PULTEVENT
Christmas trivia questions with answers: 7 rounds, from trees to world customs
A church hall in Minneapolis, the second Sunday of Advent. Coffee in an urn that has seen every parish event since the seventies, eight round tables with paper tablecloths, and a man at table three who is absolutely certain that tinsel was invented in America. His granddaughter is holding her phone out of his reach. The answer is about to go up on the projector screen, and he has bet her a dollar.
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Good Christmas trivia works because everyone in the room knows a little and nobody knows it all. The grandparents know the food, the teenagers know the dates, the one colleague who lived in Stockholm knows about Saint Lucia. The questions below are about traditions, food, words and customs from different countries, checked and with the answers written out, so you can read them aloud or put them on a screen.
I've split them into seven rounds. Each has a few sample questions on this page and a tip for running it. If you want to play on a TV or projector with the room answering from their phones, type the questions into the quiz builder in PULTEVENT. Guests scan a QR code, answer in the phone browser, and the scores go up after each question. Their phones need internet. A note on the built-in decks: the ready-made quizzes are mostly in Russian today, so for an English-speaking room you'll be writing your own, and the ones on this page are a good start.
7 rounds of Christmas trivia, with sample questions and answers
1 Trees and decorations
In which country did decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas first become a widespread custom? Germany. Which royal couple made the Christmas tree fashionable in Britain after an 1848 magazine illustration? Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. What was the first tinsel made of? Real silver, stretched into thin strips.
How to run it. Open with this round. Almost everyone gets two right, and the room relaxes.
A warm-up that nobody fails, which matters more at a family party than at a pub quiz.
2 Christmas food and drink
What did traditional English mince pies contain besides fruit and spices? Meat, usually minced beef or mutton. Which Italian city is panettone most associated with? Milan. What is a French buche de Noel? A sponge cake rolled and decorated to look like a log. On which Sunday do British families traditionally stir the Christmas pudding? Stir-up Sunday, the last Sunday before Advent.
How to run it. Four answer options per question. Make the wrong ones plausible: Rome, Naples and Turin for the panettone question.
Food is the round where older guests win, which is good for the scoreboard and better for the mood.
3 Christmas around the world
How many Yule Lads visit Icelandic children in the days before Christmas? Thirteen. In which country is fried chicken a hugely popular Christmas Eve dinner? Japan. What is Caga Tio, the Catalan Christmas tradition? A wooden log that children tap with sticks until it 'gives' them sweets and small presents. Which country sends a Christmas tree to London's Trafalgar Square every year? Norway.
How to run it. Show a map or a photo on each question slide. It gives people who don't know the answer something to argue about.
In a room with guests from different countries, this is the round where somebody finally gets to be the expert.
4 Words and names
What does the X in Xmas stand for? The Greek letter chi, the first letter of Christ in Greek. The word carol originally meant what? A dance in a ring, from Old French. Noel comes from a Latin word meaning what? Birth. What did the old toast 'wassail' mean? Be well, or good health.
How to run it. Put this round in the middle, when teams have settled. Too early and it deflates the room.
The one round where the quiet reader at the back table wins, and gets a round of applause for it.
5 True or false
Poinsettias come from Brazil. False, they are native to Mexico. Boxing Day falls on December 26. True. The first commercial Christmas card was printed in England in 1843. True. Christmas crackers were invented in Paris. False, by a London sweet-maker, Tom Smith.
How to run it. Keep the statements short enough to read from across the room in three seconds.
Fast, loud and forgiving. Children can play with the adults and still win.
6 Dates and the calendar
On which date do Orthodox churches that follow the Julian calendar celebrate Christmas? January 7. What date is Saint Lucia's Day in Sweden? December 13. The Mexican posadas run for how many nights before Christmas? Nine, from December 16 to 24. When is Twelfth Night in most traditions? January 5, the eve of Epiphany.
How to run it. Turn part of it into a Timeline round: give four customs and ask teams to put them in calendar order from Advent to Epiphany.
It fixes the difference between Advent, Christmas and Epiphany in people's heads, which is surprisingly rare.
7 The category board final
A final round on a grid: five categories (Trees, Food, World, Words, Dates) and five point values in each. Teams take turns picking a square, and the question behind it opens on the screen. It's the Super Smarts board in PULTEVENT.
How to run it. Put your hardest questions behind the highest values and let the team in last place pick first.
A final where the scores can still change right up to the last square keeps every table paying attention.
Answers included
Every question on this page comes with its answer, so the quizmaster isn't guessing either.
Phones instead of pens
Guests answer on their phones, the screen shows who got it right. No marking sheets at midnight.
Rounds for mixed rooms
Food for the grandparents, words for the know-it-alls, true or false for the kids.
A board for the final
End on a grid of categories and point values, with teams choosing their own questions.
More Christmas trivia questions with answers
What is the name of the Christmas witch who brings gifts to Italian children on the night of January 5? La Befana. Which German city is most famous for its Christmas stollen? Dresden. What is eggnog traditionally made from? Milk, cream, sugar and eggs, often with a spirit added. In which country do people hang spider-web ornaments on the tree, after a folk tale about a poor widow? Ukraine.
Which Alpine figure travels with Saint Nicholas and punishes naughty children? Krampus. In which country does the Christmas season famously begin in September? The Philippines. What is the Icelandic Christmas book flood? The custom of giving books on Christmas Eve and reading them that night. Advent calendars started in which country? Germany. Who is the poinsettia named after? Joel Poinsett, the first US minister to Mexico.
What do the Dutch celebrate on the evening of December 5? Sinterklaas, with presents and poems. What is hidden in a British Christmas pudding for luck? A silver coin, traditionally a sixpence. What does Advent mean in Latin? Arrival, or coming. What is mistletoe, botanically? A plant that grows on trees and draws water and nutrients from its host. On which date is Ethiopian Christmas, called Genna? January 7.
Writing your own questions
The best round at any family quiz is the one about the family. When did Grandpa first carve the turkey? Who burned the potatoes in 2019? Which cousin once cried because Santa's handwriting looked like Mom's? Five questions like that are worth twenty from a book. Keep the wrong options believable and check every answer with the person it's about.
For an office, swap the family round for a round about the year at work: the month the coffee machine broke, the number of fire drills, the city of the biggest client meeting. Check the facts with someone in admin. There's always one person who remembers the date better than you.
How to run it on a TV with phones
Connect the laptop to the TV or projector with an HDMI cable, open the quiz, and put the QR code on the screen as people arrive. Teams can play on one phone per table, or everyone can answer individually and the points add up by team. After each question you show the right answer and who got it, then move on.
"Was it silver or not?"
"Silver. You owe her a dollar."
Allow about a minute per question including the reveal and the groaning. A seven-round quiz with eight questions per round takes close to an hour, so for a dinner party pick three rounds and save the rest for next year.
For a UK crowd, or a mixed one
British guests will know Stir-up Sunday, crackers and the Trafalgar Square tree. Americans usually won't, and vice versa for eggnog and Twelfth Night lore. That's no problem: mix the questions so each side has its home ground. Guest screens follow the language of each guest's phone, which helps in rooms where some people read more comfortably in another language. Your questions still appear exactly as you typed them.
Trying it before the party
The free 3-day demo needs no card and gives you enough time to type in a round or two and run it on your own TV. The full version is a one-time license, no subscription, and the price is on pultevent.ru/en. Guests never pay and never sign up.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to run a Christmas trivia night on a big screen
- 1
Pick three to seven rounds and write six to eight questions for each, with four answer options.
- 2
Check every answer against a reliable source and add one family or office round of your own.
- 3
Type the questions into the quiz builder and set up teams if tables will play together.
- 4
Connect the laptop to the TV or projector and check that phones get internet in the room.
- 5
Put the QR code on screen as guests arrive and play one test question to warm up.
- 6
Run the rounds, finish on the category board, then show the team scores and the awards.
FAQ
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