Day 01. I am striped red and white, and I taste of mint. Turn me upside down, and I am the letter J. What am I?Answer: A candy cane. A candy cane has a hooked end, so upside down it looks like a J.
Day 02. I am a sock too big for any foot. I hang by the fireplace on Christmas Eve, and I am full by morning. What am I?Answer: A Christmas stocking. Stockings are hung up empty and found full.
Day 03. I am the last thing to go on the tree and the highest thing on it. I have five points, and I shine. What am I?Answer: The star on top of the tree. The star goes on the very top, last.
Day 04. I am thin and silver, and I hang on the branches in strands. Long after Christmas, somebody still finds a piece of me in the rug. What am I?Answer: Tinsel. Tinsel is thin shiny strands hung on a tree.
Day 05. I am bright and pretty for a few weeks, and on Christmas morning I am torn to pieces in seconds. What am I?Answer: Wrapping paper. Wrapping paper lasts until the present is opened.
Day 06. I have buttons and no shirt, and eyes made of icing. I smell of spice, and I cannot outrun a hungry child. What am I?Answer: A gingerbread man. A gingerbread man is a spiced cookie with icing eyes and buttons.
Day 07. I have antlers and four hooves. In the stories, a team of us pulls a sleigh through the night sky. What am I?Answer: A reindeer. In Christmas legend, reindeer pull the sleigh.
Day 08. A row of us rides on the horse's harness. You hear us long before you see the sleigh. What are we?Answer: Sleigh bells. Bells on the harness jingle as the horse moves.
Day 09. I come indoors once a year and wear lights and glass. By January my needles are all over the floor. What am I?Answer: A Christmas tree. A cut tree drops its needles as it dries.
Day 10. I am a glass ball with a hook on top. I hang on a branch and show you your own face, stretched wide. What am I?Answer: An ornament. A shiny round ornament works like a curved mirror.
Day 11. I am tied in two loops on top of the box. Pull one of my ends, and I come undone in a second. What am I?Answer: A bow. A ribbon bow unties with one pull.
Day 12. My leaves are shiny, green and prickly. I am on cards and wreaths all December, with my berries beside me. What am I?Answer: Holly. Holly has glossy leaves with spiny edges.
Day 13. I am one long green wire with a hundred small bulbs. When one of my bulbs goes dark, somebody spends an hour finding it. What am I?Answer: A string of lights. Tree lights come on one long string.
Days 14 to 25 12
Day 14. I am a small card tied to a present. I say who it is to and who it is from, and nothing about what is inside. What am I?Answer: A gift tag. A tag names the giver and the receiver.
Day 15. We stand at your door in scarves and sing, and we did not come for candy. Who are we?Answer: Carolers. Carolers go from door to door singing Christmas songs.
Day 16. I am small, with pointed ears and a pointed hat. In the stories I build toys all year for one night's delivery. Who am I?Answer: An elf. In the stories, elves make the toys.
Day 17. I have twenty-four little doors and no rooms. Open one of me each morning, starting on the first of December. What am I?Answer: An Advent calendar. The usual Advent calendar has 24 little doors and starts on December 1.
Day 18. I am heavy with fruit and nuts. I am given more often than I am eaten, and I keep until next year. What am I?Answer: A fruitcake. Fruitcake is a dense cake that keeps a long time, which is the joke about it.
Day 19. I wear a painted uniform and a tall hat, and there is a lever in my back. I was made to crack shells in my jaw, and now I mostly stand on the shelf. What am I?Answer: A nutcracker. A nutcracker figure cracks a nut in its jaw when the lever is pressed.
Day 20. I am a plant in a pot wrapped in foil. Everyone takes my big red parts for petals, and they are really leaves. What am I?Answer: A poinsettia. The red parts of a poinsettia are leaves, not petals.
Day 21. I am the top of the world, where every direction is south. In the stories, a toy workshop stands on me. What am I?Answer: The North Pole. From the North Pole every direction is south.
Day 22. I come a few days before Christmas. North of the equator I am the shortest day of the year, and after me the light starts coming back. What am I?Answer: The winter solstice. The winter solstice, on December 21 or 22, is the shortest day in the north.
Day 23. Say the alphabet and leave one letter out: A B C D E F G H I J K, M N O P. Which Christmas word did you just make?Answer: Noel. No L sounds like Noel.
Day 24. I am the night with the most children awake and the most children pretending to be asleep. Tomorrow is the big day. What night am I?Answer: Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is the night of December 24.
Day 25. I am what the whole calendar was counting toward. I come once a year, on the twenty-fifth of December. What day am I?Answer: Christmas Day. Christmas Day is December 25.
Twelve days of Christmas 12
Gift 01. I am one bird sitting in a fruit tree, and I am the gift that comes back at the end of every verse. What am I?Answer: A partridge in a pear tree. The first gift is repeated in every verse of the carol.
Gift 02. We are a pair of birds named after a slow animal with a shell, though we have feathers. What are we?Answer: Two turtle doves. The gift of the second day: a turtle dove is a bird, whatever its name says.
Gift 03. We are three farm birds with the name of a country in ours. What are we?Answer: Three French hens. The gift of the third day carries the name of France.
Gift 04. There are four of us, and our name says we use our voices. In the oldest printing we were colly birds, which meant black as coal. What are we?Answer: Four calling birds. The fourth gift: the 1780 printing has colly birds, and colly meant coal-black.
Gift 05. We are five circles of gold, and we are the only gift among the first seven that has no feathers. What are we?Answer: Five gold rings. The gift of the fifth day; the six gifts around it are all birds.
Gift 06. We are six big farm birds, and every one of us is busy on a nest. What are we?Answer: Six geese a-laying. The gift of the sixth day: geese laying eggs.
Gift 07. We are seven long-necked birds, and we are gliding on the water. What are we?Answer: Seven swans a-swimming. The gift of the seventh day: swans on the water.
Gift 08. There are eight of us with stools and buckets, and the cows are waiting. Who are we?Answer: Eight maids a-milking. The gift of the eighth day: milkmaids at work.
Gift 09. There are nine of us in our best gowns, and not one of us is standing still. Who are we?Answer: Nine ladies dancing. The gift of the ninth day: dancers do not stand still.
Gift 10. There are ten of us with titles, and we cannot keep our feet on the ground. Who are we?Answer: Ten lords a-leaping. The gift of the tenth day: a lord is a title, and leaping is jumping.
Gift 11. There are eleven of us, and each one plays a tune on a pipe. Who are we?Answer: Eleven pipers piping. The gift of the eleventh day: a piper plays a pipe.
Gift 12. We are the last gift and the loudest: twelve of us, with sticks in our hands. Who are we?Answer: Twelve drummers drumming. The gift of the twelfth and last day: drums are the loudest of the lot.
How it works
A numbered set for a calendar you fill yourself: one Christmas riddle for each day of December up to the 25th, easy at the start and harder toward Christmas Eve.
Read the full guide
25 Christmas riddles, in three sheets
The page opens on Days 1 to 13, in order. The menu under the button changes to Days 14 to 25 or to Twelve days of Christmas. Print gives the set on screen, with the answers on a sheet of their own. Cut the riddles apart and tuck one behind each door.
12 days of Christmas riddles
The third set has one riddle for each gift of the old counting carol, in the carol's order, from the bird in the fruit tree to the twelve with drums.
Write the answer on the back of the next day's riddle.
A calendar of small bags or envelopes holds a folded strip of paper best.
Questions and answers
Can I use only 24 Christmas riddles?
Yes. Day 25 is Christmas Day itself. A calendar with 24 doors leaves that one out, and the first 24 still run from easy to hard.
How do I put riddles in an Advent calendar?
Print the two sheets of days, cut the riddles apart and fold one behind each door or into each bag. Every riddle is headed with its day, so the strips stay in order.
Do the riddles get harder?
Yes, by our judgment. The first days are a candy cane and a stocking. The last week has the North Pole, the shortest day of the year and a word hidden in the alphabet.