• 70 questions

Mother's Day Questions to Ask Mom at the Table

Ask Mom the card, and guess first if you are keeping score.

Mother's Day Questions to Ask Mom at the Table

Which house rule do you care about most?

Show follow-upHide follow-up

Which one have you quietly given up on?

Right guess? Keep a tally, then press Next question.

Next step Play it about anyone: 174 cards

All 70 questions

Who knows Mom best 30

  • How can the family tell that you are in a really good mood? Follow-up: What usually puts you there?
  • What breakfast would you like brought to you in bed? Follow-up: Who in this family could actually make it?
  • What do you always pack that nobody else remembers? Follow-up: When did it last save the day?
  • What do you always say as someone walks out the door? Follow-up: When did you start saying it?
  • What do you buy for yourself and file under groceries? Follow-up: Who has caught you?
  • What do you remind everyone to do before leaving the house? Follow-up: How often does it actually get done?
  • What do you say when someone asks what you want for Mother's Day? Follow-up: What do you really want?
  • What do you say when you are about to lose your patience? Follow-up: Where did you pick up that phrase?
  • What gift from this family do you still use or keep in sight? Follow-up: What made it a good one?
  • What is the first thing you do when the house is finally quiet? Follow-up: How long does the quiet usually last?
  • What is the first thing you spot in a room that was supposed to be tidy? Follow-up: How long can you stand it before you tidy up?
  • What is your answer when someone says they are bored? Follow-up: What did grown-ups tell you when you were bored?
  • What is your cure when someone in this family has a bad day? Follow-up: Who does it work on best?
  • What is your idea of a perfect hour to yourself? Follow-up: When did you last get one?
  • What meal do you make when nobody can decide on dinner? Follow-up: Who taught you to make it?
  • What photo of this family makes you laugh every time? Follow-up: What was happening just outside the frame?
  • What phrase of yours has the whole family started using? Follow-up: Who does the best impression of you saying it?
  • What show do you put on when you finally get the remote? Follow-up: Who usually has the remote?
  • What smell means home to you? Follow-up: Which kitchen or yard does it take you back to?
  • What snack do you keep hidden from the rest of the house? Follow-up: How long has that hiding place lasted?
  • What song do you turn up in the car? Follow-up: What do you do when the back seat complains?
  • What sound in this house makes you smile? Follow-up: Which sound makes you sigh?
  • What time would you get up if nobody needed you in the morning? Follow-up: What would you do first?
  • What would you never cook again if it were up to you? Follow-up: Who keeps asking for it?
  • Which family errand do you turn into a small treat for yourself? Follow-up: What is the treat?
  • Which handmade card or gift do you remember best? Follow-up: How old was the one who made it?
  • Which holiday do you work hardest on? Follow-up: Which part of it would you gladly hand over?
  • Which house rule do you care about most? Follow-up: Which one have you quietly given up on?
  • Which kitchen job do you never hand to anyone else? Follow-up: What happens when someone tries?
  • Which room in this house is your favorite, and at what time of day? Follow-up: What do you do there when nobody else is home?

Table questions for Mom 40

  • How do you like to be thanked: words, time, help or a gift? Follow-up: What is the best thank-you you ever got?
  • What are you better at now than before you were a mom? Follow-up: How did you get that good?
  • What can you now do one-handed, half asleep or in the dark? Follow-up: Which of those skills are you proudest of?
  • What could this family take off your plate this month? Follow-up: Who at this table is volunteering?
  • What did someone here do this month that you noticed and never mentioned? Follow-up: Why did it stick with you?
  • What did you have to learn to let go of as a mom? Follow-up: What made letting go easier?
  • What did you promise yourself you would always do as a mom? Follow-up: How has that promise held up?
  • What do you and the family disagree about that you are sure you are right about? Follow-up: Who in the family comes closest to agreeing with you?
  • What do you do as a mom that you learned from watching another mom? Follow-up: What did you decide to do your own way?
  • What do you do for this family that happens when nobody is watching? Follow-up: How could the rest of us share that job?
  • What do you want to be doing on Mother's Day ten years from now? Follow-up: Where are you doing it?
  • What does a perfect Mother's Day look like, from wake-up to bedtime? Follow-up: Which part of it could we still manage today?
  • What does this family do well that other people notice? Follow-up: Who pointed it out to you?
  • What dream did you put on hold that you would still like to pick up? Follow-up: What would help you start?
  • What family disaster became a story you love to tell? Follow-up: Who tells it better than you do?
  • What family meal do you remember for all the wrong reasons? Follow-up: Who still gets teased about it?
  • What has being a mom taught you about yourself? Follow-up: When did you first notice that?
  • What is a rule you made that you are still proud of? Follow-up: Which rule would you take back?
  • What is something this family taught you? Follow-up: Who was the teacher?
  • What is something you still want to learn? Follow-up: What would the first step be?
  • What is the best advice you have ever given in this family? Follow-up: Who took it, and who did not?
  • What is the best excuse anyone in this family ever gave you? Follow-up: Did you believe it for even a second?
  • What is the funniest thing a kid in this family ever said to you? Follow-up: How did you keep a straight face?
  • What is the loudest this house has ever been? Follow-up: What were you doing at the time?
  • What is your favorite time of day with the family? Follow-up: What makes that time work?
  • What makes someone a good mom, in your own words? Follow-up: Who showed you that?
  • What mom mistake can you laugh about now? Follow-up: How long did it take to become funny?
  • What part of being a mom turned out to be more fun than you expected? Follow-up: When did you first notice?
  • What should everyone at this table learn to do for themselves this year? Follow-up: Who is going to teach it?
  • What should this family start doing on Mother's Day every year? Follow-up: Who is in charge of remembering?
  • What tradition do you hope this family keeps for a long time? Follow-up: What would help it last?
  • What would you do with a whole day that was only yours? Follow-up: What is stopping you from putting it on the calendar?
  • What would you like to stop being in charge of by next Mother's Day? Follow-up: Who is getting the job?
  • What would you tell yourself on your first day as a mom? Follow-up: What would you have said back?
  • When do you feel most like a mom? Follow-up: When do you feel most like yourself?
  • Where would you like the whole family to go together one day? Follow-up: What would we do on the first morning?
  • Which family date on this year's calendar are you looking forward to most? Follow-up: How can we make it easier for you?
  • Which family outing took you the most planning? Follow-up: What almost went wrong?
  • Which mom job is the hardest, and which one is the best? Follow-up: Which would you trade away?
  • Which of your habits do you already see in someone at this table? Follow-up: How do you feel about passing that one on?

How it works

Every card here is a question put to Mom and worded with you, so it fits a stepmom or a grandma too. Thirty of these Mother's Day questions play as a guessing game with a scoreboard; forty are for talking over the meal.

Read the full guide

Play Who knows Mom best

Under Game or topic, press Who knows Mom best. Read the card out; everyone but Mom writes a guess, then she answers and rules on anything close. On the end card, press +1 under Team 1 or Team 2 for each right guess; more guessers pair up. Show follow-up gets the story behind her answer.

Table questions for Mom

The 40 Table questions for Mom are about being a mother, not her life story: what she can now do one-handed, which rule she would take back. Easy (34 cards) is quick and light, Medium (27) asks for a story, and Hard holds 9 reflective cards for after the plates are cleared.

  • Mom never has to answer: Next question passes any card. No card asks about pregnancy, birth, loss or who is in the family.
  • Far apart? Put her on a video call, read the cards out and have everyone hold a written guess up to the camera.
  • In the United States Mother's Day is the second Sunday in May. The United Kingdom keeps Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent.

Questions and answers

What are good questions to ask Mom on Mother's Day?

Ones she has not answered a hundred times. Try What do you buy for yourself and file under groceries? or When do you feel most like a mom? The first kind gets a guess and a laugh; the second gets a real answer over dessert.

Do the questions work for a grandma, a stepmom or a mum?

Yes. 59 of the 70 cards say you and your and never say mom, so they read the same to a grandmother, a stepmom or an aunt. The other 11 say being a mom or as a mom; read them out as mum or grandma.

How does the scoreboard work with a big family?

It keeps two teams. With more guessers, play in pairs or as sides of the table, or keep a paper tally and use the phone for the cards. Scores stay on this phone until you press Start over.

Can I print the questions to tuck into a card?

Yes. Pick Table questions for Mom, then Print on the end card: the 40 come out as slips small enough for a card, follow-up on each. All prints the 70. There is no one-page sheet with lines for her answers.

More tools

Show 8 more

Browse Question Games