Christmas quiz questions for the whole family

Running it fairly

• Mix the teams by age. Two teams, each with at least one child and one adult.
• Give children the easy round to themselves. Adults stay quiet; children answer.
• Read the question twice. Once for everyone, once slowly for the youngest.
• Let a child keep score. It keeps them in the game even between their questions.

Round 1: easy

1. How many reindeer pull Santa's sleigh in "A Visit from St. Nicholas"? Eight.
2. Which reindeer has a red nose? Rudolph.
3. What do people hang up for Santa to fill? Stockings.
4. What was given on the first day of Christmas in the song? A partridge in a pear tree.
5. In the song, what is Frosty the Snowman's nose? A button.
6. What colour are holly berries? Red.
7. How many points does a snowflake have? Six.
8. Where does Santa live? The North Pole.

Round 2: for everyone

9. In which year was the first commercial Christmas card sent? 1843, in London.
10. In which country was "Silent Night" first sung? Austria, in 1818.
11. Which country gives London a Christmas tree for Trafalgar Square every year? Norway.
12. What does the X in "Xmas" stand for? The Greek letter chi, the first letter of Christ in Greek.
13. Which ballet is set on Christmas Eve? The Nutcracker.
14. What is Scrooge's first name in "A Christmas Carol"? Ebenezer.
15. How many nights does Las Posadas last in Mexico? Nine.
16. What do Icelanders traditionally give each other on Christmas Eve? Books.
17. Gingerbread houses are linked to which fairy tale? Hansel and Gretel.
18. Which red Christmas plant comes from Mexico? The poinsettia.
19. How many candles does an Advent wreath usually have? Four.
20. What does "Feliz Navidad" mean? Merry Christmas, in Spanish.

Round 3: hard

21. How many gifts are given in total in "The Twelve Days of Christmas"? 364.
22. Donder and Blitzen were first called Dunder and Blixem. What do those words mean? Thunder and lightning, in Dutch.
23. Who wrote "A Christmas Carol", and in which year? Charles Dickens, 1843.
24. In which year did Rudolph first appear? 1939.
25. What was "Jingle Bells" called when it was first published in 1857? "One Horse Open Sleigh".
26. What is the name of the giant cat of Icelandic Christmas folklore? The Yule Cat (Jólakötturinn).
27. On which date do Orthodox churches that keep the Julian calendar celebrate Christmas? January 7.
28. Who wrote "White Christmas"? Irving Berlin.
29. Which German city's Christmas market was first recorded in 1434? Dresden.
30. Which newspaper first printed "A Visit from St. Nicholas", in 1823? The Troy Sentinel, in New York State.

The stories behind the answers

Several of these make good talking points after the quiz: why Orthodox Christmas is on January 7, how "A Visit from St. Nicholas" fixed the picture of Santa, and what happens during Las Posadas and the Icelandic book flood.

For a quiz that runs itself, Christmas Advent Calendar has a game-show Christmas quiz behind some of its doors, with trivia for kids and grown-ups on the big screen.