruments? Do you Like music with unusual sounds? How do you feel about music that is discordant? how do you feel about music that has no Melody?

If you had exactly enough money for one song from the jukebox what song would you pick?

Questions for Couples: Gifts

Do you think it is best to give home-made gifts? Edible home-made gifts? Store-bought gifts? Edible store-bought gifts? Money?


How do you feel about gift cards? Do you prefer gift cards to a specific store? which specific stores do you prefer?
Would you rather receive something home-made or store-bought? what about that kitten sweater that aunt Mable sends out every year?

How do you feel about clothes as gifts? Do you have to try things on before you get them? Would you rather your significant other give you clothes that they would like to see you in or clothes that you would like to wear?
How important is your style to you? would you wear something that you didn't like if it was a gift?

Do you think that couples should have a private stash of money to spend on gifts? Do you think couples should have separate accounts so that gifts still come as a surprise? Is it ok to keep your gifts a secret until you give them? Are you going to try to find out the secrets anyway? Are you going to try and try and try again? would it bother you if your 'secret gifts' were discovered?

Do you like to wrap your gifts? Are you good at wrapping presents? How do you feel about gift bags?
Do you think that each child's presents should share the same wrapping paper for quick identification?
Do you think that the name tag on a present should coordinate with the wrapping paper? Do you think presents need a name tag?
How do you feel about bows? How do you feel about ribbon?
Would you ever wrap your presents in Newspaper? What about in comics?
Would you then spend more time enjoying the comics than the presents?
Which comic is your favorite?

Questions for Couples: Safety

Do you wear your seat belt? Do it matter if you're driving? Do you do it to stop the car from beeping at you? Would you stop the car if your passengers were not belted? Does it change things if you (or your passengers) are in the back seat?

Does your car have an Alarm? Do you use it? Would you ever use a house alarm for a car?
Do you leave valuable things... or things that look valuable in your car? How often do you leave your keys in your car? Have you ever had to break into your car?

Would you ever buy a home security system? Would you buy the top of the line security or would you buy the minimum? Would you consider a Do-it-yourself security system? Would you regret doing-it-yourself a few weeks later? If you had a security system would it be more valuable to you when you are home or when you are not?

Do you lock your doors at night? Do you lock your doors during the day? Do you lock your windows? Do you lock your door/windows when you are home? Do you use a deadbolt? Do you use a lot of deadbolts?

Do you secure your sliding doors with dowels? Do you take any extra measures to secure your windows?
Do you leave your outside lights on while you are gone? Do you leave inside lights on for safety when you are gone? Do you think having lights on a timer is a good idea?

Would you ever put a sign in your yard to help give the sense of security? would you use a fake sign to make your house look more secure? would you keep a dog to make your home more secure? would you keep a fake dog to make your house look more secure? What about guard lions? or crocodiles?

Questions for Couples: Gifts

Do you like to buy gifts for other people? Is it really better to give than to receive?

Do you give gifts to your siblings for their birthdays? Do you give them gifts at random times?
What about graduation gifts?

How often do you give your parents gifts? How much would you spend on them?
Your nieces? nephews? grand parents? other relatives? coworkers?
Would you ever give a stanger a gift? What about an orphan? Santa Claus...I mean he gives everyone gifts, but who ever gives him a gift?

Do you draw names for who you will give Christmas gifts to in your family? Does each person in the family get drawn out separately or do you draw names for families? Do you get anything for your in-laws?
How much would you spend on a sibling? Do you think that everyone should spend the same amount?

Do you think the value of a gift is more important or it's price (in other words, if you get something on sale is it worth less)? If it matters that people get the same amount, is it more important that you spend the same amount on two people or is it more important to you to get them the same number of items?
Does your family have any traditions that make gifts temporarily unequal (like a rotating "Big Christmas" where one child gets more for that year, to accommodate larger presents)?
Do you think it is better to get one Large present, or a bunch of little presents?
Do you prefer to give lots of little presents? or a small number of larger presents?

Questions for Couples: Recycling

Do you believe in recycling? Do you actually recycle things?
Do you recycle paper? Plastics? Metals? Glass? Cell phones? Printer Cartridges? Batteries? 'New Kids on the Block' Posters (circa 1997)?

Do you recycle for money? Would you make your kids collect pop cans or newspapers to earn some extra cash?
Why do you recycle? because it's fun? because you need cash? to save the planet of course? Because you saw something on TV that made it seem cool?

Do you have a separate bin for recyclables? Do you have separate your recyclables from each other?
Do you clean out containers before you recycle them? do you take off the labels?

How do you feel about Freecycling? Would you be more likely to participate as a giver or a receiver?
How do you feel about dumpster diving? Would you pull out furniture? Clothes? food in a sealed container? food in a somewhat less than sealed container?

How do you feel about Craigslist? Have you ever sold anything there? have you ever given anything away through the site? do you ever go on there just to see what you can find? have you ever found anything good?

What about ebay? Are you a buyer? A seller? a skeptic? Do you prefer to buy things from Amazon? Even if they are used?

Do you have any reusable shopping bags? Do you ever remember to use them?

Questions for Couples: Beverages

Do you ever drink sports drinks while you're working out?
What about when you're not working out?
What is your favorite type of Sports drink? Least favorite?
Do you always get the same flavor or do you like to mix it up?

How do you feel about coffee? If it's "gourmet coffee" does that make a difference?
What about decaf? Would you buy it from Starbucks? If you didn't drink coffee, would you buy other things from Starbucks?

How do you feel about energy drinks? Energy disguised as Sodas? Caffeinated sodas? Energy drinks with alcohol in them? Sodas with Alcohol in them?
How often do you use energy drinks? Do you use the ones that are mostly caffeine, or do you look for other stimulants?
How do you feel about No-Doz?  Do you think that not getting enough rest, or not giving yourself enough time to get something done is a good reason to use use a stimulant like caffeine? What's the longest that you've gone without sleep?

Do you believe in other natural or unnatural enhancers? Which ones are your favorites?
Do you take Ginko? Ginseng? Wheat grass? Acai? Algae? Green tea? Guarana? Whey Protein? Ground up bat wings or toads liver?

Questions for Couples: Shopping

How do you feel about shopping?
Do you like to shop for some things more than for others?
Do you like to shop with coupons? Do you have a super cool system for organizing your coupons?
How far are you willing to travel for a 'good deal'?

Do you prefer to shop locally? How close is local?
Is it more important for you to save money, or to support local businesses?
If a nationwide chain has a store in your area, do you consider that a local purchase?
Do you buy a lot of things online? Do you like to buy new things or used things online?
How often do you buy things on Ebay?
How do you feel about online deal sites?
Would you 'like' something on Facebook to save a few bucks? Would you 'like' something for a possibility that you might save money on something in the future?

How do you feel about back to school shopping?
How do you feel about sewing your kids school clothes?
Do you favor or oppose school uniforms?
Do you think a parent or a child should pick the childs school clothes? Who should pay for school clothes?

Would you buy your child school clothes with pictures on them?
Would you buy your children clothes that have words on them?
What about clothes with witty sayings? What about sayings/ phrases that you may not understand?
What about clothes with characters from video games? tv shows? historical figures?

What would you do if you child wanted to wear something that you felt had an inappropriate message?
What if you felt it was not modest enough? What if you thought it was ugly? What about something that you thought might get them teased? A Darth Vader Helmet?

Questions for Couples: Ice Breakers

What song do you find playing in your head the most?

Do you know how to ballroom dance? If so what is your favorite dance? If not what dance would you most like to learn?

Would you rather always have to say everything on your mind, or never speak again? Why?

What is one crazy/ unique thing about you?

Would you rather be an unknown major league baseball player, or a famous professional badminton star?

Why do you think the palm of someone's hand never gets tan?

What is your favorite lunch meat? Debate why it is the best.

What is your favorite day of the week and why?

Would you rather spend the next year repeating the fourth grade (at your current age),

or spend a month in jail for a crime you didn’t commit?

What is your favorite cold cereal? What about hot breakfast?

What is your most embarrassing moment as an elementary aged kid?

What is your favorite rainy day activity?

Have you ever caught a fish? Tell the story.

Would you rather be the sand castle or the wave?

How do you feel about thunder and lightning storms?

Would you rather forget who you are, or who everyone else is?

Would you rather eat a bar of soap, or drink a bottle of dishwashing liquid? Why?

Would you rather publish your journal or make a movie of your most embarrassing moment?

If you were donating blood, are you the kind of person that a) can watch, b) thinks it's cool to watch, or c) has to look away?

Questions for Couples: Jewelry II

Would you rather have a big diamond, or a small one?
Would you rather have a big diamond or an expensive one?
Diamonds are generally rated with four C's: Cut, color, clarity, and Carat. Which of these do you think is the most important?
Do you think cut (as is shape) is more important or less important than cut (as in table height, or skill used in creating the diamonds shape)

How important is a diamonds color to you? Do you know the diamond color scale? What ratings would you use?  How do you feel about diamonds that are different colors; like red or purple?

How important do you think the karat rating of gold is?
Do you prefer 10k gold? 14k? 18k? or 24k?
Do you have any metal allergies?
Are there certain metals that you don't want your jewelry alloyed with?

Do you like to wear necklaces? What kind of necklaces do you prefer?
How do you feel about pearls?  How do you feel about colored pearls? Carved pearls?

Do you ever wear bracelets? Do you have a charm bracelet?
Do you collect charms from the various places that you visit? How much would you spend on a bracelet... or a charm? How do you feel about Livestrong type bracelets? What about other message bracelets?

Do you like to wear rings on your fingers? Do you like to wear a lot of rings?
Do you wear rings on both hands? What criteria do you look for in a ring?
Is the look of a ring or the cost of a ring a more important factor for you?

Questions for Couples: Ice Breakers

What extreme sport have you always wanted to try?

Would you rather wear plaid, paisley, or argyle?

What is your favorite fairy tale?

If you were going to be executed, what would you request as your last meal?

Do you read for fun? If so what is your favorite author? genre?

What was your favorite toy as a child? what about now?

What is the first thing to do when you get home from work?

What is one thing that is impossible for you to go the day without?

Would you rather be a giant hamster or a tiny rhino? Why?

Would you rather go to the beach or to the mountains?

Would you rather know it all, or have it all?

How do you feel about brussel sprouts?

Would you rather die by fire or by drowning why?

What is the farthest place you have been from home? What were you doing there?

Do you still have your tonsils? If not, tell the story of getting them taken out?

If you were an alien sent to earth to abduct someone who would you abduct and why?

Would you rather have a third leg or a third arm?

What is your favorite sport to play? to watch?

Questions for Couples: Communication

Do you prefer to use a person's name or a nickname? How do you feel about short versions of a persons name? How do you feel about nicknames that are not related to a persons actual name? Have you ever considered legally changing your name? To muffin?

Do you like to use pet names (for your significant other) that are based on food? Do you like pet names that are animal related? Are there pet names or nicknames that you would not like to be called? Are there some words or phrases that you would like to be used when a significant other talks about you?  to you?

Will you call your children by their full names? Will you call your children by names that are not on their birth certificate? What do you expect your children to call you? How do you feel about your children calling you by your first name? How do you feel about your children calling other adults by their first names?

Are there words that you don't want your children to say? How will you teach them about these words? Are there words that you can say that your children can not? Will you use different words in public and in private? 

What words do you use when you are frustrated or angry? How do you describe bad days or situations?

Do you use some terms for fecal matter (poop) and avoid others?

Are there words so obscene that you just won’t use them?

Questions for Couples: Ice Breakers

Would you rather be born with an elephant trunk or a giraffe neck?

Do you like pickles? why or why not?

What are your 3 biggest pet peeves?

Would you rather eat a stick of butter or a gallon of ice cream?

Would you rather kiss a jelly fish or step on a crab?

If you were a fish what kind of fish would you be?

Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?

How old is the oldest pair of shoes in your closet?

If you found out you only had two weeks to live, what would you want to do/ cross off your bucket list?

Who was your childhood hero? why?

Would you rather be 3 feet tall or 8 feet tall? why?

If you could max out your credit card at any store, what store would you choose?

Would you rather be missing a finger or have an extra toe?

Would you rather be stranded on an island alone or with someone you absolutely hate?

If you could buy any island in the world, how would you describe your island?

If you were a superhero, what would your super-name be? What would your power be?

What is the one movie that you can quote the most? How much of it can you quote?

Can you quote a lot of movies?

Are you a morning person or a night person? why?

How late is late?

Questions for Couples: Variety

Questions that must be asked prior to marriage (Submitted by a friend):
Will you marry me? (Haha the humor starts early...)
What genetic defects are carried in your family line?
Are you named in the will of any ridiculously wealthy great aunts that might die soon?
Would you consider living in a foreign country? Texas?
How do you feel about spas? Professional massages?
What is your ideal wedding day? honeymoon?
Have you had your pre marital exam?
How do you feel about disneyland? Beaches? Cruises?
How much travel are you hoping to do in your life?
Where do you want to go?
What else is on your "bucket" list?
Do you like camping? Where?
Do you like hiking? Where?
How many pairs of shoes do you have?
Why do you want to get married?
What do you like to read?
What was the last book you read?
What are your career goals?
Are you open to adoption? Are you adopted?
What activities will your kids be required to participate in? Forbidden from? Sleepovers?
What pets will you allow or want?
If you had a million dollars what would you do?
What is your favorite joke? Movie? Tv show?
What are your top ten greatest hits? (from your life?)
Colgate or Crest?