Most of these questions suit a teenager or adult looking back over a year, or an older relative marking a milestone. The last group is different: it is a short interview to ask a child on every birthday.
The yearly birthday interview
Ask the same questions each year, on the birthday or close to it. Write each answer down exactly as the child says it, including the spelling of made-up words, and add the date and their age. Keep the pages in one folder or the back of a baby book.
The value shows up after a few years, when you can lay the pages side by side. A favorite food that was “noodles” at four may be something else at nine. Best friends change, and so does the answer to what is hard right now.
Keep it short, five minutes at most for a young child. If they don’t want to answer one, write “skipped” and move on; that is part of the record too. Avoid prompting a better answer. Swap in a question of your own if one stops fitting, but keep most of the set the same so the years can be compared.
At a party
Let the birthday person choose one question from the first three groups. Ask it once while the cake is cut and let whoever wants to answer go around the table. For a big group, the party questions are faster and lighter.
For a parent or grandparent’s milestone birthday
Ask about other birthdays and the years between them rather than about getting older. “Who was at your 21st?” or “What did you expect this age to feel like?” gives them a story to tell. For a longer conversation, use the questions for grandparents or sketch a life timeline together.
If you collect answers from several people, a memory book is one way to keep them with photos from the day.