Birthday Interview Questions for Kids: The Yearly 20

Birthday interview questions for kids are a short list you ask your child every birthday, the same questions each year, so you can compare the answers over time. Ask about favorites, friends, feelings and what they want to be. It takes ten minutes, and by age 6 you'll have a stack of answers that shows exactly who they were at 3, 4 and 5.

How the birthday interview tradition works

Ask the same 20 questions on or near every birthday, write down the answers exactly, and keep each year's list with the date. That's the whole tradition.

The repetition makes it work. One year your 3-year-old says her favorite food is "the white rice," and two years later she says "sushi, but only the cucumber ones." Neither answer is remarkable alone. Side by side, they tell you something.

A few ground rules keep it fun:

• Keep it short. Twenty questions takes about ten minutes for a preschooler. Stop sooner if they wander off.
• Pick a calm time. The morning before the party beats the sugar crash after it.
• Don't correct anything. If they say they're "nine hundred" years old, write down nine hundred.
• Let them skip. "I don't know" counts as an answer, and it's a fun one to look back on.

Questions to ask your kids every birthday (the core 20)

Use these same 20 every year. They work from about age 3 up, and the answers get longer as your kid does.

1. How old are you today?
2. What's your favorite color?
3. What's your favorite food?
4. What's your favorite thing to do?
5. What's your favorite toy or thing you own?
6. What's your favorite song?
7. What's your favorite book or show?
8. Who's your best friend?
9. What's your favorite animal?
10. What makes you really happy?
11. What makes you sad or mad?
12. What are you scared of?
13. What are you really good at?
14. What do you want to be when you grow up?
15. What's the best thing about being your age?
16. What did you learn this year?
17. Where's your favorite place to go?
18. What's your favorite thing about Mom (or Dad, or whoever's asking)?
19. If you could have one wish, what would it be?
20. What do you want to do this year?

Change the wording if your kid needs it, but keep the meaning the same each year. "Who's your best friend?" can become "Who do you like to play with most?" for a 3-year-old.

Extra birthday interview questions by age

Add two or three of these to the core list for fun. They don't need to repeat every year.

Extras for ages 2 to 3

At this age, you might answer some of the core questions yourself and ask just a few. Short, concrete questions get the best answers.

• What sound does a cow make? (Their version changes more than you'd think.)
• Can you show me how big you are?
• What's your name? (Write down exactly how they say it.)
• Who lives in our house?
• What do you like to eat for breakfast?
• What's the best part of a birthday?

Extras for ages 4 to 5

Preschoolers love a "what if." Ask a follow-up "why" and write that down too.

• How tall do you think I am?
• How old do you think I am?
• What do you think I do at work?
• What's the funniest thing you know?
• If you had a superpower, what would it be?
• What would you cook for dinner if you were in charge?
• What's something that's hard for you right now?
• What makes someone a good friend?

Extras for ages 6 and up

School-age kids can handle bigger questions and will usually have opinions ready.

• What's the best thing that happened this year?
• What was the hardest thing that happened this year?
• What's something you want to get better at?
• If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
• What do you think you'll be like when you're 10?
• What's a rule you think we should have at home?
• What's something you're proud of?
• What advice would you give a kid who's turning your age?

Tips for a birthday interview you'll want to keep

The best interviews keep their exact words and the date. The rest is extra.

Film it

Prop your phone up and record the whole thing. Their voice, their pauses and the way they hold up four fingers for "four" tell you as much as the answers. Keep each video short and name the file with their age and the date.

Keep answers word for word

Write down what they say, how they say it. "Pasghetti" stays "pasghetti." "My best friend is Theo and also the mailman" stays exactly that. Cleaning up the grammar strips out the part you'll smile at later.

Store each year with the date

Put every year's answers in one place, labeled with the date and their age. A paper notebook works. So does a single note you add to every year, or a page in a family diary. Sprout Diary works here too: post the answers on the birthday, add the video, and they stay together under that date.

Compare year to year

Read last year's answers out loud before you start this year's interview, or right after. Kids love hearing what they said "when they were little," and they'll often argue with their younger self ("I did NOT like broccoli").

When to start, and what if you missed a year

Start whenever you think of it. Age 2, age 5 or the morning of their 6th birthday all work. If you skip a year, pick it back up the next one and keep going.

If your child is still a baby, you can answer a few of the core questions for them ("Favorite food: mashed banana. Scared of: the vacuum.") until they can take over. Pair it with a yearly letter to your child and you'll have their words and yours side by side.

For more questions you can ask on an ordinary Tuesday, see questions to ask kids. For more yearly rituals, browse our family traditions ideas.

What is a birthday interview for kids?

A birthday interview is a short set of questions you ask your child on or near every birthday, using the same questions each year. Over time you get a record of how their answers, and their voice, change.

What questions should I ask my child on their birthday?

Ask about favorites (food, color, song, friend), feelings (what makes you happy, what scares you) and the future (what you want to be). Keep the same core questions every year so you can compare.

At what age can you start a birthday interview?

Most families start around age 2 or 3, when kids can answer simple questions. Before that, you can answer a few for your baby and let them take over once they're talking.

Should I film the birthday interview?

Filming captures their voice, their pauses and the way they answer. Write the answers down too, word for word, so you can read them side by side later.