The Ultimate UK Christmas Quiz: 200 Questions (Free)

Two hundred Christmas quiz questions, in ten themed rounds, with every answer to hand and not a penny to pay. Read out a round at a time, keep the answers hidden until you need them, and you have a quiz that runs itself — from the after-lunch lull on Christmas Day to the office do, the village hall, or a quiet evening with a pot of tea.

How it works

How to run a Christmas quiz

The answer to a good Christmas quiz is preparation that takes ten minutes, not an hour. Decide how many rounds you want — six is a comfortable evening, all ten is a marathon — and read each round aloud while everyone writes their answers on a scrap of paper. Mark between rounds using the hidden answer keys, keep a running total, and settle ties with the tie-break question at the end.

Below is the shape of a night that holds a room together: a gentle round to warm up, the harder rounds in the middle while concentration is at its best, and the children’s round placed so the youngest players finish on a high.

A good quiz is mostly hidden answers and a quizmaster who reads slowly.

The rounds

Round 1: Christmas films and television

The crowd-pleaser, and the round to open on. From Home Alone to The Snowman, these are the festive films and television moments most British households have watched more than once.

1. In Home Alone, what is the first name of the boy left behind by his family?
2. Which 2003 film follows nine intertwined love stories in the run-up to a London Christmas?
3. In Elf, what are the four main food groups according to Buddy?
4. Which animated film features the song “Walking in the Air”?
5. In The Muppet Christmas Carol, who plays Ebenezer Scrooge?
6. What is the name of the fictional town the Grinch tries to steal Christmas from?
7. In It’s a Wonderful Life, what does every ringing bell mean, according to Zuzu?
8. Which film features a department-store Santa who insists he is the real Kris Kringle?
9. In Love Actually, what is the job of the character played by Hugh Grant?
10. Which 1988 action film, set on Christmas Eve at Nakatomi Plaza, is endlessly argued over as a Christmas film?
11. In the animated The Snowman, where do the boy and the snowman fly to meet Father Christmas?
12. Which Christmas film features the Griswold family and a disastrous festive light display?
13. In The Polar Express, what is the destination of the train?
14. Which actor plays the Grinch in the 2000 live-action film?
15. In Miracle on 34th Street, the modern remake, what is the name of the department store?
16. Which festive film features Will Ferrell as a human raised by elves at the North Pole?
17. In Nativity!, set in Coventry, the teacher claims a Hollywood studio is coming to film what?
18. Which character says “Bah! Humbug!” in A Christmas Carol?
19. In the 1964 stop-motion special, who wants to be a dentist instead of an elf?
20. Which 1990 sequel sees Kevin McCallister lost in New York City?

Show the answers — Round 1

1. Kevin (McCallister)
2. Love Actually
3. Candy, candy canes, candy corn and syrup
4. The Snowman
5. Michael Caine
6. Whoville (Who-ville)
7. An angel has got its wings
8. Miracle on 34th Street
9. The Prime Minister
10. Die Hard
11. The North Pole
12. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
13. The North Pole
14. Jim Carrey
15. Cole’s
16. Elf
17. The school nativity play
18. Ebenezer Scrooge
19. Hermey (in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer)
20. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Round 2: Carols and Christmas music

The carols you half-remember the words to, and the pop songs that return to the radio every December. A round where the whole table tends to join in.

1. In “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, what is given on the fifth day?
2. Which carol contains the line “O tidings of comfort and joy”?
3. The carol “Silent Night” was originally written in which language?
4. Which band released “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in 1984?
5. Mariah Carey’s best-selling Christmas single is called what?
6. Which carol begins “Once in royal David’s city”?
7. Who recorded the original 1942 version of “White Christmas”?
8. The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl sang about a “Fairytale of” which city?
9. Which carol asks the listener to “Come and behold him, born the King of Angels”?
10. Wham!’s perennial festive hit is called what?
11. In “Good King Wenceslas”, on which saint’s feast does the king look out?
12. Which Christmas song was famously the first broadcast from space, by the Gemini 6 crew in 1965?
13. Slade’s 1973 Christmas number one is called what?
14. Which carol’s title translates from Latin as “O Come, All Ye Faithful”?
15. Who had a 1973 hit, still played every year, with “Step into Christmas”?
16. In “Away in a Manger”, what is described as “no crib for a bed”?
17. Which 1984 song by Wham! reached number two but never the top spot that year?
18. What is the highest gift number reached in “The Twelve Days of Christmas”?
19. Which carol includes the refrain “Gloria, in excelsis Deo”?
20. Chris Rea drove home for Christmas in which song?

Show the answers — Round 2

1. Five gold rings
2. “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen”
3. German (“Stille Nacht”)
4. Band Aid
5. “All I Want for Christmas Is You”
6. “Once in Royal David’s City”
7. Bing Crosby
8. New York
9. “O Come, All Ye Faithful”
10. “Last Christmas”
11. The Feast of Stephen (Boxing Day, 26 December)
12. “Jingle Bells”
13. “Merry Xmas Everybody”
14. “Adeste Fideles”
15. Elton John
16. A manger (a lowly cattle shed)
17. “Last Christmas” (kept off number one by Band Aid)
18. Twelve
19. “Ding Dong Merrily on High” (also “Angels We Have Heard on High”)
20. “Driving Home for Christmas”

Round 3: Festive food and drink

The Christmas table, from the sprouts nobody admits to liking to the pudding everyone has a view on. If your guests have been reading the pigs in blankets and Christmas ham guides, they will have an unfair advantage.

1. What name is given to small sausages wrapped in bacon, served at Christmas dinner?
2. Which spirit is traditionally poured over a Christmas pudding and set alight?
3. Stollen, the fruited Christmas loaf, comes from which country?
4. Panettone, the tall domed Christmas bread, comes from which country?
5. In Japan, which fast-food chain has become a popular Christmas Eve tradition?
6. What is the name for the layer of marzipan-covered fruit cake eaten at Christmas in Britain?
7. Which hot, spiced wine is a staple of Christmas markets?
8. What is traditionally hidden inside a homemade Christmas pudding for luck?
9. Brussels sprouts belong to the same plant family as which other vegetable, beginning with C?
10. What are the two main spirits in a snowball cocktail, the festive favourite?
11. Which sweet, sticky dessert wine is often served with Christmas pudding?
12. Mince pies traditionally contain mincemeat — but does authentic mincemeat contain any meat product? Name it.
13. Which fizzy soft drink’s advertising helped popularise the modern red-suited image of Santa from the 1930s?
14. What is the German name for mulled wine, seen on Christmas-market stalls?
15. Cranberry sauce is the classic accompaniment to which Christmas roast?
16. What flavour is a traditional candy cane?
17. Which nut is roasted on street stalls and “on an open fire” in a famous song?
18. A bûche de Noël is better known in Britain by what name?
19. What name is given to the period of fasting before Christmas in the Christian calendar?
20. Which dried fruit gives a traditional Christmas pudding its dark colour and is also in the name of an old pudding, the “figgy” one?

Show the answers — Round 3

1. Pigs in blankets
2. Brandy
3. Germany
4. Italy
5. KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken)
6. Christmas cake
7. Mulled wine
8. A (silver) coin, traditionally a sixpence
9. Cabbage (the brassica family)
10. Advocaat and lemonade (or limeade)
11. Dessert wine such as Sauternes, or a sweet sherry (accept either)
12. Suet (beef suet, in traditional mincemeat)
13. Coca-Cola
14. Glühwein
15. Turkey (accept the Christmas roast generally)
16. Peppermint
17. Chestnut
18. A (chocolate) yule log
19. Advent
20. Figs (the carol “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” calls for figgy pudding)

Round 4: Traditions, customs and history

Where Christmas as we know it came from — much of it Victorian, some of it far older. The round where a Radio 4 listener quietly cleans up.

1. Which British monarch’s reign is credited with popularising the Christmas tree in Britain, after Prince Albert?
2. Who invented the Christmas cracker, in London in the 1840s?
3. In which year was the first commercial Christmas card produced — 1843, 1873 or 1903?
4. Which 1843 novella by Charles Dickens is widely credited with reviving Christmas spirit in Victorian Britain?
5. 26 December is known as Boxing Day in Britain; it is also which saint’s feast day?
6. Which country sends a Christmas tree to Trafalgar Square in London each year, in thanks for the Second World War?
7. The 12 days of Christmas traditionally end on which date, the eve of Epiphany?
8. What is the name of the wreath, often with four candles, that counts down the Sundays of Advent?
9. Which monarch gave the first televised Royal Christmas Broadcast, in 1957?
10. Mistletoe, hung at Christmas, is traditionally associated with what custom?
11. The figure of Father Christmas owes part of his name to which fourth-century saint?
12. What is the name for a traditional British Christmas theatre show, full of audience participation?
13. Which plant with red and green leaves, named after an American diplomat, is a popular Christmas houseplant?
14. In Tudor and Stuart times, what was the “Lord of Misrule” appointed to do over Christmas?
15. The first Christmas stamp issued by the Royal Mail appeared in which decade — the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s?
16. Which evergreen, with prickly leaves and red berries, decks the halls in the carol?
17. What name is given to the log traditionally burned over the Christmas period?
18. Stir-up Sunday, when families traditionally make the Christmas pudding, falls on the last Sunday before which season of the church year?
19. Which German word, meaning “Christmas market”, is now used for the festive markets held in British cities?
20. The tradition of leaving a mince pie and a drink for Father Christmas often also leaves a carrot for whom?

Show the answers — Round 4

1. Queen Victoria’s
2. Tom Smith
3. 1843
4. A Christmas Carol
5. St Stephen’s Day (St Stephen)
6. Norway
7. 5 January (Twelfth Night)
8. The Advent wreath
9. Queen Elizabeth II
10. Kissing (kissing under the mistletoe)
11. St Nicholas
12. Pantomime
13. The poinsettia
14. To oversee the Christmas feasting and revelry (the master of festivities)
15. The 1960s (1966)
16. Holly
17. The Yule log
18. Advent
19. Christkindlmarkt (Weihnachtsmarkt also accepted)
20. The reindeer (Rudolph)

Round 5: UK Christmas Number Ones

The festive chart-topper is a British institution. A round nobody else runs in full — pitched so that a keen follower of the charts will shine.

1. Which Slade song was the Christmas number one in 1973?
2. Which Band Aid charity single was Christmas number one in 1984?
3. Which Spice Girls song topped the charts at Christmas 1996, the first of their three consecutive Christmas number ones?
4. Which talent show dominated the UK Christmas number one through much of the 2000s?
5. In 2009, a campaign drove which Rage Against the Machine song to Christmas number one, beating the year’s X Factor winner?
6. Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen was Christmas number one twice — first in 1975, and again in which year, following Freddie Mercury’s death?
7. Which Mariah Carey song finally reached UK number one decades after release, topping the chart at Christmas 2020?
8. Which Cliff Richard song, with a spoken nativity message, was Christmas number one in 1988?
9. Whose “Mary’s Boy Child” was Christmas number one in 1957, and which group took a version to number one in 1978?
10. Which Pet Shop Boys cover was Christmas number one in 1987?
11. Bob the Builder’s “Can We Fix It?” was a surprise Christmas number one in which year — 2000, 2002 or 2004?
12. Which Justin Hawkins-fronted band missed Christmas number one in 2003 with “Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End)”?
13. The Royle Family theme, “Half the World Away”, is by which band?
14. Which East 17 song was Christmas number one in 1994?
15. Which 2015 Christmas number one was a charity single recorded by an NHS choir, beating Justin Bieber to the top?
16. Whose “Earth Song” was Christmas number one in 1995?
17. Slade topped the 1973 Christmas chart, but which rival Wizzard single, also released that Christmas, remains a festive radio staple?
18. Which LadBaby novelty act achieved several consecutive Christmas number ones from 2018, raising money for a food-bank charity?
19. Which Renée and Renato duet was Christmas number one in 1982?
20. Which Bing Crosby and David Bowie duet, “Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy”, is a staple of festive playlists, recorded in which decade?

Show the answers — Round 5

1. “Merry Xmas Everybody”
2. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
3. “2 Become 1”
4. The X Factor
5. “Killing in the Name”
6. 1991
7. “All I Want for Christmas Is You”
8. “Mistletoe and Wine”
9. Harry Belafonte (1957); Boney M. (1978)
10. “Always on My Mind”
11. 2000
12. The Darkness
13. Oasis
14. “Stay Another Day”
15. “A Bridge over You” (the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir)
16. Michael Jackson
17. “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” (Wizzard)
18. LadBaby
19. “Save Your Love”
20. The 1970s (recorded 1977)

Round 6: Christmas around the world

How the rest of the world keeps Christmas — a geography round that rewards the well-travelled and the curious.

1. In which country do children leave their shoes out for Sinterklaas on the evening of 5 December?
2. The Yule Lads are a mischievous Christmas tradition in which Nordic island nation?
3. In which country is it traditional to hide a broom on Christmas Eve to stop witches stealing it?
4. La Befana, a kindly witch who brings gifts at Epiphany, is a tradition of which country?
5. In which Catalan region of Spain do children find gifts from the “Tió de Nadal”, a decorated log?
6. The Christmas season in which Southern Hemisphere country falls in high summer, with beach barbecues common?
7. In which country is St Nicholas accompanied by the horned figure Krampus, who deals with naughty children?
8. Which city’s Christmas market, the Christkindlesmarkt, is among the most famous in Germany?
9. In the Philippines, the Giant Lantern Festival, “Ligligan Parul”, is held in which city?
10. Which country’s people traditionally eat 12 dishes on Christmas Eve, one for each apostle, beginning when the first star appears?
11. In Sweden, a large straw figure of which animal is a traditional Christmas decoration?
12. In Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, it became a custom to travel to early Christmas Mass by what unusual means?
13. Which country celebrates “Sinterklaas” as distinct from, and earlier than, Christmas Day itself?
14. In Mexico, the nine nights of processions before Christmas are known as what?
15. Which Australian carol concert, held outdoors by candlelight, is a Christmas Eve tradition?
16. In France, what name is given to the late-night feast after Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve?
17. Which country is the original home of the Christmas tree tradition, spreading from there across Europe?
18. In Ethiopia, Christmas, known as Genna, is celebrated on which date in early January?
19. Boxing Day is a public holiday in Britain and many Commonwealth countries; what is it called in much of continental Europe?
20. Which Italian city is home to the basilica said to hold relics associated with St Nicholas, the historical model for Father Christmas?

Show the answers — Round 6

1. The Netherlands
2. Iceland
3. Norway
4. Italy
5. Catalonia
6. Australia (accept New Zealand or South Africa for the Southern Hemisphere summer point)
7. Austria (also parts of Germany and central Europe)
8. Nuremberg
9. San Fernando
10. Ukraine (the Sviata Vecheria, Holy Supper); accept Poland, which has a similar 12-dish Wigilia
11. A goat (the Yule Goat, “Julbock”; the Gävle Goat is the famous example)
12. On roller skates
13. The Netherlands
14. Las Posadas
15. Carols by Candlelight
16. Le Réveillon
17. Germany
18. 7 January
19. St Stephen’s Day (Second Day of Christmas)
20. Bari

Round 7: True or false

Twenty statements, each either true or false. Easy to mark, surprisingly easy to get wrong — and a good leveller across ages.

1. Rudolph was one of Santa’s original reindeer named in the 1823 poem “A Visit from St Nicholas”.
2. The poinsettia is named after a US ambassador to Mexico.
3. “Jingle Bells” was originally written for the American holiday of Thanksgiving, not Christmas.
4. Mistletoe berries are red.
5. The world’s tallest cut Christmas tree on record was over 60 metres tall.
6. In the carol, the partridge sits in a pear tree.
7. Coca-Cola invented the red-and-white image of Santa Claus.
8. Boxing Day takes its name from the boxing matches once held on 26 December.
9. The Christmas tree tradition reached Britain mainly through the German-born consort Prince Albert.
10. Christmas Island is located in the Pacific Ocean.
11. A “baby Jesus” figurine is traditionally hidden in the French and Spanish “King Cake” eaten at Epiphany.
12. Tinsel was once made from real silver.
13. Reindeer of both sexes can grow antlers.
14. The first artificial Christmas trees were made in Germany using dyed goose feathers.
15. The “Twelve Days of Christmas” begin on Christmas Day and run to Twelfth Night.
16. Eggnog contains no eggs, despite the name.
17. Saint Nicholas, the model for Father Christmas, was born in what is now Turkey.
18. Christmas was once banned in England under Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth.
19. The candy cane’s shape is meant to resemble a shepherd’s crook.
20. The robin became a Christmas-card emblem partly because Victorian postmen, in red coats, were nicknamed “robins”.

Show the answers — Round 7

1. False — the 1823 poem names eight reindeer; Rudolph was created much later, in 1939.
2. True — after Joel Roberts Poinsett.
3. True — by the conventional account it was written for a Thanksgiving service in the 1850s; either way it had no original link to Christmas.
4. False — mistletoe berries are white.
5. True — the record tree (Northgate Center, Seattle, 1950) stood about 64.6 metres (212 feet), a Guinness World Record.
6. True.
7. False — Coca-Cola’s adverts popularised the image, but did not invent it.
8. False — it derives from the alms “boxes” of money given to servants and tradespeople.
9. True.
10. False — Christmas Island is in the Indian Ocean.
11. True.
12. True — early tinsel was made from thin strips of real silver.
13. True — female reindeer grow antlers too, unlike most deer.
14. True.
15. True.
16. False — eggnog does contain eggs.
17. True — Myra, in modern-day Turkey.
18. True — Christmas festivities were suppressed in the 1640s–1650s.
19. True.
20. True.

Round 8: The children’s round

Twenty gentle questions to read aloud, pitched for younger players so the youngest at the table can win a round outright. Grown-ups: hands down.

1. What colour is Father Christmas’s suit?
2. What is the name of the reindeer with a bright red nose?
3. Where does Father Christmas live?
4. What do you hang up on Christmas Eve hoping it will be filled with presents?
5. What do we call the snowy person we build with a carrot for a nose?
6. How many reindeer pull Father Christmas’s sleigh, not counting Rudolph?
7. What do children traditionally leave out for Father Christmas to eat?
8. What do we put on top of the Christmas tree?
9. What green plant with red berries is used to decorate at Christmas?
10. In the song, how many days of Christmas are there?
11. What sweet treat is shaped like a walking stick and tastes of mint?
12. Who helps Father Christmas make the toys in his workshop?
13. What do we pull at the Christmas dinner table that makes a bang and holds a paper hat?
14. What is the name of the snowman in the film who comes to life and flies?
15. What do we call the songs we sing at Christmas, going door to door?
16. What do you say to wish someone a happy Christmas — “Merry” what?
17. What sort of tree do we usually bring inside and decorate?
18. How does Father Christmas get into a house with no chimney left open? (any sensible answer)
19. What do we call the day after Christmas Day?
20. What animal, beginning with T, is often the main meal at Christmas dinner?

Show the answers — Round 8

1. Red (and white)
2. Rudolph
3. The North Pole
4. A stocking
5. A snowman
6. Eight
7. A mince pie (and a drink; a carrot for the reindeer)
8. A star or an angel/fairy
9. Holly
10. Twelve
11. A candy cane
12. The elves
13. A cracker
14. The Snowman
15. Carols
16. Christmas
17. A fir tree (Christmas tree)
18. Through the door / with magic (accept any sensible answer)
19. Boxing Day
20. Turkey

Round 9: The cryptic round

No pictures needed: ten Christmas anagrams, then ten “who or what am I” clues. Each anagram below uses exactly the letters of the answer, rearranged. Read them out, or print them for teams to puzzle over between rounds.

1. Anagram: NLUE IMEWLD — a hot, spiced festive drink.
2. Anagram: ANCY NACDE — a red-and-white minty stick.
3. Anagram: YTIT NIVA — the stable scene at the heart of Christmas.
4. Anagram: PRT SOSU — the small green vegetable nobody admits to liking.
5. Anagram: RRGAG DIBENE — a spiced biscuit, often shaped like a man.
6. Anagram: ARC REKC — pull it at the table for a bang and a paper hat.
7. Anagram: ESTOT MLIE — the plant you might be kissed beneath.
8. Anagram: RDIR EEEN — the animal that pulls the sleigh.
9. Anagram: INSO GCKT — hang it by the fire on Christmas Eve.
10. Anagram: WHTEAR — the circular decoration hung on the front door.
11. Who am I? I wrote a short book in 1843, featuring a miser and three spirits, that helped revive Christmas.
12. Who am I? I am the German-born consort who helped make the decorated Christmas tree fashionable in Britain.
13. What am I? I am the festival, in early January, that marks the visit of the Three Wise Men and the end of the Twelve Days.
14. Who am I? I invented the Christmas cracker in Victorian London.
15. What am I? I am the only one of Santa’s commonly named reindeer whose name is also the Roman god of love.
16. What am I? I am the saint’s day that shares 26 December with Boxing Day.
17. Who am I? I am the fourth-century saint, born in what is now Turkey, who lies behind Father Christmas.
18. What am I? I am the carol whose title, in Latin, is “Adeste Fideles”.
19. What am I? I am the country that sends London a Christmas tree each year in thanks for the war.
20. What am I? I am the term for a British Christmas theatre show where the audience shouts “He’s behind you!”

Show the answers — Round 9

1. Mulled wine
2. Candy cane
3. Nativity
4. Sprouts
5. Gingerbread
6. Cracker
7. Mistletoe
8. Reindeer
9. Stocking
10. Wreath
11. Charles Dickens
12. Prince Albert
13. Epiphany (6 January, the day after Twelfth Night; accept “Twelfth Night”)
14. Tom Smith
15. Cupid
16. St Stephen’s Day
17. St Nicholas
18. “O Come, All Ye Faithful”
19. Norway
20. Pantomime

Round 10: The expert round

For the table that has read everything and watches the King’s Speech with a notebook. Twenty hard questions, several worth two marks. Hand this round to your most confident quizzer and watch them sweat.

1. Which English Puritan-led government formally suppressed the celebration of Christmas in the 1640s and 1650s?
2. The carol “In the Bleak Midwinter” sets words by which Victorian poet?
3. What is the name of the Icelandic Christmas tradition of giving books on Christmas Eve and reading them that night?
4. Which composer wrote the ballet The Nutcracker, first performed in 1892?
5. The historical Saint Nicholas was Bishop of which city in Asia Minor?
6. In the Julian calendar still used liturgically by some Orthodox churches, Christmas Day falls on which date in January by the Gregorian calendar?
7. Which English king is traditionally said to have worn his crown at a great Christmas court at Gloucester, where the Domesday survey was commissioned in 1085?
8. “Good King Wenceslas” refers to a real historical duke of which central European territory?
9. Which 1914 event saw British and German soldiers reportedly meet in no man’s land on Christmas Day?
10. The hymn tune “Cranham”, used for “In the Bleak Midwinter”, was composed by which English composer?
11. Which Roman midwinter festival, with feasting and gift-giving, is often cited as an antecedent of Christmas customs?
12. What is the literal English translation of the carol title “Adeste Fideles”?
13. Which Dickens character speaks the line “If they would rather die… they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population”?
14. The first printed Christmas card, commissioned in 1843, was designed by which artist — John Callcott Horsley, William Powell Frith, or Walter Crane?
15. In which year did the BBC broadcast the first televised Royal Christmas message, delivered by Queen Elizabeth II?
16. What name is given to the liturgical colour traditionally used in church during much of Advent?
17. The poem beginning “‘Twas the night before Christmas” is more properly titled what?
18. Which Christmas oratorio by George Frideric Handel, first performed in 1742, is traditionally sung at Christmas and contains the “Hallelujah” chorus?
19. Boxing Day’s “alms box” tradition is linked to the feast of a saint who was the first Christian martyr — name him.
20. Which 17th-century English poet wrote “A Christmas Carol” beginning “What sweeter music can we bring”, later set by John Rutter?

Show the answers — Round 10

1. The Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell (the Puritan Parliament; Christmas was banned by the 1640s ordinances)
2. Christina Rossetti
3. Jólabókaflóð (the “Christmas book flood”)
4. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
5. Myra (in Lycia, modern-day Turkey)
6. 7 January
7. William the Conqueror (William I)
8. Bohemia
9. The Christmas truce
10. Gustav Holst
11. Saturnalia
12. “O Come, All Ye Faithful” (literally “Be present, faithful ones”)
13. Ebenezer Scrooge
14. John Callcott Horsley
15. 1957
16. Purple (violet)
17. “A Visit from St Nicholas” (attributed to Clement Clarke Moore)
18. Messiah
19. St Stephen
20. Robert Herrick

Scoring and a tie-break

Keeping score, and settling a draw

Two hundred questions is a long evening, so most tables play a selection. Here is a quick guide to how long each combination runs and how to pitch the difficulty for your crowd.

If you have…	Play these rounds	Roughly	Best for
Half an hour	Films, food and drink, true or false	60 questions	A mixed family table after lunch
An hour	Add carols, traditions, the children’s round	120 questions	A full Christmas Day crowd
A whole evening	All ten rounds	200 questions	A serious quiz night or office do
Children present	Lead with the children’s round; keep the expert round back	your choice	Letting the youngest win one outright
Confident quizzers	Open with films, finish on the expert round	your choice	A table that wants a real test

Print and play

How to print this quiz

This page is made to be printed. Open the answer panels you want, then use your browser’s print command — File then Print, or Ctrl+P on a Windows computer, Cmd+P on a Mac — and choose “Save as PDF” if you would rather not use paper. The rounds and answer keys print in order, so you can run the quiz from the page or from a printout with no sign-up and nothing to buy.

For something to do alongside it, the Elf on the Shelf ideas guide keeps younger children busy in the days before, and the monthly to-do lists for November and December will tell you what else to have in hand before the big day.

Questions people ask

Christmas quiz: frequently asked questions

How many questions are in this Christmas quiz?

Two hundred, arranged in ten rounds of twenty: films and television, carols and music, food and drink, traditions and history, UK Christmas Number Ones, Christmas around the world, true or false, a children’s round, a cryptic round and an expert round. Play as many or as few rounds as your evening allows.

Is the quiz free, and can I print it?

Yes on both counts. There is no charge, no sign-up and no email required. The page is built to print straight from your browser, with the answer keys included, so you can run it on paper at the table.

Can children join in?

Yes. Round 8 is a dedicated children’s round, written to be read aloud and pitched so the youngest players can answer and even win a round outright. Keep the expert round (Round 10) back for the grown-ups.

How do you run a Christmas quiz at home?

Split the room into teams of two to six, choose a quizmaster, and read one round at a time while everyone writes their answers. Mark between rounds using the hidden answer keys, keep a running total, and settle any tie with the tie-break question at the end. No phones is the one rule that matters.

Do I need alcohol to make it work?

Not at all. The scoring, prizes and forfeits all work with a good alcohol-free fizz or a pot of tea. A prize of the last tin of chocolates or first pick of the leftovers suits everyone at the table, drinkers or not.

Written by Linda Garrould · Updated 14 June 2026