Trends › Parties & Traditions · Updated October 2026 · By The Christmas Calling Elves

50 Christmas Trivia Questions and Answers

Quick answer: here are 50 Christmas trivia questions with answers, grouped into songs, movies and TV, stories and traditions, and food and fun facts. Use them for a family game night, a classroom or a party, or play our free Christmas trivia quiz online.

Each question has a short answer underneath, so you can read them aloud as quizmaster. The questions run from easy to harder. Facts like dates and origins are given as commonly reported, and some traditions have more than one story behind them.

Songs: 10 questions

1. Which Christmas song begins "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire"?
   Answer: "The Christmas Song". Nat King Cole's recording made it famous.
2. Which singer released "All I Want for Christmas Is You" in 1994?
   Answer: Mariah Carey.
3. Who wrote the song "White Christmas"?
   Answer: Irving Berlin.
4. In which country was "Silent Night" first performed, in 1818?
   Answer: Austria. The lyrics are by Joseph Mohr and the music by Franz Gruber.
5. What is the first gift in "The Twelve Days of Christmas"?
   Answer: A partridge in a pear tree.
6. How many gifts are given in total across all twelve days of the song?
   Answer: 364.
7. Which duo released "Last Christmas" in 1984?
   Answer: Wham!
8. Who wrote the words to the carol "Joy to the World"?
   Answer: Isaac Watts.
9. Who wrote the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"?
   Answer: Johnny Marks. The story of Rudolph was created earlier by Robert L. May.
10. What do you sing after "Deck the halls with boughs of holly"?
    Answer: "Fa la la la la, la la la la."

Movies and TV: 10 questions

1. In "Home Alone", which city does the McCallister family fly to?
   Answer: Paris.
2. Which author wrote "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!"?
   Answer: Dr. Seuss.
3. What is the name of the angel in "It's a Wonderful Life"?
   Answer: Clarence.
4. In "Elf", what is the name of the human raised by elves?
   Answer: Buddy.
5. What does Ralphie want for Christmas in "A Christmas Story"?
   Answer: A Red Ryder BB gun.
6. Who wrote the book "The Polar Express"?
   Answer: Chris Van Allsburg.
7. Which composer wrote the music for "A Charlie Brown Christmas"?
   Answer: Vince Guaraldi.
8. What brought Frosty the Snowman to life?
   Answer: A magic silk hat.
9. Who is the Pumpkin King in "The Nightmare Before Christmas"?
   Answer: Jack Skellington.
10. In "Miracle on 34th Street", which department store does Kris Kringle work for?
    Answer: Macy's.

Stories and traditions: 15 questions

1. Who wrote "A Christmas Carol"?
   Answer: Charles Dickens, in 1843.
2. What is the name of Scrooge's late business partner?
   Answer: Jacob Marley.
3. What is the surname of Tiny Tim's family?
   Answer: Cratchit.
4. Who composed the ballet "The Nutcracker"?
   Answer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
5. How many reindeer pull Santa's sleigh in the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", not counting Rudolph?
   Answer: Eight.
6. Name the eight reindeer from the poem.
   Answer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner (also spelled Donder) and Blitzen.
7. What are the three gifts brought by the Wise Men?
   Answer: Gold, frankincense and myrrh.
8. Which saint is the inspiration for Santa Claus?
   Answer: Saint Nicholas, a bishop of Myra, in what is now Turkey.
9. The name Santa Claus comes from which Dutch figure?
   Answer: Sinterklaas.
10. What is the day after Christmas Day called in the UK and many other countries?
    Answer: Boxing Day (December 26).
11. Which plant do people traditionally kiss under at Christmas?
    Answer: Mistletoe.
12. In which month do many Orthodox churches that follow the Julian calendar celebrate Christmas?
    Answer: January, on the 7th.
13. Where does Santa live according to the Finnish tradition?
    Answer: Lapland. Santa Claus Village is near Rovaniemi.
14. What does NORAD do every December 24?
    Answer: It tracks Santa's journey. The tradition began in 1955 after a misprinted phone number in a store ad.
15. Which country sends a large Christmas tree to Trafalgar Square in London every year?
    Answer: Norway, as a thank-you for British support in the Second World War.

Food, decorations and fun facts: 15 questions

1. Which Mexican plant is the traditional Christmas flower?
   Answer: The poinsettia.
2. In which country did the Christmas tree tradition begin?
   Answer: Germany is widely credited.
3. Which royal couple helped make Christmas trees popular in Britain?
   Answer: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
4. Which Italian bread is traditionally eaten at Christmas, originally from Milan?
   Answer: Panettone.
5. Which German fruit bread is a Christmas classic?
   Answer: Stollen.
6. What is a French Yule log cake called?
   Answer: Bûche de Noël.
7. Which queen is often credited with first serving gingerbread figures to guests?
   Answer: Elizabeth I.
8. What two colors are the stripes on a traditional candy cane?
   Answer: Red and white.
9. In Japan, which fast-food chain is a popular Christmas meal?
   Answer: KFC.
10. Which London confectioner invented Christmas crackers in Victorian times?
    Answer: Tom Smith.
11. What color are holly berries?
    Answer: Red.
12. How many days are there in the Christmas season of the song?
    Answer: Twelve.
13. Which Alpine folklore creature punishes naughty children?
    Answer: Krampus.
14. What is the name of the Christmas tree lit each year in New York City?
    Answer: The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
15. Which Swedish festival of light is celebrated on December 13?
    Answer: Saint Lucia's Day.

How to run a Christmas trivia night

1. Split into two or more teams, or play individually.
2. Pick a quizmaster to read the questions. Mix the categories so every round is different.
3. Give one point for each correct answer, and let teams confer for 20 seconds.
4. Break ties with a bonus question, like "How many gifts in total are in the Twelve Days of Christmas?"
5. Finish with a prize, even a small one, such as a candy cane.

FAQs

Key Takeaways

• Use a quizmaster and teams for a fun group game.
• Mix easy and hard questions across categories.
• Play the online quiz when you want questions in a different order each time.

More Christmas ideas

• 12 Christmas party games
• Secret Santa rules and how to organize one
• Christmas Eve box ideas

Free tools to try:

• Christmas trivia quiz
• Christmas bingo generator
• Christmas movie picker