I have a wide range. I’m curious what is everyone elses.
Movies
Music
Kids
T.U.T. Totally Useless Trivia.
Occupation
Athletic interests
Weather (this is a good one!)
Current events (tricky, but can yield interesting conversations)
Some of the topics raised here, actually:
[ul]
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(after occupation question) What would you do if you could?
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What do you do for fun, for yourself? (Not as stupid as it sounds; encompasses hobbies, dreams, passions, aspirations, interests,etc.)
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Have any vacation plans? What was the absolute BEST vacation you ever took?
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“I was reading about X the other day…” (tie it to ideas, avoiding “hot button” issues)**
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I don’t know much about what you do. What’s your day like? What do like about it/hate about it?
[/ul]
**These are ice-breakers, to get talk flowing. IMO heavy topics are better reserved for quieter, conversation-friendly moments, after the initial “meet 'em” stage.
I’m not good at party chatter but have finally mastered the basics. It’s to make sure no one’s left out and to give everybody a kind environment to get started knowing other people.
I can’t pull it off but, heck, spinning a mini-rant joke on oneself (Think waaay Pit-Lite) can break the ice.
Socially challenged,
Veb
Depends what kind of party. There are sports people, movie people, science people, current events people, book people, trivia people.
And Simpsons people, of course.
Why, the occult, of course.
Travel
Music, especially events surrounding or during the recording of which.
Cats! Your cats, cats you have known, any cat you may have seen on the way to the party. I love cats, seriously. I could talk forever to somebody about cats.
Failing that, disease and infections. I had an awesome conversation with an epidemiologist at a New Year’s brunch last year about shifting antigen viruses and hanta viruses and Marburg and stuff, and how the bugs are monitored by the WHO and the CDC, and it was totally cool. I’m going to the same brunch this year, and he’s going to be there, so I can’t wait to learn more about what more scary yet fascinating stuff there is out there.
Got the ultimate icebreaker from This American Life: If you could choose one superpower, would you rather have flight or invisibility?
You’re the only person who has any superpowers in the world. If you turn invisible, your clothes are invisible, but not any objects you’d pick up. If you can fly, you can carry as much as you would normally carry, and you can fly at whatever speed you were comfortable with (taking into account wind and cold and whatnot.)
Some of the parties I go to are populated by the sort of person who has already carefully thought out what superpower they’d like to have, fantasized about this for years, and possibly made themselves as a character for a superhero RPG, and/or written and/or drawn comic book about themselves as a superhero. The debates sparked by this icebreaker are mindboggling in their complexity and include many cites to the literature.
Some of the parties I go to have people who never thought about it before. Then, as it was protrayed on This American Life, it’s more of a delving into a person’s deeper nature.
Both are intersting.
Years ago a salesman gave me a hint that has really transformed my social life since.
Ask people questions that begin “who”, “what”, “where”, “why”, “how” or “when”. Those are the questions in which you really get to know the person you are talking to.
Yet many people I have seen ask very few questions, and ask mostly questions that are answered with “yes” or “no” (e.g. “did you see (whatever movie)? Wasn’t that cool?” Instead of “What movies have you seen lately? How did you like it?”) “Yes or no”-answer questions can kill conversation as much as a long-winded monologue.
I have been to parties in which I willed myself to ask only good questions unless a statement was necessary. People are charmed by a willing listener, and talk very freely after a while. Many times they remark about what a great conversationalist I am, even though my quantity share of verbiage amounted to less than 10%!
You, baby. 
Actually, I just ask questions and let the person go on. And on. And on. If that doesn’t work I just talk about the weather.