The countdown to Christmas is soon to be in full swing, and although we anxiously wait for the fridge to be filled to the brim with pigs in blankets in preparation for the big day, we’re already thinking of other ways to get the party started early.
Even though things are entirely different this year, we’re still committed to having a good time, and one pastime has yet to disappoint us: a tried-and-true quiz.
So, after spending two lockdowns yelling out your general knowledge via Skype and Zoom calls, we figure it’s only fitting to continue this tradition… but in a cheerful manner.
For this reason, we’ve put together a list of the best Christmas quiz questions (and answers), so you can look like you’ve done your homework when it’s your turn to be quiz master.
What do you know about Christmas? Do you know the date it’s celebrated, what a pinata is, or why we hang mistletoe? This quiz is designed to test your knowledge of these and other holiday traditions. The questions cover everything from Santa Claus to gift-giving.
Good luck and Merry Christmas!
Christmas quiz traditions questions
1. Which holiday season lasts 12 days?
Answer: Christmas.
2. When did the Christmas Cookie tradition begin?
Answer: 16th century.
3. What is the most well-known Christmas play using animated toys that come to life?
Answer: The Nutcracker.
4. What do you call the activity of opening one gift on Christmas Eve?
Answer: Stocking-stuffing.
5. Why is mistletoe called ‘the kissing plant’?
Answer: It was believed that, if a man and a woman stood under it together, they would soon fall in love.
6. To whom is a pinata traditionally filled with candy and other treats?
Answer: Children.
7. Why was Blue Christmas originally written?
Answer: To explain to his daughter why he wasn’t able to be at home for Christmas.
8. Why is the Christmas season known as ‘the holidays’?
Answer: It was a period when English people were relieved of the hard labor required during other seasons.
9. What is green and sometimes used to decorate Christmas trees?
Answer: Holly.
10. Who did Queen Victoria commission to design the first Christmas tree in Britain?
Answer: Prince Albert.
11. Why are gifts traditionally brought to church on Christmas morning?
Answer: To be blessed by a priest.
12. When was the first decorated Christmas tree displayed in an English home?
Answer: December 1840.
13. How is the National Christmas Tree decorated every year in Washington DC?
Answer: Thousands of Christmas lights and a huge star at the top.
14. What is a Yule log traditionally made of?
Answer: Oak.
15. Aside from Christmas, what other holiday do people decorate their homes with mistletoe and holly?
Answer: Halloween (Hallowe’en).
16. When was the first modern decorated Christmas tree displayed in an American home?
Answer: 1852.
17. Why do we hang mistletoe at Christmastime?
Answer: To ward off evil spirits.
Christmas food questions
18. What’s concealed inside a Christmas pudding, according to tradition?
Answer: A coin.
19. What kind of candy is often used to fill a pinata?
Answer: Candy-covered peanuts (peanuts en massepain).
20. What nation is the origin of eggnog?
Answer: Britain.
21. What do people in some countries leave out for Father Christmas to eat on Christmas Eve?
Answer: A bowl of porridge.
22. Which is the only country where people eat Christmas turkey at traditional Christmas dinner?
Answer: The United Kingdom.
23. Where did candy canes come from?
Answer: Germany.
24. Which fairy tale inspired the gingerbread house?
Answer: Hansel and Gretel.
25. Why were candy canes created?
Answer: To keep children entertained during lengthy church services.
26. Fresh Christmas trees are edible and high in Vitamin C. Is it true or false?
Answer: True.
27. What kind of food is given to Santa?
Answer: Cookies and milk.
28. Ikea created the world’s largest gingerbread man. Is it true or false?
Answer: True.
29. Is there a Christmas tree that isn’t edible?
Answer: Yes, yew tree.
30. What is the name of a female turkey?
Answer A hen.
31. What is the name of the beverage known as milk punch?
Answer: An eggnog.
32. What food do you leave for reindeers?
Answer: Carrots and oats.
33. What is the name of the soda company that frequently uses Santa Claus in their Christmas advertisements?
Answer: Coca-Cola.
Christmas quiz movie questions
34. Who sang “Christmas Is All Around” in the film Love Actually?
Answer: Billy Mack, performed by Bill Nighy.
35. What was the first Christmas present Harry Potter received from the Dursleys at Hogwarts?
Answer: A 50-pence coin.
36. What movie character often says, ‘Ho! Ho! Ho!’?
Answer: Santa Claus (Santa Claus).
37. What was the name of the real-life department store featured in a Christmas film? What movie was it?
Answer: Macy’s store in Miracle on 34th Street.
38. What Christmas classic begins with, ‘It’s the most wonderful time of the year’?
Answer: Andy Williams’ version of “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year”.
39. What is the name of the Grinch’s dog in How The Grinch Stole Christmas?
Answer: Max.
40. What is the name of Scrooged’s protagonist and TV network president that gets visited by three ghosts?
Answer: Frank Cross (Bill Murray).
41. What is Scrooged’s protagonist’s girlfriend’s name?
Answer: Claire Phillips.
42. Which actor played Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol’s Ebenezer Scrooge in Muppet Christmas Carol?
Answer: Michael Caine.
43. What is the name of How The Grinch Stole Christmas’s protagonist?
Answer: Ethan The Grinch.
44. What is the best-selling single by Bing Cosby?
Answer: White Christmas.
45. Which actor played How The Grinch Stole Christmas’s protagonist in the 2000 version?
Answer: Jim Carrey.
46. What was the name of the star of the film White Christmas?
Answer: Bing Crosby.
47. What was the title of Tom Hanks’ animated Christmas film?
Answer: The Polar Express.
48. What animated film featured a train that transported children to the North Pole on Christmas Eve?
Answer: The Polar Express.
Christmas quiz Santa questions
49. Which country was St. Nicholas from?
Answer: Greece.
50. When was Santa Claus first introduced to ads by Coca-Cola?
Answer: 1931.
51. Who snoops on children and reports back to Santa?
Answer: Elf on a Shelf.
52. What makes Rudolf unique among the reindeer?
Answer: A glowing red nose.
53. To pull Santa’s Sled, how many reindeer are required?
Answer: Nine.
54. St. Nicholas is the inspiration for Santa Claus. True or false?
Answer: True.
55. Is Santa’s belt a specific color, and if so, which is it?
Answer: Yes, black.
56. What are Santa’s other eight reindeers called?
Answer: Cupid, Prancer, Donner, Comet, Blitzen, Dasher, Vixen, and Dancer.
57. Who was St. Nicholas?
Answer: St. Nicholas was a Christian bishop that always helped the poor and disadvantaged; he also enjoyed giving gifts to children.
58. On Christmas Eve, naughty children are said to receive coal from Santa Claus. Is it true or false?
Answer: True.
59. Why was the name ‘Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer’ chosen for a storybook reindeer?
Answer: The original author of the Christmas story wanted him to be different from all other reindeer.
60. What do the elves do all day?
Answer: Make toys and write reports.
61. At what time does Santa Claus deliver gifts to good children on Christmas Eve?
Answer: Midnight.
62. Who was the first person depicted on a modern Santa Claus card?
Answer: Thomas Nast.
Christmas carol questions
63. Which well-known Christmas carol also serves as a lullaby?
Answer: Away in a Manger
64. What kind of sleigh is referenced in the carol “Jingle Bells”?
Answer: A one-horse open sleigh.
65. Which is the most well-known Christmas ballet?
Answer: The Nutcracker.
66. The second line of which Christmas hymn begins, “O sing, choirs of angels”?
Answer: O Come All Ye Faithful.
67. What is the most beautiful sight to see in the carol “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”?
Answer: The holly that will be on your front door.
68. Where do the silent stars go by in “O little town of Bethlehem”?
Answer: Above the deep and dreamless sleep.
69. The second verse of which popular Christmas song begins, “The cattle are lowing”?
Answer: Away In a Manger.
70. Which is the best-selling Christmas single of all time, out of all the popular Christmas songs?
Answer: White Christmas.
71. A song about “chestnuts cooking over an open fire” by Nat King Cole became a hit in 1946. What’s the song’s title?
Answer: The Christmas Song.
72. Bing Crosby scored a major hit with a song originally called “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” in German in 1953. What’s the name of this song?
Answer: Silent Night.
73. Which song starts with the phrase “Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!”?
Answer: Joy to the World.
Christmas quiz questions for kids
74. What is the date of the Christmas holiday?
Answer: December 25th.
75. What great scientist was born on December 25th?
Answer: Sir Isaac Newton.
76. Name the first president of the United States to decorate the White House Christmas tree.
Answer: Franklin Pierce.
77. What is the significance of Christmas?
Answer: The birth of Jesus Christ is commemorated at Christmas.
78. What does the green color represent at Christmas?
Answer: Continuity of life.
79. Artificial Christmas trees are more popular than genuine ones. Is this true or false?
Answer: True.
80. When is midnight mass held?
Answer: At midnight on Christmas Eve.
81. What is the origin of the word “Christmas”?
Answer: It comes from the Latin phrase Cristes Maesse, which means ‘Mass of Christ.’
82. In Boston, Christmas was sometimes prohibited. Is this true or false?
Answer: True.
83. What is the name of the decoration on the tip of an elf’s shoe?
Answer: Bells.
84. What is another name for the short version of Christmas?
Answer: Xmas.
85. Is it true that on the night before Christmas, Santa Claus has to travel 822 homes per second to give presents?
Answer: Yes!
86. What does mistletoe represent?
Answer: Love, laughter, and compassion.
87. What is the most frightening aspect of Christmas?
Answer: Krampus hunts naughty kids.
88. What does the color red represent during Christmas?
Answer: Blood of Jesus.
89. Where was Jesus’s birthplace?
Answer: Bethlehem.
90. What is the ornament that is placed on top of the Christmas tree?
Answer: An angel or a star.
Short Christmas facts
What is Christmas?
Christmas is a holiday to celebrate Jesus Christ’s birth. Each year, people decorate their homes and streets with lights, eat special foods, and give gifts.
What is a Christmas carol?
A specific type of song is meant to be sung during the holiday season. Many classic Christmas songs, such as “The First Noel”, were originally written in English hymns or folk songs and that people later set them to tunes.
What is a holiday tree?
A large evergreen tree is decorated with ornaments and lights. This type of tree is one of the symbols of this holiday season.
What does Rudolph’s nose represent?
Rudolph’s red nose was given to him by Santa Claus in order to help guide his sleigh through bad weather.
What is a Christmas stocking?
A Christmas stocking is a long sock that people hang on the mantel or fireplace. It’s filled with gifts on Christmas Eve for any children who may have been good during the year.
What are candy canes?
Candy canes are peppermint-flavored, cane-shaped hard candies usually eaten around this holiday season. They are often given out by mall Santas and sometimes used as Christmas tree decorations.
Who is the Grinch?
The Grinch is a mean character from Dr. Seuss’s book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”. He hates Christmas and tries to ruin it for everyone else.
What does mistletoe symbolize?
Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that symbolizes fertility. During this holiday season, people often kiss under its hanging branches to represent the start of a new relationship.
What are stockings hung by the chimney with care?
Stockings are long socks that are filled with small gifts and hung on the mantelpiece for children. They are often used as Christmas tree decorations.
What is the song “Jingle Bells” about?
This song was originally meant to be called “One Horse Open Sleigh”. It’s now used to describe the sound of bells jingling on a sleigh.
What is “The Twelve Days of Christmas”?
This song lists all the gifts that were given on each day during the holiday season. These days, people often use it as a way to play a game or give humorous answers.
