To interview your grandparents, pick a quiet time when no one is rushing, record the conversation on your phone's voice memo app, and ask open-ended questions about their childhood, how they met, their first job, the places they have lived, and the traditions they grew up with. Start with one easy question, let their answer lead to the next, and do not interrupt — the best stories arrive when you simply listen.

Most people want to ask their grandparents about their lives but never quite do it. It feels awkward to sit someone down and say "tell me your story." You worry it will come out stiff, or that you'll forget the questions halfway through. So the conversation keeps getting postponed to "next visit." This guide removes the guesswork: how to set it up so it feels like a chat instead of an interrogation, and 35 questions you can ask straight from the page.

How to Prepare (So It Feels Like a Chat, Not an Interview)

A good interview is mostly about setting, not skill. Get these few things right and the questions almost ask themselves.

Tip 1

Pick a quiet place and an unhurried time

Choose a calm room with no TV in the background and no one rushing off anywhere. A weekday afternoon or the slow hour after a meal works far better than the middle of a noisy gathering. Sit close, so you do not have to raise your voice, and so the recording stays clean.
Tip 2

Use the voice recorder on your phone

You do not need special equipment. Open Voice Memos (iPhone) or Recorder (Android), place the phone on the table between you, and press record. Tell them you are recording so it does not feel like a surprise. If you'd like video, prop the phone against a stack of books or a small tripod and forget about it.
Tip 3

Open with a photo or an object

The easiest way to start is with something you can point at. Pull out the old leather album with the black corners, open it, and ask "Who is this, and what was happening here?" A single photograph often unlocks a whole story. A recipe card in their handwriting or one old object works just as well.
Tip 4

Ask open questions and don't interrupt

Favor questions that can't be answered with "yes" or "no." Instead of "Did you like school?" try "What do you remember about your first day of school?" Then let the silences sit. People fill pauses with the details they almost skipped. Resist the urge to jump in or correct — you can always ask a follow-up later.

The goal isn't to extract facts. It's to get your grandparent talking the way they would at the kitchen table — and to be there, with the recorder running, when they do.

35 Questions to Ask Your Grandparents

You will not get through all of these in one sitting, and you shouldn't try. Pick a theme, follow the energy in the room, and save the rest for next time. The questions are grouped so you can jump to whatever your grandparent lights up about.

Theme 1

Childhood & growing up

1. What did your childhood home look like, room by room?
2. Who did you share a room with, and what were the mornings like?
3. What did you and your friends do for fun with no money?
4. What were you like as a kid — shy, bold, mischievous?
5. What's a smell or a sound that takes you straight back to being little?
Theme 2

How Grandma and Grandpa met

6. Where and how did the two of you first meet?
7. What was your first impression of each other — honestly?
8. What was your first date like, and who paid?
9. When did you know this was the person?
10. What do you remember most about your wedding day?
Theme 3

First job & working life

11. What was your very first job, and what did it pay?
12. What's the hardest work you ever did?
13. Who taught you the most about how to work?
14. Was there a job you dreamed of but never got to do?
15. What's something you were genuinely proud of building or finishing?
Theme 4

Home, country & the family's journey

16. What was life like in the place you grew up, before any moves?
17. Why did the family decide to move — and how was that decided?
18. What did you carry with you, and what did you have to leave behind?
19. What surprised you most about the new place?
20. Where is the rest of our family spread across the world now, and how are we connected?
Theme 5

Traditions, holidays & recipes

21. What did holidays look like when you were young?
22. What dish always meant "family" — and who made it best?
23. Can you walk me through that recipe, the way you actually make it?
24. What were the Sunday dinners at your house like?
25. Is there a tradition you wish we'd kept going?
Theme 6

Big feelings & what they want us to know

26. What's the day you remember as the happiest of your life?
27. Who were you closest to growing up, and what were they like?
28. What's the best decision you ever made?
29. What do you know now that you wish you'd known at twenty?
30. Is there a story about our family you don't want to be forgotten?
31. What do you hope your grandchildren remember about you?
32. What's a small everyday thing that still makes you happy?
33. What were your parents and grandparents like — what do you remember of them?
34. What's something funny that happened in our family that we still laugh about?
35. If you could leave us one piece of advice, what would it be?

One question usually opens the door to ten more. "How did you two meet?" turns into the year, the town, the song that was playing — a whole afternoon you didn't know you were missing.

What to Do With the Answers Afterward

An interview only matters if it survives. Keep the original recording so you never lose the voice — the laugh, the pause, the way they say your name. Then write down the key details so the stories stay searchable, the way you would preserve any family story: who, when, where, and why it mattered.

The format families actually keep, though, is a book on a shelf. Pair each answer with the photo it belongs to — the wedding picture next to the story of how they met, the kitchen snapshot next to the recipe — and the interview becomes a story with pictures instead of a file no one reopens. With EverStory, you bring the photos and it drafts the story behind each one; you add the details your grandparent told you, and it becomes a printed memory book without any design work on your part. If you're not sure how to shape the answers into a narrative, this guide on telling your family story is a good next step.

You don't have to do it all at once. Record one conversation this month. Pick the photos that go with it. The questions above are enough to fill an afternoon — and an afternoon is enough to start.

Turn the interview into a book your family keeps

Bring the photos and the stories your grandparents told you. EverStory drafts the story behind each photo — you add the details only your family knows, and it becomes a printed memory book.

Start your book

Takes a few minutes · No design skills needed