Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away, and I am excited! Family, friends, food, and lots of red wine, it may possibly be my favorite holiday. With this holiday does come some downfalls: the small talk. Luckily my family can talk about basically anything and there will never be an awkward moment, but other aren’t as lucky.

 

You may be meeting a cousin’s significant other of the first time, or a family friend attends that you have never met, that is why I wanted to share my small talk survival tips! Afterall, small talk is an art form we all can learn.

 

Weather: The easiest thing to talk about in the entire world. Thanksgiving is right around the time where it is either 30 degrees or 70 degrees outside. If you’re stuck talking to someone you barely know just say “how about this weather?” You have just opened to floodgates to small talk river, no awkward silence will be had.

 

Traffic: Now this may not be as prevalent in the Binghamton area, but people from Philly LOVE talking about traffic. Traffic is part of life in cities, and small talk benefits from it. You can discuss the new construction holding up traffic around the mountain or talk about new backroads and shortcuts you found. This type of small talk will definitely fill the void between dinner and dessert.

 

Sports: Always. Talk.  Sports. Everyone has their opinion and sports is easily a top spot for surviving an awkward Thanksgiving. You can throw a general question out like “Is anyone excited for the Olympics,” or “How about those (Insert literally any sports team here).” And BOOM you are off to the races filling the time between dessert and that inevitable nap.

 

If these topics don’t work then the easiest way to avoid awkward silences and small talk is to throw some football on. And also get that nap in.

 

 

 

 

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