30 Christmas Trivia Questions and Answers for Family Game Night

These 30 Christmas trivia questions and answers make a ready-to-play family quiz, with four rounds, one point per correct answer, and two tie-breakers. Read the questions aloud while teams write answers. Keep the answer key hidden until the end of each round, and choose the rounds that suit your guests.

There is a gentle opening round about The Night Before Christmas, a round about A Christmas Carol, an optional Nativity round, and a harder Christmas-tree history round. The complete questions and answers are below. You can play from this page, or use the printable pack if you want separate sheets without arranging them yourself.

Prefer separate printed sheets? The Christmas Trivia Game Night Pack adds ready-to-print pages and host tools for this activity.

Holiday dates for planning

Christmas Day date reference

For Christmas Day in 2027, the holiday date is Saturday, December 25, 2027; the federal observed date is Friday, December 24, 2027.

How do you run a Christmas trivia game?

Choose a reader, form teams, give each team a pencil and numbered answer sheet, and announce the scoring before you start. Read each question twice. Allow roughly 20–30 seconds for discussion, then move to the next question. These times are hosting suggestions; give your group more time if they need it.

Mix ages within teams so children can contribute to the easier questions and adults can help with the literature and history. Teams of two to four are a practical starting point. A large group can use one team per table, although a very large table may leave quieter people out of the conversation.

The reader should not also compete if they have seen the answer key. For a tiny gathering, take turns reading a round and let the reader sit out that round. Compare only rounds all competing teams played, or keep the activity unscored.

Rules to announce before the first question

• One point for a correct answer; no points deducted for a wrong answer.
• One final answer per question. If a team writes two conflicting answers, that question earns no point.
• No phone searches, books, or help from people outside the team during a scored round.
• Accept a recognizable answer even if spelling is imperfect. The host key lists some acceptable alternatives.
• Everyone stops writing when the host closes the round. Review disputed wording before moving to the next round.

Tell guests which rounds you are playing. If you skip the Nativity round, the remaining three rounds contain 22 questions, so the maximum score is 22 rather than 30. If you shorten another round, mark the selected questions on the host sheet and announce the new maximum.

Easy Christmas trivia: The Night Before Christmas

These questions refer specifically to the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, commonly called The Night Before Christmas. They do not refer to a later film, song, or adapted picture book. The original poem text on Project Gutenberg is the reference for this round.

1. On which night does the poem take place?
2. Which small animal is specifically described as not stirring?
3. What has been hung by the chimney?
4. Which animals pull St. Nicholas’s sleigh?
5. How many reindeer pull the sleigh in the poem?
6. How does St. Nicholas enter the house?
7. Is Rudolph named among the poem’s reindeer?
8. What sweet treats appear in the children’s visions?

Christmas story trivia: A Christmas Carol

Use Charles Dickens’s original novella as the reference, rather than a film adaptation. Question 14 explicitly excludes Marley, which avoids the common confusion about whether to count three or four ghosts. Read the original A Christmas Carol.

9. Who wrote A Christmas Carol?
10. What is Scrooge’s first name?
11. What is the full name of Scrooge’s deceased business partner?
12. What is the full name of Scrooge’s clerk?
13. Which of Bob Cratchit’s children is known as Tiny?
14. How many Christmas spirits visit Scrooge after Marley’s warning, excluding Marley himself?
15. Who hosts the Christmas Eve party remembered from Scrooge’s apprenticeship?
16. On which holiday evening does the main story begin?

Christmas Bible trivia: The Nativity accounts

This optional round names the passage in every question. The answers follow Luke 2 in the NKJV and Matthew 2 in the NKJV. The questions are paraphrases, not Bible quotations. Choose this round for guests who want a Bible-based quiz.

17. According to Luke 2:1, which emperor orders the registration?
18. According to Luke 2:4, from which town does Joseph travel to Bethlehem?
19. According to Luke 2:4, Joseph belongs to the family line of which king?
20. According to Luke 2:19, who keeps and ponders these events in her heart?
21. According to Luke 2:21, what name is given to the child?
22. According to Matthew 2:1, from which direction do the wise men come?
23. According to Matthew 2:9, what sign goes before the wise men?
24. According to Matthew 2:12, how are the wise men warned not to return to Herod?

Harder Christmas trivia: Christmas tree history

This round distinguishes the White House tree from the outdoor National Christmas Tree. The references are the White House Historical Association’s Christmas-tree history and the National Park Service account of the 1923 lighting. The first-known-tree wording matters: documented history is more precise than claiming nobody ever had an earlier tree.

25. During whose presidency was the first known White House Christmas tree displayed?
26. Which White House room is associated with the official themed Christmas tree?
27. Which First Lady began the tradition of selecting a Blue Room tree theme in 1961?
28. Which ballet inspired the 1961 Blue Room tree theme?
29. Which president lit the first National Christmas Tree in 1923?
30. In which U.S. city was the first National Christmas Tree lit in 1923?

Christmas trivia answers

Host-only section: Keep this part out of view while players answer. Read the answer for each question and award one point when the written response matches the intended fact. Do not require punctuation, titles such as “Mr.,” or exact spelling of a name when the answer is clear.

The Night Before Christmas answer key

A Christmas Carol answer key

The Nativity accounts answer key

Christmas tree history answer key

Two Christmas trivia tie-breakers

Keep these separate from the 30 regular questions. Only tied teams answer them. Have each team write one number, then reveal all guesses together.

First tie-breaker: In what year was the first known Christmas tree displayed in the White House? Answer: 1889. This is documented by the White House Historical Association linked above. The closest year wins. A guess above the answer is allowed; compare the absolute difference.

Second tie-breaker: At the opening of A Christmas Carol, how many years has Marley been dead? Answer: seven. Use this only if the first tie-breaker still leaves a tie. Again, the closest number wins. If teams remain tied, name co-winners instead of inventing an argument about who wrote fastest.

For example, guesses of 1887 and 1891 are both two years away from 1889. Both teams advance to the second tie-breaker. The tie-breakers do not add points to the main scoreboard.

A family game-night plan you can adjust

Allow about 35–50 minutes for all four rounds, discussion, and scoring. This is an estimate, not a tested completion guarantee. Younger families may prefer one eight-question round between dinner and dessert. Older children and adults can play the full quiz with a break after the Dickens round.

Start by letting everyone choose a team name. Read an unscored practice question such as “Which month contains Christmas Day?” Then make sure each team has the correct question numbers on its answer sheet. It is surprisingly easy to skip a number when the host reads quickly.

After a round, ask teams to put pencils down. Teams can mark their own sheets for a relaxed family evening. For a prize game, exchange sheets with another team or have the host check them. Add the round totals and record a running total where everyone can see it.

If one team contains most of the confident readers, reorganize before the next game rather than changing scores during this one. Another option is to play cooperatively: everyone works toward a shared total, and the prize is dessert or the next activity when the group finishes.

Make the quiz easier for younger children

Read every question aloud and let children give spoken answers to an adult teammate. For the poem round, you can offer two choices, such as “a mouse or a rabbit?” Decide beforehand whether the whole group will receive choices. Giving one competing team extra hints midway through a scored quiz can feel unfair.

For a reading-and-learning evening, read the poem first, then play its eight questions as a memory round. That changes the challenge, but it makes the material approachable without pretending every child already knows it. Let younger children help tick correct answers or announce a team name even when the history questions are unfamiliar.

Make it harder for adults

Use the same questions with no choices and shorter discussion time. Ask for both first and last names where the question requests a full name. Keep the listed alternatives for answers such as Robert Cratchit and Jackie Kennedy; a hard round should come from the facts, not from rejecting a correct variant.

Do not replace precise questions with vague ones such as “How many ghosts are in Scrooge’s story?” The exact wording here establishes which spirits count. If a guest remembers something different from a movie, return to the source named at the start of that round.

What should you play after Christmas trivia?

For a seated gift exchange, follow the quiz with our Christmas left right game. For a family activity with more movement, try the indoor Christmas scavenger hunt. If adults want a change of pace, the Christmas party games for adults guide helps you choose a format.

Choose one follow-up rather than scheduling every activity at once. Trivia works well as a clearly bounded part of a party: finish the final answer, settle the tie, and let guests know what happens next.

Christmas trivia questions hosts often ask

How many Christmas trivia questions should I use?

Use eight questions for a short round, 16 for two story rounds, or all 30 for the complete quiz. The optional Nativity round has eight questions and the history round has six. Choose your rounds before announcing the maximum score.

Are these questions suitable for a church Christmas party?

Yes, you can choose the Bible round and combine it with the poem or Dickens rounds. Read the passage references as part of the questions. For more fellowship activities, see Christmas games for church groups.

Can I use the quiz without buying the printable?

Yes. All 30 questions, their answers, scoring rules, and both tie-breakers appear here. The paid pack adds separate print-ready sheets, an answer sheet, a scoreboard, and host instructions using the same quiz.

Do wrong answers lose points?

Under these rules, no. A correct answer earns one point and an incorrect or blank answer earns zero. Keeping that rule simple makes it easier to include children and guests who are playing casually.

Get the printable Christmas Trivia Game Night Pack

The Christmas Trivia Game Night Pack puts the activity into ready-to-print pages. You receive:

• Host instructions and two numeric tie-breakers
• Four question sheets with the same 30 questions available in the HHH article
• Separate answer key with source references
• Reusable player answer sheet and team scoreboard

This is a paid PDF download. The instructions and activity on this page are available to read without buying the pack. Print at actual size on U.S. Letter paper, and keep host-only pages away from players.