50 Christmas Trivia Questions and Answers for Adults

1. Which busy Victorian civil servant commissioned the first commercial Christmas card in 1843, partly to save time on holiday letters?

2. London confectioner Tom Smith is credited with inventing which Christmas dinner-table staple in the 1840s?

3. Before they became the sweet fruit pastries served today, British mince pies were traditionally filled with what?

4. The famous Earthrise photograph was taken on Christmas Eve 1968 by the crew of which mission?

5. Which scientist, famous for his laws of motion, was born on Christmas Day 1642 by the calendar England used at the time?

6. On Christmas Day in the year 800, which Frankish king was crowned emperor in Rome?

7. William the Conqueror was crowned king of England on Christmas Day 1066 in which London building?

8. Botanists will tell you one favorite Christmas tree isn't a real fir at all and belongs to the genus Pseudotsuga. Which one?

9. Grate a nutmeg seed and you'll find it was once wrapped in a lacy red layer that is sold as a separate spice. What is it called?

10. The cloves that stud a holiday ham or an orange pomander are actually the dried what of a tree?

11. Most snowflakes drift downward at roughly which speed?

12. In 1897, eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote to which newspaper to ask whether Santa Claus was real?

13. In Portugal, the Christmas Eve supper called consoada traditionally centers on which fish?

14. How many desserts are traditionally laid out after the Christmas Eve supper in Provence, France?

15. In Britain, Stir-up Sunday, the last Sunday before Advent, is the traditional day to mix which dessert?

16. The shiny, space-age artificial trees that were a craze in late-1950s and 1960s America were made of which metal?

17. Christmas seals, charity stickers added to holiday mail, were first issued in 1904 in which country?

18. Who introduced England's first known Christmas tree at Queen's Lodge in Windsor in 1800?

19. A fresh blanket of snow can bounce back most of the sunlight that hits it. What do scientists call a surface's reflectivity?

20. The man who hand-wired the first electric Christmas tree lights in 1882 was a business partner of which famous inventor?

21. The snow globe as we know it was developed around 1900 by a tool maker in which European city?

22. Which White House assistant executive chef began its annual gingerbread-house tradition in 1969?

23. Finland's Christmas gift-bringer is called Joulupukki. What does that name literally mean?

24. Dresden stollen first appeared in a surviving written record in which year?

25. Kiritimati, the Pacific atoll also known as Christmas Island, belongs to which country?

26. Danish families hide a whole almond in which Christmas dessert, with a prize for whoever finds it?

27. In the poinsettia's scientific name, Euphorbia pulcherrima, what does pulcherrima mean?

28. Unlike desert cacti, the Christmas cactus grows wild on trees and rocks in the rainforest of which country?

29. Which organization has run the Christmas Bird Count, a holiday-season bird census, since 1900?

30. Frankincense and myrrh, two of the gifts in the nativity story, are both what kind of substance?

31. Panettone, the tall domed sweet bread studded with candied fruit, is a Christmas tradition from which Italian city?

32. In the French Epiphany cake called the galette des rois, whoever finds the hidden charm becomes what for the day?

33. In France, what is the name of the long, festive dinner eaten on Christmas Eve?

34. Hallacas, corn-dough parcels stuffed with a savory stew and wrapped in plantain leaves, are a Christmas dish from which country?

35. The earliest official document mentioning Siena's panforte dates to which year?

36. In Russia, Grandfather Frost (Ded Moroz) brings gifts with the help of which companion?

37. What environmental cue triggers a snowshoe hare's seasonal coat replacement?

38. In what year was Sweden's giant Gävle Goat first built?

39. About how long can an Arctic ground squirrel remain in its winter hibernation season?

40. In Ireland, December 26 is known as St. Stephen's Day and also by what bird-themed name?

41. In Armenia, Christmas is celebrated together with the feast of Jesus's baptism on which date?

42. In 1931, before the famous plaza was even finished, who pooled their money for the first tree at Rockefeller Center?

43. Some of the earliest artificial Christmas trees, made in 19th-century Germany, were built from what?

44. In Germany, the many-pointed Moravian star is named after which town, home of the Moravian Church's mother community, where it was first made commercially?

45. What makes the little carousel on a traditional German Christmas pyramid spin?

46. What is placed in the bottom of a traditional New Mexico luminaria to steady it?

47. In the Czech Republic, which fish is the traditional star of the Christmas Eve dinner?

48. Santa's reindeer Blitzen has a name that matches the German word for which weather event?

49. Why might a holly bush never grow red berries no matter how well you treat it?

50. Christmas beetles, shiny insects that swarm in early summer around the holidays, are native to which country?