54 Christmas Trivia Questions for Kids (With Answers)

A calf

Reindeer mothers usually have one calf, born in May or June.

Within an hour

Baby reindeer are up on their feet fast! A calf also doubles its birth weight in about two weeks.

Comet

Comet flies with the rest of Santa's team. Real comets can have tails that stretch for millions of miles!

Caribou

You're getting two names for the same kind of animal! In Europe, both wild and tame ones are called reindeer.

Lichen

Lichen (say LIKE-en) looks a bit like moss growing on rocks and the ground, and it's a reindeer's main winter food. One kind is even nicknamed reindeer moss. Sorry, carrots!

Their hooves (their feet)

Each hoof has a hollow underneath, like a scoop for digging snow. The sharp edges help reindeer grip ice and rock too.

The one that still has its antlers (on the right)

Grown-up boy reindeer usually lose their antlers in late fall or early winter. Girls keep theirs all winter, until their babies are born in late spring. So Santa's reindeer with antlers are probably girls (or young boys), unless Santa's magic helps the boys keep their antlers!

'Twas the night before Christmas (the first few words are enough)

The poem goes on: "when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse." It was first printed in a New York newspaper in 1823.

Eight

Can you name all eight? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen (many people say Donner now). If you said nine, nice try: Rudolph isn't in this poem, because his story came along later.

Just ice floating on the ocean

There's no land at the North Pole at all. It's thick sea ice on top of the Arctic Ocean, and the water underneath is more than two miles deep. Santa's workshop must have a very strong floor!

Fog (a foggy Christmas Eve)

Rudolph's bright red nose lights the way. One scientist even says red light shines through fog better than blue light, so Rudolph's nose is the perfect color for the job!

A dentist

Making toys isn't what Hermey wants to do. He has his own plans in the 1964 TV special.

The Island of Misfit Toys

It's a whole island of toys nobody wanted. On Christmas Eve, Santa makes it his very first stop, so the toys can go to new homes!

H0H 0H0 (H-zero-H, zero-H-zero)

Read it out loud: "Ho ho ho!" Kids who mail Santa a letter with this code get a reply, with help from Canada Post's postal elves.

Tracking Santa's sleigh (NORAD Tracks Santa)

A little kid asked Colonel Harry Shoup if he was one of Santa's helpers. He decided to be a good sport, and his staff gave kids updates on where Santa was. That's how NORAD Tracks Santa began, and every Christmas Eve it still follows Santa's trip around the world!

Gold (bags of gold; accept money or gold coins)

St. Nicholas was a kind man from long ago who helped people in need, a lot like Santa. Some tellings say the gold landed in stockings that were drying by the fire, and that's why kids hang up stockings today! Nobody saw who left it: St. Nicholas gave his gifts in secret.

Australia

Christmas comes in summer there, so lots of families spend the day at the beach!

Almost 9,000 (8,962 people)

That set the Guinness World Record. Imagine a whole field of people flapping their arms and legs in the snow! One of them was celebrating her 99th birthday.

Just one!

One flake spotted by an official weather observer or weather station is enough there. American weather experts are pickier: they want at least an inch of snow on the ground on Christmas morning.

A really cold day

When the snow is colder than about 14°F, the tiny ice crystals don't slide past each other. They break and crash together under your boots, and that's the squeak!

The Arctic Circle

The line is marked right in the village square, so you can hop, step, jump or even do a cartwheel across it!

It has eight arms. Star-shaped snowflakes have six.

Snowflakes that grow as stars are six-sided, so count the arms and you'll get six. Snow can also fall as little columns, triangles or fluffy clumps.

January

Surprise! Earth is closest to the Sun in January, right in the middle of our winter. Winter is cold because our part of Earth tips away from the Sun, not because we're far away.

Milk and cookies

Don't forget the reindeer! Lots of kids leave out carrots and water for them, too.

The plain white one (on the right)

Old Christmas cards give you a clue! Cards from the late 1800s seem to show plain white canes, and red stripes show up more on cards from the early 1900s.

A fox

The fox gobbles him up bit by bit, and the Gingerbread Man cries, "I'm quarter gone!" then "I'm half gone!" until he's all gone. That version of the story was printed in a kids' magazine back in 1875.

Leaves

Next time you see a poinsettia, look for those colored leaves, called bracts. They come in white and pink too, and there are over 100 varieties.

Hansel and Gretel

The house belongs to a witch, so that's one candy house you shouldn't nibble! Germans started making decorated gingerbread houses in the early 1800s, and some researchers say the Brothers Grimm story helped inspire them.

Birds

Birds eat the sticky white berries, and the seeds get left on branches when birds wipe their beaks or poop. Keep mistletoe out of your mouth, though: it can make people and pets sick.

Marshes

The marsh mallow plant grows in wet, marshy places, so "marsh" plus "mallow" makes marshmallow. Candy makers once used its roots; today they use gelatin instead.

His mom

When Gerhard grew up, he remembered his mom's calendar and started printing Advent calendars in 1908. Now kids everywhere count down to Christmas with one!

He knocks on the door

He visits on Christmas Eve and asks, "Are there any well-behaved children here?" His Finnish name means "Christmas goat"!

His horse

Some children leave hay or a saucer of water for the horse instead. The shoe goes by the fireplace or the door, and good children find treats in it, like chocolate coins and candy.

Radishes

It's called the Night of the Radishes! The radishes grow huge, some up to 20 inches long, and carvers turn them into fancy sculptures in the main square.

A little bell ringing

After Christmas Eve dinner, kids listen hard. When the bell rings, they rush from the table to find their presents under the tree!

Coal

The coal is often black sugar candy that only looks like coal, so even naughty kids get something sweet! Befana makes her trip on the night between January 5th and 6th, filling the stockings hanging by the fireplace.

A crown of candles (a candle wreath)

Lucia is the Swedish name for Saint Lucy, a kind woman from Italy long ago whose name means light. One legend says she brought food to people hiding in dark tunnels, wearing candles on her head to light the way. Today kids sing songs and share saffron buns shaped like curled-up sleeping cats. Many crowns use battery candles now!

Sweets and small presents

The log is called Tió de Nadal (tee-OH duh nuh-DAHL), and the story says it poops out the treats! Kids feed it every night from December 8th and sing a special song while they tap it. Many logs even wear a little red hat.

A star (with seven points)

Every night from December 16th to Christmas Eve, people walk from house to house singing, like Mary and Joseph looking for a place to stay. Then the party starts! The star's seven points stick out like party hats, just waiting to be whacked.

Hockey (field hockey)

Christmas in Ethiopia is called Genna too, so the game and the holiday share a name!

In the bathtub

The fish is a carp, and fried carp with potato salad is the big Christmas Eve dinner there. Some families with little kids even let their bathtub carp go in a river instead!

Père Noël

More than a million children a year get replies through Père Noël's special mail service. It's been running every year since 1962.

Three

It happens at the end of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Quite a change of heart!

A magic hat

The hat belongs to a magician. It brings Frosty to life when it lands on his head.

Five gold rings

If you sang “golden rings,” you get the point too! Some versions use “gold” and others use “golden.”

His doghouse

Snoopy covers his doghouse in lights and wins first prize! The show first came on TV in 1965, and families still watch it every year.

Tiny Tim

When you reach the very end of the book, you'll find Tiny Tim's blessing waiting there.

His dog, Max

Poor Max! In the 1966 TV special he gets tied to the sleigh and has a wild, bumpy ride down the mountain.

A sleigh bell

It comes from Santa's sleigh. In the film, the boy can only hear it ring once he believes.

Frankincense and myrrh

Frankincense (say FRANK-in-sense) and myrrh (say MURR) each get their own verse in the song. The three gifts come from the Christmas story in the Bible, in the Gospel of Matthew.

A turkey

A boy in the street says the prize turkey is as big as he is! Scrooge sends him off to fetch it, and then has it sent to the Cratchit family.

Mariah Carey

It took 25 years for the song to reach number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. It finally got there in December 2019!

The Mouse King (and his army of mice)

The battle happens on Christmas Eve, after a party. In many versions, the girl who owns the Nutcracker helps win by throwing her slipper at the Mouse King! Then the Nutcracker takes her to the Land of Sweets.

A real actor: Michael Caine

Michael Caine plays Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1992 film, surrounded by Muppets.