Santa Claus
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96 free Santa Claus trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
50 free Santa Claus trivia questions with answers. How well do you know Santa Claus? From his origins as Saint Nicholas to modern Christmas traditions, this comprehensive 96-question trivia quiz will test your knowledge of the jolly man in red. Challenge yourself and discover fascinating facts about Santa, his reindeer, the North Pole, and beloved holiday customs celebrated worldwide.
30 of 96 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Saint Nicholas, whose legend grew into Santa Claus, led the church of which city in Lycia?
Myra
Myra's ruins lie beside the modern town of Demre; Patara, further along the Lycian coast, was Nicholas's birthplace rather than his see.
Q 02In the 1823 poem 'A Visit from St. Nicholas', what does the father watch his visitor fill after landing on the roof?
The stockings
The stockings hanging by the fireplace get filled from his sack of toys; the poem moved the visit to Christmas Eve, and the two share a wink before he vanishes up the flue.
Q 03What snack do children traditionally leave out for Santa's reindeer on Christmas Eve?
A carrot
A carrot: children in Britain and elsewhere leave a carrot for the reindeer beside Santa's own snack, a custom now common in the United States as well.
Q 04Who is traditionally credited as the author of the 1823 poem 'A Visit from St. Nicholas'?
Clement Clarke Moore
Descendants of Henry Livingston Jr. have long claimed he wrote it, but no printing with his name has ever surfaced, while Moore put it in his own 1844 collection.
Q 05Katharine Lee Bates's 1889 poem calls Santa's wife 'Goody Santa Claus' — 'Goody' is short for what?
Goodwife
'Goody' is the old short form of 'Goodwife', a title for a married woman of modest rank; Bates, author of 'America the Beautiful', put Mrs. Claus on the Christmas Eve sleigh in her 1889 poem.
Q 06Which of these is one of Santa's original eight reindeer, as named in the classic poem?
Dasher
Dasher is the first reindeer called in the 1823 poem's roll: 'Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!' He is one of the original eight named there.
Q 07Which company's Christmas advertising in the 1930s, painted by Haddon Sundblom, is credited with fixing Santa's portly, red-suited image?
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola's ads from 1931 onward spread the portly, white-bearded Santa in red, though the look itself was already established before Sundblom painted it.
Q 08In the 1823 poem, what does Saint Nicholas hold tight in his teeth?
A pipe
A pipe: 'The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath,' the poem says.
Q 09How does Santa Claus traditionally enter homes to deliver presents?
Down the chimney
Santa comes down the chimney, as in the 1823 poem 'A Visit from St. Nicholas', where he arrives 'down the chimney' with a bound and leaves as 'up the chimney he rose'.
Q 10In the 1823 poem, Santa's belly shakes when he laughs like a bowl full of what?
Jelly
Jelly: 'A Visit from St. Nicholas' describes 'a little round belly, that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.'
Q 11In Alpine folklore, which horned figure accompanies Saint Nicholas to punish naughty children?
Krampus
Krampus, the horned companion, roams on 5 December, the eve of Saint Nicholas's feast; Krampus runs (Krampusläufe) draw crowds across Austria and Bavaria.
Q 12What traditional offering do children often leave for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve?
Cookies and milk
Cookies and milk are the classic snack left out for Santa in the United States, usually beside the stockings; in Britain he is more often left a mince pie and a glass of sherry.
Q 13Italy's broomstick-riding gift-bringer delivers toys and coal on the eve of which feast?
Epiphany
Q 21Santa is said to keep a list sorting children into which two groups?
Naughty and nice
Naughty and nice: the 1934 song 'Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town' has him 'making a list and checking it twice' to find out 'who's naughty and nice'.
Q 22The historical Saint Nicholas was a bishop from which modern-day country?
Turkey
The original Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, was an early Christian bishop born in 270 AD in what is now Turkey.
Q 23Canada Post delivers children's letters to Santa's North Pole workshop using which one-of-a-kind postal code?
H0H 0H0
H0H 0H0 is read aloud as Santa's famous laugh; the United States Postal Service instead suggests 123 Elf Road, North Pole, ZIP 88888.
She flies out on the night of 5 January, and her name is widely thought to be a corruption of the Italian word for the feast, Epifania.
Q 14In which century did Saint Nicholas, the bishop who inspired Santa Claus, live and die?
4th
Nicholas lived mainly in the 4th century: tradition dates him to about 270–343, with his death on 6 December 343, the date now kept as his feast day.
Q 15The Finnish name for Santa, Joulupukki, literally translates as 'Christmas' what?
Goat
The figure grew out of the Nordic tradition of men in goat costume roaming villages at Yule; radio programmes from 1927 recast him with a Santa-style suit and a home on Korvatunturi fell.
Q 16Which American magazine's 1873 Christmas cover popularised Santa's tiny workshop helpers?
Godey's Lady's Book
The same magazine had printed the first widely circulated picture of a modern Christmas tree on its 1850 cover.
Q 17What kind of magical helpers are traditionally said to assist Santa Claus in his workshop?
Elves
Elves are Santa's workshop helpers, an image popularised by an 1873 American magazine cover showing Santa surrounded by tiny elf workers, and by the 1823 poem calling him 'a right jolly old elf'.
Q 18What is Russia's traditional winter gift-giver, accompanied by granddaughter Snegurochka, called?
Ded Moroz
In Russia, Ded Moroz, which translates to 'Grandfather Frost,' is the central figure of the New Year celebrations and the gift-giver, often accompanied by his granddaughter Snegurochka.
Q 19Norman Rockwell painted Santa Claus for the covers of which American magazine in the 1920s?
The Saturday Evening Post
Norman Rockwell's Santa Claus covers for The Saturday Evening Post, several of them in the 1920s, helped fix the warm, grandfatherly Santa before the soft-drink ads of the 1930s.
Q 20In France, what is the equivalent Christmas gift-giving figure called?
Père Noël
In France, Père Noël, also known as Father Christmas, is the gift-giving figure during the holiday season.
Q 24In Alpine folklore, Saint Nicholas's horned companion punishes misbehaving children with what?
Birch rods
The horned companion carries a bundle of birch rods, called Ruten, to swat naughty children, and in some tellings stuffs the worst offenders into a basket on his back.
Q 25Before red became standard, England's Father Christmas was often drawn in a fur-lined gown of what colour?
Green
Before the widespread adoption of the red suit, Father Christmas (a figure merged with Santa) was sometimes depicted in green robes, particularly in Victorian illustrations.
Q 26Which city in Lapland is home to Santa Claus Village and Santa's official main post office?
Rovaniemi
Rovaniemi's Santa Claus Village sits on the Arctic Circle just north of the city, and its Santa Claus Main Post Office, a working Finnish post office, receives letters from well over a hundred countries each year.
Q 27Whose satirical 1809 History of New York pictured Santa Claus as a thick-bellied Dutch sailor?
Washington Irving
The book was a parody of New York's Dutch heritage, and much of its Santa was a joking invention that the famous 1823 poem later borrowed.
Q 28Mrs. Claus debuted in the 1849 story 'A Christmas Legend', by a missionary based in which US city?
Philadelphia
Philadelphia-based missionary James Rees's 1849 story 'A Christmas Legend' brought a weary old couple to a house on Christmas Eve, the first mention of Santa's wife; later writers gave her a name and personality.
Q 29The name 'Kris Kringle' for Santa Claus has origins in which language?
German
German: 'Christkindl', the Christ child, became 'Kris Kringle', a common variant of Santa in parts of the United States by 1845.
Q 30Thanks to the three bags of gold legend, Saint Nicholas is patron saint of which trade?
Pawnbrokers
The story is sometimes told with three gold balls instead of bags, which is why three gold balls became a symbol of both the saint and the pawnbroker's shop.