One of the most valuable parts of friendship is the conversations that you can have with those you are closest to, especially those people you know you can break past the surface level with.
A Her Campus SBU staple is playing Rose, Bud, Thorn, a fun game where you share a high of your day/week (rose), a low of your day/week (thorn), and something you are looking forward to (bud).
My love for this conversation game stems from the fact that I am having fun while framing something that is important to me personally, while also getting to hear from other people in the same way.
Along with this game, here are some other prompts that provoke meaningful convo that are also just straight-up fun!:
Peak, pit, papaya
This is one my older sister introduced to me and a fun derivative of Rose, Bud, Thorn.
Your peak is your high, your pit is the low, and the papaya is exactly as it is presented in the title, something totally random, silly, and unexpected.
This can be applied to a day, a week, a situation, a shift at work, etc.
Lesson, blessing, question
This one gets a bit deeper.
It inquires you share something you have learned, something you feel grateful for, and something you have been wondering about lately.
This can be used for specific moments where you would learn or just encompass life as of recently, since I find it important to occasionally examine yourself for recent lessons or reminders of what is blessing your life.
Bringing up questions (Ex: “How can I be a better friend?”, “What is a new hobby I should pursue?”, etc.”) creates meaningful self-reflection for sure.
“If today was a movie…”
Love this one.
All you do is think about your day and select the movie genre that it best fits.
For example, perhaps you just had a day so bad it was straight up horror.
Go one step further… who were the main characters of this day’s “movie”? What’s the soundtrack? And whatever else comes to mind for you.
Dive into some hypotheticals
Boo to boring icebreakers. Sometimes I don’t want to know what your favorite color is, I want to know how you would respond to absurdity.
I always make my friends play “the hypothetical question game” where we just speak of even the most outlandish scenarios ever.
You can think of whatever hypotheticals you want, ranging from the basic “What five items would you bring to a deserted island?” to maybe something harder to think of a clear answer to like “If you could only keep ONE of your senses which one would it be?”. Get as crazy as you want.
Genie in a bottle
I think I am remembering this one from youth group in the sixth grade, but regardless, it is pretty fun.
It’s simple. Everyone has a genie in a bottle and can share what their one wish of the week would be. ONLY ONE!
Overall, conversation is a powerful tool to get to know one another but also to uplift spirits and have fun, especially in a stressful university setting or these unprecedented and unpredictable times.
I highly encourage you to try these!