Christmas quiz questions and answers

Free Christmas quiz questions with answers on songs, films, traditions and food, for the works do, the December quiz night and the family on Boxing Day.

Last reviewed 14 September 2026

Three different Christmas quizzes

A works do, a December pub quiz and a family quiz on Boxing Day are not the same event and should not get the same round.

The works do wants short, light and inclusive, with nothing that assumes everyone celebrates Christmas the same way, or at all. The December pub quiz can be as hard as any other week. The family quiz wants a spread wide enough that a nine-year-old and a grandparent can both contribute.

The bands below map onto those roughly in order.

Easy

For a works do or a family round. Nearly everybody will get these, which is the job.

1
How many ghosts visit Scrooge in A Christmas Carol?
Answer: Four, including Marley, or three spirits of Christmas
2
What did the true love give on the fifth day of Christmas?
Answer: Five gold rings
3
In which country did the Christmas tree tradition originate?
Answer: Germany
4
What colour is traditionally associated with Santa's suit?
Answer: Red
5
Which reindeer has a red nose?
Answer: Rudolph
6
What is traditionally hidden in a Christmas pudding?
Answer: A coin
7
In Home Alone, what is the surname of the family?
Answer: McCallister
8
What is the name of the snowman in the Disney film Frozen?
Answer: Olaf
9
Which plant are people traditionally kissed under at Christmas?
Answer: Mistletoe
10
How many days are there in Advent, traditionally counted on a calendar?
Answer: 24
11
What is the name of the Grinch's dog?
Answer: Max
12
Which drink is traditionally left out for Santa in Britain?
Answer: Sherry or a mince pie and a drink

Medium

For a December pub quiz. Enough bite that it is a real round rather than a novelty.

13
Who wrote A Christmas Carol?
Answer: Charles Dickens
14
In which year was the first Christmas card sent in Britain?
Answer: 1843
15
Which country sends a Christmas tree to Trafalgar Square every year?
Answer: Norway
16
What is the best-selling Christmas single of all time?
Answer: White Christmas by Bing Crosby
17
In the film It's a Wonderful Life, what is the name of the angel?
Answer: Clarence
18
Which saint is Santa Claus based on?
Answer: Saint Nicholas
19
What is Boxing Day called in most of Europe?
Answer: St Stephen's Day
20
Which Christmas carol begins 'Silent night, holy night'?
Answer: Silent Night
21
In Die Hard, what is the name of the building?
Answer: Nakatomi Plaza
22
What is the traditional Christmas flower with red leaves?
Answer: The poinsettia
23
Which country's Christmas tradition includes a hidden pickle ornament?
Answer: It is popularly attributed to Germany, though it is largely an American invention
24
What does the word 'Noel' mean?
Answer: Christmas, from the French

Hard

For a tie-break, or one or two at the end of a Christmas round.

25
What are the names of all eight of Santa's original reindeer?
Answer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen
26
Which English monarch banned Christmas celebrations in the 1640s?
Answer: It was Parliament under Oliver Cromwell's influence, during the Interregnum
27
What is the name of the poem that begins 'Twas the night before Christmas'?
Answer: A Visit from St. Nicholas
28
In which century did the tradition of the Christmas cracker begin?
Answer: The nineteenth
29
Which Christmas carol was composed in Austria in 1818?
Answer: Silent Night
30
What is frankincense derived from?
Answer: Tree resin, from the Boswellia tree
31
Which country celebrates Christmas with a feast of seven fishes?
Answer: Italy
32
What was the first Christmas number one in the UK singles chart, in 1952?
Answer: Here in My Heart by Al Martino
33
In A Christmas Carol, what is the name of Scrooge's deceased business partner?
Answer: Jacob Marley
34
Which Nordic figure is the traditional gift-bringer in Iceland, and how many are there?
Answer: The Yule Lads, of whom there are thirteen

Keeping the works do inclusive

Not everyone in an office celebrates Christmas, and a round that assumes they do is a round some of the room sits out.

The safest version is a December round rather than a Christmas one: winter, films that happen to be set at Christmas, songs everybody has heard in a shop. It is the same fun with none of the assumption.

This page needs checking every year

A seasonal page earns most of its readers in about six weeks and nothing for the rest of the year, which makes it easy to forget.

Everything here is deliberately evergreen, with no 'this year's Christmas number one' and nothing about current films, so it does not rot. But it is worth a read each November, because a seasonal page that has clearly not been touched since 2023 reads exactly like one.

Run your December quiz

Set up a session, pick the number of questions and go. The first one is free and needs no card.

Start free, no card needed