50 Fun Facts About Christmas in July

On which date is Christmas in July usually celebrated?

It is exactly six months from Christmas Day, which is also why some Italians hold a summer Christmas on June 25 instead.

Which part of the world has the most practical reason for a July Christmas, since it is midwinter there?

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa hold Midwinter Christmas events with a cold-weather feel, then celebrate the real thing in the summer heat on December 25.

Which 1892 French opera has children rehearsing a Christmas carol out of season?

Massenet's opera is based on Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther; a character scolds the children that singing Christmas in July is rushing the season.

The first Christmas in July celebration, in 1933, was at Keystone Camp, a girls' camp in which state?

Co-founder Fannie Holt dreamed it up for the campers at Brevard; a Camp Fire Girls camp in New York's Ramapo Mountains was doing the same by 1935.

Which writer-director's 1940 comedy Christmas in July gave the phrase national attention?

He shot it, by one biographer's account, wearing a straw boater and carrying a bamboo cane, and it followed his political satire The Great McGinty.

In the 1940 film, clerk Jimmy MacDonald is tricked into believing he has won how much in a slogan contest?

A fake telegram planted by three co-workers sets him off buying presents for the whole block and proposing to his girlfriend Betty.

Which two actors star in Christmas in July (1940), the only time either worked with its director?

Many members of the director's regular stock company of character actors turn up around the two leads.

What is the name of the company whose slogan contest drives the plot of the 1940 film?

The pun-loving hero's slogan is 'If you can't sleep at night, it's not the coffee, it's the bunk', which nobody but him finds funny.

The 1940 film was adapted from which unproduced 1931 play by the same writer?

Universal had hired him to film it in 1934 before the project fell through; the play was not staged until Soho Rep produced it in 1988.

Which Washington, D.C. church began holding a Christmas in July service with carols in 1942?

The pastor borrowed the idea from his old Philadelphia congregation, which gave Christmas gifts early so they could reach missions overseas in time; the service was on local radio by 1945.

The 1944 Christmas in July luncheon by the US Post Office, Army and Navy promoted what?

The greeting-card and advertising industries co-hosted, and the event was repeated in 1945; advertisers were using the theme for summer sales by 1950.

Which TV channel times its July block of Christmas movies to the release of its Keepsake Ornaments?

Critics call it a literal 'Hallmark holiday'; the card company officially denies the charge.

Which home-shopping channel grew Christmas in July from one day into a month-long sale?

What began as a 24-hour block every July 25 had, by the 2020s, expanded to start on July 1 and build to whole days of holiday selling in the last week of the month.

What is the main reason American retailers say there is room for a Christmas in July promotion?

The stretch after Independence Day and before back-to-school offers little to build a sale around, so shops such as Leon's in Canada invented one.

In parts of Denmark, small summer Christmas celebrations go by what name?

It is simply a play on words, since 'jul' is Christmas and 'juli' is July, and it is not an official holiday.

An alternative summer Christmas held on June 25 began as an improvised celebration in which Italian city?

The idea is that there is no need to wait for one day to celebrate love and peace; the movement has since centred on Sardinia.

Which US national park's Christmas in August celebration grew out of 1950s employee parties?

Staff, nicknamed 'Savages' until the mid-1970s, threw July parties with floats and skits; one theory says the public event began with a student ministry performing Handel's Messiah.

Which country's Christmas season, the world's longest, runs through all the '-ber' months?

It carries on past Christmas until Epiphany, with dawn masses during the nine-day novena and the midnight Misa de Gallo on Christmas Eve.

Australia's Carols by Candlelight, copied worldwide, started in 1938 in which city?

The Vision Australia concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl has long been televised nationwide on Christmas Eve and is a fixture of an Australian December.

Which Sydney beach is famous for tourist crowds and Santas on surfboards over the Christmas holidays?

Australian songwriters have long reimagined Santa in an Akubra hat and thongs, in a ute pulled by kangaroos.

Which Australian state officially observes Proclamation Day, rather than Boxing Day, on 26 December?

It marks the 1836 proclamation of the colony, but the holiday is kept on the 26th so the whole country lines up.

Which meringue-based dessert is a staple of the summer Christmas table in both Australia and New Zealand?

It sits beside old-country plum pudding and mince pies, while the mains have shifted to cold meats, seafood and salads to suit the heat.

Which Australian capital city hosted a Christmas in July winter festival in 2023?

Australia's midwinter Christmas events aim for the snowy, fireside atmosphere that a 35-degree December cannot provide.

Which crimson-flowering tree is known as the New Zealand Christmas tree because it blooms in December?

It appears on cards and decorations alongside the imported Northern European fir, and Christmas dinner might come from a hāngī, umu or lovo earth oven.

Auckland's popular Santa Parade runs along which thoroughfare?

New Zealand Christmas usually happens outdoors, with barbecues, picnics and beach trips rather than TV specials.

In Uruguay, Christmas Day is officially designated as what within the public administration?

Día de la Familia dates from the early-20th-century separation of church and state; families still eat asado, vitel toné, turrón and panettone on Christmas Eve.

At roughly what time is Christmas dinner typically served in Brazil?

Many families then head to Midnight Mass or watch the Pope's Midnight Mass from Rome on television.

In Japan, Christmas is popularly celebrated by eating what?

The KFC 'Kentucky for Christmas' habit is now so entrenched that buckets are pre-ordered weeks ahead.

In Venezuela and Colombia, tradition holds that Santa makes the toys but hands them to whom for delivery?

It is a neat reconciliation of the imported Santa with the older Latin American custom of gifts from El Niño Jesús.

In one Indiana town, volunteers reply to thousands of children's Christmas letters each year. What are they called?

The replies have been going out since at least 1914, and the Post Office Department later ruled there would never be another Santa Claus post office in the country.

Santa Claus, Indiana is home to which Christmas-themed amusement park?

It began as Santa Claus Land and added the Splashin' Safari water park in 1993; the town also has Santa's Candy Castle.

North Pole, Alaska got its name in 1952 when developers renamed a homestead hoping to attract what?

It is actually about 1,700 miles south of the geographic pole and 125 miles below the Arctic Circle, but its post office is swamped with Santa letters every December.

Roughly how far south of the geographic North Pole is the city of North Pole, Alaska?

It sits 13 miles from Fairbanks on the Richardson Highway, with streets such as Santa Claus Lane and St. Nicholas Drive.

Captain William Mynors named Christmas Island on Christmas Day of which year?

He was commanding the East India Company ship Royal Mary; the island, now an Australian territory, is better known today for its red crab migration.

Christmas Island's biggest tourist draw is the annual migration of which animals?

Tens of millions of them march from the forest to the sea to spawn, and roads are closed to let them cross.

Which Milanese sweet bread is a Christmas fixture from Europe to South America and Australia?

Immigrants carried it south, which is why it turns up on Uruguayan and Brazilian Christmas Eve tables in the height of summer.

In Australia, what do children commonly leave out for Santa's reindeer?

Santa himself might get milk and cookies, or, this being Australia, a beer.

Which annual November procession through South Australia's capital is a famous festive tradition?

Perth has run its own Christmas Pageant through the CBD since 1972, and Launceston lights its tree in Brisbane Street mall in late November.

Why are televised Christmas specials a much smaller deal in Australia than in Britain?

Summer schedules are mostly repeats and cancelled shows, though every network carries the King's Christmas message and the NBL plays basketball on Christmas Day.

What did Uruguay's Catholic Church introduce in 2016 to remind a secular country of the holiday's meaning?

Uruguay is unusually secular for South America; even the official name of the public holiday drops the word Christmas.

Sturges' Christmas in July was released in 1940 by which studio, following his hit The Great McGinty?

Critics noted it looked even cheaper than McGinty, perhaps to make the point that the studio was paying for his talent, not sets.

American advertisers began using Christmas in July themes for summer sales as early as which year?

In the US it has always been more marketing tool than holiday: TV stations rerun specials and stores clear out last year's decorations to make room for the next.

Which Keystone Camp co-founder dreamed up the first Christmas in July celebration in 1933?

Two years later the National Recreation Association described a similar annual event at a Camp Fire Girls camp in the Ramapo Mountains of New York.

In the 1940 film, which coffee-company juror keeps the slogan contest deadlocked?

The stalemate means no winner is announced on the radio, which lets three pranksters convince Jimmy MacDonald he has won.

In 1945, the Calvary Baptist Church's Christmas in July service began to be shared how?

The pastor modelled it on a summer programme at his old Philadelphia church that gathered gifts early for distribution to missions worldwide.

After starting in Venice, Italy's June 25 summer Christmas moved mainly to which island?

What began as an improvised party in Venice is pitched as a statement that love, friendship and peace need not wait for one day a year.

What nickname did Yellowstone National Park employees carry until the mid-1970s?

Their raucous July parties with floats and skits are one theory for how the park's Christmas in August celebration began.

Which Rolf Harris song has Santa's sleigh pulled by kangaroos in an Australian setting?

Paul Kelly, Colin Buchanan and Tim Minchin wrote the other three, but none has displaced the traditional snowy iconography.

In the 2020s, what did Australians write on envelopes to use the cheaper Christmas stamp?

Christmas cards remained widely sent, and Australia Post reserved the discounted stamp for them rather than ordinary letters.

New Zealand's recorded Christmas music dates from 1949, when which local label was founded?

Kiwis also flock to Christmas in the Park concerts in Auckland and Christchurch and the late-November Santa Parade down Queen Street.