Audio guest book questions: 60 prompts for your guests
An audio guest book is only as good as the question it asks. Here are 60 prompts for weddings, birthdays, and more, and how to choose the one question every guest will answer.
How an audio guest book works on papershot
The classic audio guest book is a rented handset on a table: guests pick it up, hear a greeting, and leave a message after the tone. It works, but it is one phone for a whole room, and at a busy party that means a queue.
On papershot there is no handset to rent. You write one question for the moment, up to 120 characters, and every guest leaves one memo answering it from their own phone: a few words in their own voice, up to a minute (you set the length, from 5 to 60 seconds). Each memo plays back like a voice message, with the guest's face and the question they answered, and memos save as files when you download them.
So one question does all the work, and the lists below are for choosing it. Pick the one that fits your occasion and change the names to yours. More on how memos work on the memos page, and on skipping the rented phone in an audio guest book without a phone.
Questions for a wedding, and for advice
Eight for a wedding:
- Say a few words to us on our wedding day.
- What will you remember about today?
- Tell us how you know us, and when you first met us.
- What did you think the first time you saw us together?
- When did you know we would end up married?
- Tell us something about one of us that the other might not know.
- What should we never stop doing together?
- What should we do on our first anniversary?
Seven asking for advice. Most work for couples, new parents, and graduates alike:
- What is the best advice you were ever given?
- What do you wish someone had told you at our age?
- What is your one rule for a happy life?
- What should we do when we disagree?
- What is the secret to a friendship that lasts?
- What would you tell your younger self?
- What is the best mistake you ever made?
Questions about memories and wishes
Seven memories, for people who go back a long way:
- Tell us your favourite memory of us.
- What is the funniest thing you have seen us do?
- Tell us a story we have never heard.
- Which day with us would you live again?
- Tell us about a time we made you laugh.
- What is the first thing you remember about us?
- What is a small moment with us that stayed with you?
Seven wishes, short and easy to answer:
- Leave a wish for the year ahead.
- What do you wish for us in 10 years?
- Leave a wish for our first home together.
- What do you hope never changes about us?
- Make one wish for us, and tell us why.
- Wish us something small and something big.
- What do you hope we remember about today?
Questions for birthdays, baby showers, reunions, and graduations
Seven for a birthday. We have used Sam; put in the name of whoever you are celebrating:
- What do you love most about Sam?
- Tell Sam about the first time you met.
- What should Sam do before their next birthday?
- What is your favourite memory with Sam from this year?
- Describe Sam in three words, then tell us why.
- What was Sam like when you first knew them?
- What do you hope the next year brings Sam?
Seven for a baby shower:
- Leave a hello for the baby.
- What do you wish you had known as a new parent?
- What do you hope this baby gets from each parent?
- Tell the baby how you know their family.
- What should this baby know about the world?
- Sing the baby a line of your favourite lullaby.
- Leave a wish for the parents-to-be.
Seven for a reunion or an anniversary:
- What is your favourite memory of this group?
- What has changed since we last met, and what has not?
- Say a few words to the people who could not be here.
- Who here would you most like to see again next time, and why?
- What did you think of the two of them when they first met?
- What is the secret to staying together this long?
- What would you wish them for the next 25 years?
Six for a graduation:
- What should Sam do in the first year after graduating?
- What do you remember about Sam's first day at school?
- What is the best thing you learned outside a classroom?
- Where do you see Sam in 10 years?
- Leave Sam one piece of advice for their first job.
- What makes you proudest of Sam today?
A few funny ones
- Do your best impression of one of us.
- What should we never be allowed to do again?
- Sing us one line of the song that reminds you of us.
- Tell us the best thing that happened tonight that we missed.
Save these for a room where everyone knows each other well. A funny question can leave shy guests with nothing to say, so it suits a birthday among friends better than a wedding with three generations in the room.
How to choose your one question
- 01
Make it one everyone can answer
The oldest guest and the newest friend should both have something to say. “How do you know us?” works for the whole room; “What was your favourite night at university?” leaves out half of it.
- 02
Ask for one thing
A minute goes quickly. One memory, one wish, or one piece of advice is easier to say than a speech, and easier to listen to afterwards.
- 03
Keep it open
“Will you visit us?” gets one word. “What should we do when you visit?” gets a story. Start with what, tell, or leave, rather than will or do.
- 04
Match it to the length
You set how long each memo can run, from 5 to 60 seconds. For 20 seconds, ask for a wish; for a full minute, ask for a story.
- 05
Say it aloud first
If you cannot answer it yourself in 30 seconds, guests will struggle too. Read it out once before you type it in.
Some guests will still freeze when it is their turn. What to say in an audio guest book has openers they can borrow.
