Christmas Trivia Questions and Answers: 45 Checked Facts

Pick a Format Before You Print

The list has four themed rounds of ten questions and a set of five number questions for breaking ties. Questions marked (Hard) usually need a specific name, date or spelling, so skip them for younger players or save them for the final round of an adult quiz.

Award one point for each complete answer in the four main rounds, for a maximum of 40. Question 13 is the stated exception: half a point for each exact historical name. Accept accurate translations and equivalent names elsewhere. Keep the five numerical tiebreakers outside that total; use them only if teams are tied.

Read each question twice and allow about thirty seconds. Lock in each answer before moving on; some questions share a story or source. Read the answer notes after the round so they do not supply clues to later questions.

If trivia is only one part of the evening, pair it with a present swap. Our list of Christmas gift exchange games has swap formats that fit between rounds without turning into a second contest.

Round 1: Carols, Songs and Stories

This round covers songs and printed stories only. It leaves films aside on purpose, so nobody wins simply by having watched more holiday movies.

1. On what date was "Silent Night" sung for the very first time?
   Answer: December 24, 1818, according to the official SalzburgerLand site for the carol. [1]
2. In which town's St. Nikola Church was it first performed?
   Answer: Oberndorf, near Salzburg in Austria. [1]
3. "Silent Night" began as a poem by a priest from Salzburg. What was his name? (Hard)
   Answer: Joseph Mohr. [1]
4. Which teacher from Upper Austria added the melody at the poet's request? (Hard)
   Answer: Franz Xaver Gruber. [1]
5. In December 1965, two Gemini astronauts played the first instruments in space. Which Christmas song did they play?
   Answer: "Jingle Bells." [2]
6. Which two small instruments did Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra carry aboard Gemini 6?
   Answer: A harmonica and a set of bells. The Smithsonian notes that Stafford donated the bells to the National Air and Space Museum. [2]
7. Who composed the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"?
   Answer: Johnny Marks. [3]
8. Which cowboy singer's recording of the Rudolph song reached number one by January 1950?
   Answer: Gene Autry. The Census Bureau history notes that Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore had turned the song down. [3]
9. In what year was Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" first published?
   Answer: 1843. [4]
10. "A Visit from St. Nicholas" first appeared without an author's name in December 1823. In which New York newspaper? (Hard)
    Answer: The Troy Sentinel, dated December 23, 1823, under the title "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas." [5]

Round 2: Santa, Reindeer and NORAD

This round draws on an 1823 poem, a department-store booklet, reindeer biology and a mistaken phone call. Choose questions according to the group’s familiarity with those stories.

1. How many reindeer pull the sleigh in the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas"?
   Answer: Eight. The poem calls them "eight tiny rein-deer." [5]
2. In the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas," through which part of the house does St. Nicholas enter?
   Answer: The chimney. [5]
3. In the 1823 newspaper printing, how were the last two reindeer names spelled? (Hard)
   Answer: Dunder and Blixem. For this historical-spelling question, award half a point for each exact name. [5]
4. Who wrote the original story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1939?
   Answer: Robert L. May, an advertising copywriter. [3]
5. Which Chicago department store published Rudolph as a holiday promotion?
   Answer: Montgomery Ward. [3]
6. Roughly how many copies of the Rudolph booklet did the store hand out during the 1939 season? (Hard)
   Answer: 2.4 million. [3]
7. True or false: female reindeer grow antlers.
   Answer: True. The National Park Service notes that, unlike most members of the deer family, both male and female caribou grow antlers. [6]
8. Which adult caribou can keep their antlers all winter, males or females?
   Answer: Females. The National Park Service says adult males shed theirs after the rut in late fall. [6]
9. In what year did the tradition now known as NORAD Tracks Santa begin?
   Answer: 1955, at NORAD's predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD). NORAD took over the tradition when it formed in 1958. [7]
10. Which Air Force colonel was on duty when a child called the command center by mistake? (Hard)
    Answer: Colonel Harry Shoup. NORAD's fact sheet says the child dialed the unlisted number after seeing a newspaper promotion. [7]

Round 3: Trees, Plants and Decorations

Many of the best-known trees and plants of the season carry a story about diplomacy, royalty or botany. This round rewards people who read the labels at garden centers.

1. Which city has sent London a Christmas tree for Trafalgar Square every year since 1947?
   Answer: Oslo. The City of Oslo describes it as a symbolic thank-you for Britain's support to Norway during World War II. [8]
2. What kind of tree must the Trafalgar Square tree be? (Hard)
   Answer: A Norwegian spruce (Picea abies) growing naturally in the Oslo forest. [8]
3. On what date was the first National Christmas Tree lit in Washington, D.C.?
   Answer: December 24, 1923, in the middle of the Ellipse. [9]
4. The first National Christmas Tree was a gift from which college in President Coolidge's home state? (Hard)
   Answer: Middlebury College in Vermont. [9]
5. Prince Albert often gets the credit, but which earlier queen introduced the Christmas tree to the British royal household?
   Answer: Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, in the late 18th century. The Royal Collection Trust notes that she used a yew rather than a fir. [10]
6. In 1848, which newspaper published an illustration of Queen Victoria's family around a decorated tree?
   Answer: The Illustrated London News. [10]
7. The poinsettia is named after the first U.S. Minister to Mexico. Who was he?
   Answer: Joel Roberts Poinsett, appointed to the post in 1825. [11]
8. What was the poinsettia called in Nahuatl, the language of the Mexica? (Hard)
   Answer: Cuetlaxóchitl. Mexico's culture ministry explains it combines the words for leather and flower. [12]
9. The bright red parts of a poinsettia look like petals. What are they actually?
   Answer: Modified leaves. The real flowers are tiny and easy to miss. [12]
10. Mistletoe makes some of its own food but takes water and minerals from its host tree. What kind of plant does that make it?
    Answer: A hemiparasite, as the Texas A&M Forest Service describes it. [13]

Round 4: Christmas Around the World

These questions identify each custom’s country or source. Accept accurate local translations of names and titles where spelling is not the task.

1. How many nights do Las Posadas celebrations last in Mexico, and on what dates?
   Answer: Nine nights, from December 16 to December 24. [14]
2. On what date does Sweden hold its candlelit Lucia procession?
   Answer: December 13. [15]
3. What does the girl playing Lucia traditionally wear on her head?
   Answer: A wreath with candles. Sweden's official site notes that today these are usually electric. [15]
4. In Mexico, what does the small figurine hidden inside a rosca de reyes represent?
   Answer: The baby Jesus. [16]
5. Name the three kings who, in Mexican tradition, bring children gifts on Día de Reyes. (Hard)
   Answer: Melchor, Gaspar and Baltazar. [16]
6. Christmas Island, home to an Australian national park, was named in 1643 after it was sighted on Christmas Day. Who named it? (Hard)
   Answer: Captain William Mynors of the British East India Company. [17]
7. On which day does the British royal family exchange Christmas gifts?
   Answer: Christmas Eve, following German tradition. The custom dates back to Queen Victoria's reign. [10]
8. In which decade does the Royal Collection Trust date the first appearance of turkey at Henry VIII's table?
   Answer: The 1540s. [10]
9. Which football score does the National Army Museum cite from soldiers’ letters about the 1914 Christmas truce?
   Answer: 3–2 to the Germans. This asks about the museum’s cited account, not a single formally organized match across the whole front. [18]
10. In which city and month was Handel’s "Messiah" first performed?
    Answer: Dublin, in April 1742. Dublin City Council dates the premiere to April 13. [19]

Need a film round too? This list deliberately leaves movies out. Our movie trivia questions already cover classics, animation and the Oscars in separate rounds, and they slot in well after Round 4.

Five Closest-Number Tiebreakers

For each tiebreaker, every team writes a number in the unit asked for. The smallest absolute difference from the stated answer wins, whether above or below. If teams are equally close, move to the next question.

1. How many verses are in the full version of "Silent Night" presented by SalzburgerLand?
   Answer: 6. Shorter arrangements may omit verses. [20]
2. According to the V&A, how many generations of the Cole family appear in the central panel of the 1843 Christmas card?
   Answer: 3. [21]
3. How many copies did Henry Cole commission for the 1843 Christmas card’s initial printing?
   Answer: 1,000, according to the V&A. [21]
4. How many shillings did one of those 1843 cards cost?
   Answer: One shilling. The V&A says that was expensive at the time and the venture was judged a commercial flop. [21]
5. Which day of December did the U.S. House of Representatives designate as National Poinsettia Day in 2002?
   Answer: December 12. [11]

If teams remain tied after all five questions, share the result or use an additional, separately sourced question agreed on by the host.