Dinner Party Riddles With Answers
Updated · Best Riddles With Answers editorial team
Quick answer: These 42 dinner party riddles come with answers and are designed to be read across a table between courses. Start with the easy cutlery and food riddles while the starters arrive, move to the trickier wordplay with the main course, and bring out the number puzzles when dessert and coffee have settled everyone.
Easy Dinner Party Riddles
I have prongs but I am no pitchfork, and I lift your food to your mouth. What am I?
A fork.
I have a blade but I am no sword, and I lie beside your plate. What am I?
A knife.
I have a bowl but I am not a dish, and I am what you use for soup. What am I?
A spoon.
I sit on your lap without being a cat, and I wipe your lips without a kiss. What am I?
A napkin.
I stand in the middle of the table, I burn without being a fire, and I cry wax. What am I?
A candle.
I am white, I come in a shaker, and I am passed along whenever someone says please. What am I?
Salt.
I am the sweet part of the meal, and I arrive last but vanish first. What am I?
Dessert.
I list what you can order, and I am read before anything is eaten. What am I?
A menu.
I have a stem but no petals, and a bowl but no soup. What am I?
A wine glass.
I show you where to sit without saying a single word. What am I?
A place card.
I am hot and served first, and I need a spoon but never a fork. What am I?
Soup.
I cover the table, but I am no roof, and I get blamed for every spill. What am I?
A tablecloth.
Trickier Dinner Party Riddles
What sits on the table, is cut and shuffled, but never eaten?
A deck of cards.
What kind of table can you eat?
A vegetable (a vegeTABLE).
What can you hold at the dinner table without touching it?
A conversation.
A roast needs 2 hours and 15 minutes and must be ready at 7:00. When must it go into the oven?
At 4:45.
Two mothers and two daughters sit down to dinner and there are only three of them. How?
They are a grandmother, her daughter and her granddaughter. The middle one is both a mother and a daughter.
What has ears but cannot hear, and is often served on the cob?
An ear of corn.
What has many eyes but cannot see?
A potato.
I have layers and I make you cry when I am cut, but I am no sad story. What am I?
An onion.
What cheese is made backwards?
Edam, because Edam is the word made spelled backwards.
A dinner has four courses and three choices for each. How many different dinners can one guest order?
81, because 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 81.
Twelve guests sit evenly spaced around a round table, numbered 1 to 12 in order. Who sits directly opposite guest 3?
Guest 9, since opposite is half the circle away, which is 6 seats.
I am cracked and beaten, then I am cooked, and I am eaten for breakfast. What am I?
An egg.
Hard Dinner Party Riddles
Six guests sit at a round table, and two seatings count as the same if everyone just shifts round. In how many different ways can they sit?
120, because the arrangements are (6 - 1)! = 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 120.
One glass holds 100 ml of water and another holds 100 ml of juice. You pour 10 ml of juice into the water and stir, then pour 10 ml of the mixture back into the juice. Which glass has more of the other liquid?
Neither. Both end with exactly 10 ml of the other liquid, because every ml of juice missing from the juice glass is made up by water.
A cook has only a 5 litre pot and a 3 litre pot. How can she measure exactly 4 litres of stock?
Fill the 5 and pour into the 3, leaving 2 in the 5. Empty the 3, pour the 2 in, refill the 5, and top the 3 up with 1 litre. That leaves 4 in the 5.
One traveller shares 3 loaves and another shares 5 loaves with a third traveller who has none. The three eat equally, and the third pays 8 coins. How should the coins be split?
1 coin for the first and 7 for the second. Each ate 8/3 loaves, so the first gave 1/3 loaf and the second gave 7/3.
Four guests sit in a row. Ann is not at either end, Ben does not sit next to Ann, Ann sits to the left of Ben, and Cat sits to the left of Ann. Who is at the far right?
Ben. The order from left to right is Cat, Ann, Dan, Ben.
A host chooses two different guests at random from six men and four women to give toasts. What is the chance that both are women?
2/15. The chance is 4/10 x 3/9 = 12/90 = 2/15.
A baker leaves 17 pies to three children, one half to the first, one third to the second and one ninth to the third, without cutting a pie. How can they share them?
Add one borrowed pie to make 18. They take 9, 6 and 2, which total 17, and the borrowed pie is returned.
One of four guests ate the last roll. A says, 'B did.' B says, 'D did.' C says, 'It was not me.' D says, 'B is lying.' Exactly one is telling the truth. Who ate it?
C. B and D contradict each other, so exactly one of them is truthful and A and C are both lying, which makes C the culprit. D is the true speaker.
A father is three times as old as his son now. In twelve years he will be twice as old as his son. How old are they now?
The father is 36 and the son is 12. In twelve years they will be 48 and 24.
A soup pot is three quarters full. Adding 2 litres makes it seven eighths full. What is the capacity of the pot?
16 litres. The extra 1/8 of the pot is 2 litres, so the whole pot is 16.
Quick-Fire Dinner Party Riddles
What is the small dish served before the main course?
A starter.
Which cheese is famous for its holes?
Swiss.
Which fruit is also a colour?
An orange.
What do you toss in a bowl and then eat?
A salad.
Which crescent-shaped pastry is eaten at breakfast?
A croissant.
What brown sauce is poured over a roast?
Gravy.
What cold treat is served by the scoop?
Ice cream.
What do guests carry home in a box after the party?
Leftovers.
How to Use These Dinner Party Riddles
Print a few riddles on small cards and tuck one under each plate, or read them aloud between courses. Easy object riddles suit the welcome drink, wordplay fits the main course, and the number puzzles keep the conversation going once dessert is on the table. Let the person on your left have the first guess.
Keep the mood warm. Give hints freely, and invite guests to make up their own riddles about the food in front of them. If a puzzle takes too long, call a draw and reveal the answer. The goal is conversation, not a winner, though a small prize never hurts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I use riddles at a dinner party?
Read one between courses or put a card under each plate. Keep it short, let the table guess together, and reveal the answer with a smile. One riddle per course keeps the evening flowing.
What are good riddles for adult dinner guests?
Wordplay riddles and puzzles with a clean twist work best, since adults enjoy the aha moment. Number puzzles about seating, bills and cooking times also fit the setting.
How many riddles should I prepare for a dinner party?
Prepare six to eight: one or two per course, plus a few spares. Guests often enjoy talking about each answer, so a small number is plenty.
Can I turn dinner riddles into a game?
Yes. Seat guests in teams, award a point per correct answer, and give a small prize such as a chocolate to the winning side. Quick-fire riddles suit a fast round before dessert.
