How to come up with topics to have small talk with people I don’t know

For context, I’m a teen guy who is a Jr. College student, and I’m quite inexperienced at conversations and socializing.

Usually when I talk to people I don’t know, I fail to come up with topics for small talk that I can have small talk about and have and enjoyable conversation on. I’ve tried thinking of casual topics based on my surroundings and the current situation around me, but even then I fail to consistently come up with topics for a fun small talk.

I also face a problem where I tend to not bring up certain topics because I feel like those topics, even when backed up by proper context for why I bring them up, would make the other person suspicious and get their guard up.

For example, when talking to someone at a Birthday party, I would avoid questions like “What date is your birthday on?” Or “What kinds of gifts would you like on your birthday?” because I think that would sounds like getting too deep too soon and get the other person’s guard up, or if I’m talking to someone of the opposite gender, complimenting them would come off as a flirting attempt (even when thats not my intention) and get the other person suspicious of my intentions. (I don’t know if these worries actually make sense or are unrealistic, its just what I think)

So, basically, I want to be able to consistently come up with topics for small talk that I can bring up when talking to almost anyone, even when I don’t know them much.