60 Holiday Trivia Questions for Work, With Answers

Every office holiday party reaches the point where somebody suggests trivia and the person running it opens a browser. These sixty questions are for that person. They come in six rounds of ten, so you can run all of them in about forty-five minutes or pick three rounds for a twenty-minute slot. The answers sit under each round, and nothing here needs a projector.

They are written for a mixed room. There is a December round that is not all Christmas, a food and drink round, films, music, New Year and customs from around the world, and nothing depends on being American, Christian or under forty, which is where most holiday quizzes at work fall down. For questions with nothing to do with the season, the 100 trivia questions for corporate events are the general bank.

• How to run it
• Round 1: Christmas traditions (1–10)
• Round 2: December beyond Christmas (11–20)
• Round 3: Holiday food and drink (21–30)
• Round 4: Holiday movies (31–40)
• Round 5: Holiday music (41–50)
• Round 6: New Year and around the world (51–60)
• Tiebreakers
• Write a company round

How to run it at the party or on a video call

• Teams of three to five. In a room, one answer sheet per table. On Zoom, send teams to breakout rooms for two minutes a round, or play solo and have everyone type the answer into the chat on a count of three, so nobody copies.
• Read every question twice, and put it on a shared screen if you can. Nobody should lose a point to the audio.
• One point a question. Mark after each round: swap sheets in a room, self-mark on a call. Keep the running total where people can see it.
• Pick rounds for the room. Six rounds is a full forty-five minutes. For a twenty-minute slot between courses, take rounds 2, 3 and 4.
• Company round last. It is the one people argue about, and the arguing is the point.
• Small prizes. A trophy that comes back next year beats a gift card.

Round 1: Christmas traditions

1. Which country is generally credited with starting the custom of the decorated Christmas tree?
2. In Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” how many reindeer pull the sleigh?
3. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created in 1939 as a promotional booklet for which department store chain?
4. The first commercial Christmas card went on sale in 1843 in which city?
5. Tom Smith, a Victorian confectioner in London, is credited with inventing which item on the Christmas table?
6. The poinsettia is named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States minister to which country?
7. Santa Claus descends from a fourth-century bishop of Myra, in modern-day Turkey. What was his name?
8. In Alpine folklore, which horned figure accompanies St. Nicholas on the night of December 5 and deals with the badly behaved children?
9. Construction workers put up the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in which year, while the complex was still being built?
10. The ugly Christmas sweater party, as an organized event with that name, is usually traced to a group of friends in which Canadian city in 2002?

Answers: round 1

1. Germany. The custom was established there by the sixteenth century and traveled with German emigrants.
2. Eight. Rudolph was not added until 1939.
3. Montgomery Ward. Robert L. May, a copywriter in its Chicago office, wrote the booklet.
4. London. Henry Cole commissioned it and John Callcott Horsley drew it.
5. The Christmas cracker. His wrapped bonbons gained a snap, and the patent is usually dated 1847.
6. Mexico. The plant is native there, and December 12, the day Poinsett died, is National Poinsettia Day in the US.
7. Saint Nicholas. His feast day is December 6, which is when children in much of Europe get their shoes filled.
8. Krampus.
9. 1931. The workers pooled their money for a balsam fir. The first formal lighting ceremony came in 1933.
10. Vancouver. It began as a house party in the suburbs and later filled the city’s Commodore Ballroom every December.

Round 2: December beyond Christmas

11. How many branches does a Hanukkah menorah, the hanukkiah, have, counting the helper candle?
12. The four Hebrew letters on a dreidel stand for a phrase that means what?
13. Latkes are fried in oil to recall the miracle of the Temple lamp. Which jelly-filled treat is fried for the same reason?
14. Kwanzaa is observed for seven days starting on which date?
15. The kinara, the candle holder at the center of Kwanzaa, holds how many candles?
16. St. Lucia’s Day, December 13, is marked with candlelit processions and saffron buns in which country?
17. Boxing Day, December 26, is a public holiday in the UK, Canada, Australia and much of the Commonwealth. What is the name usually traced to?
18. The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, falls on which date in 2026?
19. Icelandic children are visited by how many Yule Lads in the nights before Christmas?
20. Las Posadas, nine nights of candlelit processions from December 16 to 24, is a tradition of which country?

Answers: round 2

11. Nine. Eight for the nights plus the shamash, the helper that lights the others. In 2026 the first candle is lit on the evening of December 4.
12. “A great miracle happened there.” Nun, gimel, hei and shin. Dreidels made in Israel swap the last letter so the phrase reads “here.”
13. Sufganiyot, jelly doughnuts.
14. December 26. It runs through January 1.
15. Seven, one for each of its principles: three red, three green and one black in the middle.
16. Sweden, with similar processions across the Nordic countries.
17. Christmas boxes: gifts or money given to servants, tradespeople and the poor on the day after Christmas.
18. December 21. It lands on the 21st or 22nd most years.
19. Thirteen, one a night from December 12, each named for his particular mischief.
20. Mexico.

Round 3: Holiday food and drink

21. Panettone, the tall, domed sweet bread, comes from which Italian city?
22. Stollen, the dense fruit bread under a snowfall of powdered sugar, is most associated with which German city?
23. What is a bûche de Noël?
24. The Feast of the Seven Fishes is a Christmas Eve dinner in which community?
25. Before they were all fruit and spice, mince pies contained what?
26. Hot chocolate began as a bitter, frothy drink of which civilizations?
27. What do Germans call mulled wine?
28. The chocolate coins handed out at Hanukkah are called what?
29. The “figgy pudding” demanded in “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” is better known in Britain as what?
30. Lefse, the soft potato flatbread rolled with butter and sugar at Christmas, comes from which country?

Answers: round 3

21. Milan.
22. Dresden, which parades a giant one through its Christmas market every December.
23. A yule log cake: a rolled sponge filled with cream and iced to look like bark.
24. Italian-American. The name itself is American. In southern Italy it is simply the Christmas Eve vigil dinner.
25. Meat. Medieval mince pies mixed minced meat with dried fruit and spices.
26. The Maya and the Aztecs. Sugar and milk arrived after the Spanish carried it to Europe.
27. Glühwein, “glow wine.”
28. Gelt, Yiddish for money.
29. Christmas pudding, also called plum pudding. Neither name means it contains figs or plums.
30. Norway.

Round 4: Holiday movies

31. In Home Alone (1990), what is the name of the eight-year-old left behind in Chicago?
32. In Elf (2003), Buddy lists the four main food groups of elves. Name two.
33. Which 1946 film gives George Bailey a guardian angel named Clarence?
34. Die Hard (1988) takes place during a Christmas party in which fictional Los Angeles tower?
35. In A Christmas Story (1983), what does Ralphie want for Christmas?
36. Which New York department store is at the center of Miracle on 34th Street (1947)?
37. Who wrote the 1957 book How the Grinch Stole Christmas!?
38. In The Polar Express (2004), where does the train take the children?
39. Which 2003 British ensemble film opens and closes at the arrivals gate of Heathrow Airport?
40. In The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), what is the name of the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town?

Answers: round 4

31. Kevin McCallister.
32. Candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.
33. It’s a Wonderful Life.
34. Nakatomi Plaza. Whether it counts as a Christmas film is the tiebreaker argument of every December.
35. A Red Ryder BB gun. “You’ll shoot your eye out.”
36. Macy’s.
37. Dr. Seuss, Theodor Geisel.
38. The North Pole.
39. Love Actually.
40. Jack Skellington.

Round 5: Holiday music

41. “Jingle Bells,” published in 1857, is often said to have been written for which holiday, not Christmas?
42. “Silent Night” was first sung on Christmas Eve 1818 in the village of Oberndorf, in which country?
43. Bing Crosby’s recording of “White Christmas” is the best-selling single of all time. Who wrote the song?
44. Mariah Carey released “All I Want for Christmas Is You” in 1994. In which year did it first reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100?
45. In 2023, Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” reached number one on the Hot 100 for the first time. How many years after she recorded it?
46. Which composer wrote The Nutcracker, first staged in St. Petersburg in 1892?
47. “Feliz Navidad” (1970) was written and recorded by which Puerto Rican singer?
48. Band Aid’s 1984 charity single for famine relief in Ethiopia has what title?
49. Wham!’s “Last Christmas” came out in which year?
50. Count every gift in “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” repeats included. How many are there?

Answers: round 5

41. Thanksgiving. James Lord Pierpont’s original title was “One Horse Open Sleigh,” and the song never mentions Christmas.
42. Austria.
43. Irving Berlin.
44. 2019, twenty-five years after its release.
45. Sixty-five. She recorded it in 1958, at thirteen.
46. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
47. José Feliciano.
48. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
49. 1984, the same December as the Band Aid single, which kept it off the UK number one spot.
50. 364.

Round 6: New Year and around the world

51. “Auld Lang Syne” is set to words that which Scottish poet wrote down in 1788?
52. What do the Scots call New Year’s Eve and its celebrations?
53. On New Year’s Eve, Japanese Buddhist temples ring their bells how many times, once for each worldly desire?
54. Japan’s year-crossing noodles, eaten on December 31 for a long life, are which kind of noodle?
55. The first New Year’s Eve ball dropped in Times Square to welcome which year?
56. Which dish of black-eyed peas and rice is eaten across the American South on New Year’s Day for luck?
57. Pasadena’s Tournament of Roses Parade has run on New Year’s Day since which decade?
58. The Philippines has the world’s longest Christmas season. In which month do the carols start?
59. Lunar New Year 2027 falls on February 6. Which animal’s year begins?
60. In Catalonia, children feed a log called the Tió de Nadal for weeks, then beat it with sticks on Christmas Eve so that it “drops” what?

Answers: round 6

51. Robert Burns, who said he had taken them down from an old man’s singing.
52. Hogmanay.
53. 108. The custom is called joya no kane.
54. Soba, as toshikoshi soba.
55. 1908, on the night of December 31, 1907. Give the point for either year.
56. Hoppin’ John. Greens for money and cornbread for gold often sit beside it.
57. The 1890s. The first parade was held in 1890.
58. September, the first of the “ber months.”
59. The Goat, also called the Sheep or Ram. The Chinese New Year dishes each carry a meaning of their own.
60. Presents: small gifts and sweets.

Tiebreakers

Closest answer wins. Ask them one at a time and only when two teams are level.

1. How much does the Times Square New Year’s Eve ball weigh, in pounds? About 11,875 pounds. It is twelve feet across and covered in Waterford crystal.
2. In which year did Dresden’s Striezelmarkt, which calls itself Germany’s oldest Christmas market, hold its first market? 1434.
3. In which year was the first formal tree-lighting ceremony held at Rockefeller Center? 1933.
4. How many copies of Henry Cole’s first Christmas card were printed in 1843? About 1,000, sold at a shilling each.
5. In which year was “Jingle Bells” first published? 1857.

Write a company round

Ten questions about your own year beat all sixty above, because they are the only ones nobody can look up. Fill these in a week before the party and have two people check the answers.

1. How many people joined the company this year? (closest wins)
2. In which month did the biggest release of the year ship?
3. Which city hosted the offsite, and what was the name of the restaurant?
4. What was the most-ordered item on the team lunch order?
5. Which team won the summer competition, the hackathon or the step challenge?
6. How many countries are on this call right now? (closest wins, then count)
7. What was the subject line of the longest email thread of the year?
8. Who has been here longest, and since what year?
9. What was the title of the first slide at the January all-hands?
10. How many customers, events or deliveries did we get through this year? (closest wins)

If the trivia is the side dish

Trivia holds a room for twenty minutes. It does not hold it for an hour, and a whole party of quiz rounds is a long evening for the people who do not care who wrote “Jingle Bells.”

The 25 virtual holiday party ideas for work teams are the longer list, and Christmas events for remote teams covers the December specifics. For a hosted main event, Rockoly’s holiday workshops put a live chef, mixologist or artist on Zoom while a Rockoly host runs the room, and everything each person needs is delivered to their own door beforehand, with free shipping in the US. The host runs holiday trivia, a scavenger hunt, a Secret Santa reveal or an ugly sweater vote between courses at no extra cost, and in December you can ask for the Holiday Trivia deck: films, songs and traditions from every country on the call. Most holiday workshops run 60 minutes, the happy hours 45, and the larger cooking and baking sessions 90.

The menu runs from Gourmet Hot Chocolate and Gingerbread Cookies to a Christmas Market Kit, Mulled Wine, Nordic Lefse and a Winter Charcuterie Board, so round 3 above has a question for whatever is on the counter. If the planning itself is the problem, the free holiday party planning webinar walks through it in forty-five minutes. And for the week before, the virtual Thanksgiving games have a trivia round of their own.