Family Conversation Cards from Boon Supply

This was a sticker my wife got for supporting
The West Wing Weekly podcast.

I'm a big fan of games that have no clear cut winners.  Don't get me wrong,  I can talk trash with the best of them, and I enjoy winning games of all kinds (and sometimes)  I even enjoy the agony of defeat, if it's been a good game.  Mostly I enjoy victory and  drinking from the keg of glory and feasting on the finest muffins and bagels in all the land!  (That's an obscure West Wing reference, for those that are not hep.)  Yes, that's how I roll.


  Anyone who has played against me in Scrabble, Backgammon, cribbage, Uno, Fictionary, Boggle, or a host of other games, I can get pretty competitive, and not always in an attractive sort of way.

Despite my competitive streak, I must say that cooperative games, games that have no winner, and games that aren't really games at all, hold a special place in my heart.

I love games that are open ended, that don't really have a winner or a loser, and games that have a higher purpose than just deciding who was luckier or even more skillful with the hand they were given.   I was a big fan of SimCity when it was first released, and have been always searching for games that are not about winning or losing, but about playing.

Right now, I'm really fond of a new set of Family Conversation Cards that I received from Boon Supply.  Boon Supply is the passion project of Lily Kanter, who created the company as a way to help communities fundraise.  She's created a catalog of stylish and useful items, and uses those items to let people fundraise for their favorite organizations. 40% of every item sold gets donated back to a cause of some kind, and Boon has made it very easy to start up a fundraiser.   (I just started one for my school below, and you can see the details below on how to participate if you are interested.

One of those items are these Family Conversation Cards.  It's a set of 100 cards with interesting questions on them that are suitable for the whole family to answer.  Some of the questions are trivial in nature (What's your go-to karaoke song in the shower?) and some of them are pretty deep-- (What do you think the highest paying job should be?  Or If you could be microscopic for a day, what would you do?)  All of them are designed to get people talking, and then expand upon the answers.  (Why do I like to sing "Ain't Misbehavin'"  in the shower?  What's good about that song?")  so that they could be expanded upon, followed up, or vigorously defended if need be.

Who would you donate money to if you had a lemonade stand?
Right now, I'm choosing my son's alma mater
The Disney Magnet School.

I love these, partially because they don't rely on slick movie references, obscure knowledge of 80's music icons, or the lines of succession for British royalty.  As long as you truly answer the question and participate, it's a win.  Any amount of people can play, and there are no wrong answers or even right answers. There are only better answers, more complete answers, and answers that help engender conversation and discussion,   You can even ask the questions of the same people at different times, and there might be different answer.

Mostly, what I like about these cards is it gets our family talking and communicating, and joking and laughing.  And those are all good things!

I think they will become a staple in our family at home dinner ritual.  Or after school. Or maybe while our family eats the finest bagels and muffins in all the land.

PLEASE NOTE: I received this set of Conversation cards from Boon Supply, in hopes that I would write about them.  Although I'm not receiving any money in exchange for this post,  for the sake of transparency, I wanted to let you know that I did receive the cards for free.  Their free-ness did not influence my opinion of the cards.  I value my integrity, and so should you.

If you'd like to find out more, I urge you to check out the fundraiser I created for our School.

https://www.boonsupply.com/collections/609331-disney-magnet-school-fundraiser


You can order this product directly here:
https://www.boonsupply.com/products/17022-family-conversation-cards
When you check out, type "Disney" when searching for Fundraiser and select Disney Magnet School.
40% of any sales will be donated to our school, which will be turned into better educational opportunities for 1700 Chicago Public School kids.