Below is a full quiz you can read straight off a phone on Christmas afternoon. Every question has its answer underneath, the rounds are pitched so a seven year old and a seventy year old both get a turn at being right, and the running order tells you how long each bit takes before the room drifts off to the sofa.
The last round is the one people will remember. It is about the family sitting at the table, which means nobody can revise for it and Grandad finally has an edge over the teenagers.
Before anyone picks up a pen
Split the room into teams of three or four, and deal the ages out like cards. Each team gets at least one child, one person who remembers the 1970s and one person who knows what a TikTok is. A team of all adults against a team of all children is not a quiz, it is a lesson in humility for the children, and they will not thank you for it.
Give every team a sheet of paper and a pen, and a name. Christmas team names are half the fun: Mary Christmas and the Three Kings, Sleigh All Day, Brussels Pouts, The Mince Spies, Yule Be Sorry. Let them choose, then read the names out in a game show voice. That is your warm up done.
For the picture round, you have two options. Print a sheet of twelve images per team, or put the images on the television one at a time. Good picture round ideas for a family: baby photos of people in the room, extreme close ups of Christmas objects (a bauble, the top of a cracker, a sprout), stills from Christmas films with the characters cropped out, and the backs of famous chocolate wrappers. The baby photos always win. Hunt them out of the loft or ask the family group chat a week before.
Scoring stays simple. One point a question, half points for a close enough answer at the quizmaster's mercy, and the final round counts double so a team at the bottom still has a reason to care. Mark each round by swapping sheets with the team next to you, which is also the moment the arguments start.
The running order
Seventy minutes with a break in the middle for the washing up. Cut round four if the pudding is late.
| Round | Format | Questions | Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The easy round | Read aloud, under tens answer first | 14 | 10 |
| 2. Films and telly | Teams write answers | 14 | 12 |
| 3. Picture round | Sheet passed round, or on the TV | 12 images | 15 |
| 4. Food, drink and carols | Finish the lyric, bang a pan to answer | 16 | 12 |
| 5. The family round | Collected in secret, read by the quizmaster | 10 to 16 | 15 |
| 6. Double points final | Quickfire, first hand up | 8 | 6 |
Round one: the easy round for the little ones
14 questionsChildren answer first. Adults may only help by pulling faces. If an under ten gets it, their team takes two points.
- 1
What colour is Rudolph's nose?
- 2
How many reindeer pull Santa's sleigh, not counting Rudolph?
- 3
What do we leave out for the reindeer on Christmas Eve?
- 4
What are Santa's little helpers called?
- 5
What is the name of the snowman in Frozen?
- 6
Which small bird with a red chest appears on lots of Christmas cards?
- 7
What do you hang up on Christmas Eve for Santa to fill?
- 8
What do you pull at dinner that goes bang?
- 9
What is the name of Santa's wife?
- 10
Who tries to steal Christmas from the Whos in Whoville?
- 11
In the nativity story, where was baby Jesus laid to sleep?
- 12
What three presents did the Wise Men bring?
- 13
In The Snowman, where does the snowman fly the boy?
- 14
How do you spell Santa backwards?
Round two: Christmas films and telly
14 questionsFourteen questions, mostly films the family has watched so many times they could do the voices.
- 1
In Home Alone, which city do the McCallisters fly to without Kevin?
- 2
In Home Alone 2, which city does Kevin end up in?
- 3
Which film gave us the line "Keep the change, ya filthy animal"?
- 4
In Elf, Buddy says elves stick to four main food groups. Name one.
- 5
Which actor plays Buddy in Elf?
- 6
In Love Actually, what is the job of the character played by Hugh Grant?
- 7
In The Muppet Christmas Carol, who plays Bob Cratchit?
- 8
And which Muppet narrates it, dressed as Charles Dickens?
- 9
In It's a Wonderful Life, what happens every time a bell rings?
- 10
In The Nightmare Before Christmas, which town is Jack Skellington from?
- 11
On which mountain does the Grinch live?
- 12
In The Polar Express, what does the boy ask Santa for as the first gift of Christmas?
- 13
In the 2019 Gavin and Stacey Christmas special, who proposes to whom?
- 14
At what time on Christmas Day is the King's Christmas message broadcast?
Round four: food, drink and the carols
16 questionsRound three is your picture round. This one comes after it, when everyone has had a mince pie. For the lyric questions, the first team to bang a saucepan lid gets to answer.
- 1
What was traditionally hidden inside a Christmas pudding for luck?
- 2
Stir-up Sunday, in late November, is the day you make what?
- 3
Pigs in blankets are sausages wrapped in what?
- 4
What is warmed, poured over the Christmas pudding and set alight?
- 5
Stollen is a Christmas cake from which country?
- 6
And panettone comes from which country?
- 7
Which sauce traditionally goes with the turkey?
- 8
Mince pies were originally filled with what, which they no longer contain?
- 9
In a tin of Quality Street, what flavour is the green triangle?
- 10
Finish the line: "Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the feast of..."
- 11
In The Twelve Days of Christmas, how many lords are a-leaping?
- 12
In Jingle Bells, what sort of sleigh is it?
- 13
Who sings Fairytale of New York with The Pogues?
- 14
Which band had Merry Xmas Everybody at number one in 1973?
- 15
Which boy band had the 1994 Christmas number one with Stay Another Day?
- 16
All I Want for Christmas Is You was released in which year?
Quizriella
Or let the family write the family round
The family round is the best part of the quiz and the hardest to prepare, because somebody has to ring round the relatives in advance without giving the game away. Quizriella hands that job to the family. Everyone gets an invite code, writes a few questions about the others on their own phone, and nobody sees the pot until it is on screen, the quizmaster included.
The questions come back as a presenter-led game show with hot seats, a wheel of dares for whoever is losing, breaking news bulletins and a podium, and there is a segment built for the smallest players. The whole show plays free with simple avatars, and it runs in a browser on the telly or straight off one phone.
- Nobody has to write the whole quiz alone
- The host gets to play along
- Free to play a full show
Hot seat
One player alone, the rest waiting to steal
Buzzers
Ten seconds, panic starts at three
Wheel of fate
Lands on a dare nobody volunteered for
Breaking news
A bulletin about whoever is losing
Round five: questions about the family
16 questionsFill in the names for your own family. Collect the answers quietly in the week before, or ask the person the question is about to rule on it live. Their word is final, however wrong it is.
Who in this room will be asleep before the King's speech finishes?
Vote with a pointed finger on three. The majority is the answer.
What year did Grandma and Grandad get married?
Ask them in advance. Closest team wins.
Put everyone in the order they woke up this morning.
The quizmaster notes it at breakfast. A point per correct position.
How many sprouts will Dad eat today?
Written down now, counted at dinner. Closest wins, sealed in an envelope.
What was Mum's first ever job?
Asked in advance. Half a point for the right industry.
Which of us once burnt the roast potatoes badly enough that it is still mentioned?
The family knows. The accused may appeal.
What is the one Christmas present [name] got as a child and still talks about?
Collected in advance from the person themselves
What film would [name] choose if they had the remote all day?
They answer secretly on paper first, then teams guess
Where did [name] spend their very first Christmas?
A parent or grandparent confirms
Who was the last person in this room to cry at a Christmas advert?
Honesty is required. Evidence is welcome.
What is Uncle [name]'s Christmas Day drink of choice?
Look at his glass
Which of us still has the stocking they had as a child?
Bonus point if it is currently hanging up
What did [name] say they wanted for Christmas when they were six?
From the family archive, or the person's own memory
Who opened the most presents before 8am this morning?
Whoever tidied the wrapping paper knows. The accused may count again.
Which relative has told the same Christmas story every year, and what is it?
A point for the relative, a point for the story. They may tell it once more.
In one word, how would the youngest person here describe the oldest?
The youngest answers into the quizmaster's ear first. Closest team wins.
Six ways a family quiz goes wrong
Do not write forty general knowledge questions. The adults who read the most will win every round and everyone else will be on their phone by question twelve.
Do not start before the food has settled or during the film. The sweet spot is after the pudding and before anyone suggests a walk.
Do not let the quizmaster play. They know every answer, so give them a bell and the power to award half points instead.
Do not read the questions off a phone into a noisy room. Put them on the television, or at least stand up.
Do not let the scores settle early. Double points in the final means nobody is out of it with ten minutes left.
Do not ask family questions that could embarrass someone who is not in on the joke. Anything about weight, money, exes or who is not speaking to whom is off the menu.
Questions people ask
Between fifty and seventy is plenty, split into five or six rounds of eight to sixteen. That runs about an hour with marking, which is roughly how long a family can concentrate after Christmas dinner. Go longer and the last two rounds will be played to a half empty room.
Make the family round the whole show
Send the family one invite code before Christmas, let everyone write a few questions about each other in secret, and Quizriella hands you a finished game show to host after the pudding.
Play it as a game showFree to play. Players join from their phones.
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