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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with any school, exam board, quiz show, post office, magazine or other body named. Bank checked October 15, 2026.
A ninth reindeer is often added to the eight of the poem. In which year was the story written that introduced him?Answer: 1939. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus's reindeer
By the usual account, where was Moore when he composed the poem on a snowy winter's day?Answer: On a sleigh, during a shopping trip. Source: Wikipedia: A Visit from St. Nicholas
Clement Clarke Moore put the poem in a book of his own poems only in 1844. Why had he held back?Answer: He thought it unscholarly for a professor. Source: Wikipedia: A Visit from St. Nicholas
Dunder and Blixem, the last two reindeer in the 1823 printing, are known today by which names?Answer: Donner and Blitzen. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus's reindeer
For whom did Moore say he had written the poem?Answer: His own children. Source: Wikipedia: A Visit from St. Nicholas
In L. Frank Baum's children's book of 1902, Santa has ten reindeer. Which pair are his principal ones?Answer: Flossie and Glossie. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus's reindeer
In the 1823 poem, the visitor's little round belly shakes when he laughs. Like a bowl full of what?Answer: Jelly. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
Show all 79 questions (72 more)
The night before Christmas, continued
In the poem 'A Visit from St. Nicholas', the visitor is called "a right jolly old" what?Answer: Elf. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas elf
The St. Nicholas of the 1823 poem is a small figure. Which word does the poem use for his sleigh?Answer: A miniature sleigh. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
Under which title was the poem first printed, in a Troy newspaper in December 1823?Answer: Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas. Source: Wikipedia: A Visit from St. Nicholas
What does St. Nicholas call out at the end of the poem, as he flies away?Answer: "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.". Source: Wikipedia: A Visit from St. Nicholas
Whose family has long held that their forebear, and not Clement Clarke Moore, wrote 'A Visit from St. Nicholas'?Answer: Henry Livingston Jr. Source: Wikipedia: A Visit from St. Nicholas
The red suit, the workshop and Mrs. Claus 13
A poem printed in 1869 with a color collection of Nast's pictures said that Santa's home was near which place?Answer: The North Pole. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
The camauro, a soft red hat with white fur trim that has been compared with Santa's, was formerly worn by whom?Answer: The pope. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
Charles W. Howard played Santa in department stores and parades. What did he found in 1937?Answer: A school for Santas. Source: Wikipedia: Charles W. Howard
The English word elf comes from the álfar of which mythology?Answer: Norse. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas elf
The first Christmas grotto in a department store opened in 1879. In which English city?Answer: Liverpool. Source: Wikipedia: Santa's workshop
In an 1878 children's book, a lady at a golden desk writes children's good and bad deeds in a ledger. How does Santa watch the children?Answer: Through a telescope. Source: Wikipedia: Mrs. Claus
In the title of the 1889 poem 'Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride', what is Goody short for?Answer: Goodwife. Source: Wikipedia: Mrs. Claus
In Thomas Nast's Santa drawing for the January 3, 1863 issue of Harper's Weekly, what is Santa dressed in?Answer: An American flag. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
Mrs. Santa Claus was first mentioned by name in 1851, in the literary magazine of which university?Answer: Yale. Source: Wikipedia: Mrs. Claus
Thomas Nast drew Santa in a red suit. In which other color did he also draw the suit?Answer: Green. Source: Wikipedia: Santa suit
Thomas Nast was born in southwestern Germany. Which gift-bringer of that region's folklore is said to have inspired his Santa?Answer: Belsnickel. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
Which magazine's Christmas cover of 1873 made popular the picture of elves at work around Santa?Answer: Godey's Lady's Book. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas elf
Who wrote the 1889 poem 'Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride', which gave Santa's wife a voice of her own?Answer: Katharine Lee Bates. Source: Wikipedia: Mrs. Claus
Letters to Santa and the North Pole 12
A 2007 survey of national post offices asked who had received the most letters to Santa in 2006. Which country came first?Answer: France. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
At Santa Claus Village near Rovaniemi, in Finland, a white line is painted across the park. What does it mark?Answer: The Arctic Circle. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus Village
The British postal service gives an address for letters to Father Christmas. In which land does it place his grotto?Answer: Reindeerland. Source: Wikipedia: Santa's workshop
Each Nordic country claims Santa's home for itself. In which town does Norway say he lives?Answer: Drøbak. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
Each Nordic country claims Santa's home for itself. Where do Danes say he lives?Answer: Greenland. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
From 1895 to 1928 the post office of Santa Claus, Indiana, wrote its name in an unusual way. How?Answer: As one word, Santaclaus. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus, Indiana
In December 2008, which country formally awarded its citizenship to Santa Claus?Answer: Canada. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
In France, the address of Père Noël is 1 Chemin des Nuages, Pôle Nord. What does Chemin des Nuages mean?Answer: Alley of Clouds. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
In Latin America, letters to Santa are sometimes sent without the mail. How?Answer: Tied to balloons. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
The town of Santa Claus, Indiana, first applied for a post office under another name and was told to choose again. Which name?Answer: Santa Fe. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus, Indiana
The United States postal program that answers letters to Santa began in 1912 at a post office in which city?Answer: New York. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
The yearly tracking of Santa by North America's air defense began in 1955, after a store's newspaper advertisement invited children to do what?Answer: Telephone Santa. Source: Wikipedia: NORAD Tracks Santa
Gift-bringers around the world 20
Belsnickel, a crotchety gift-bringer in ragged furs, lives on among which people in the United States?Answer: The Pennsylvania Dutch. Source: Wikipedia: Belsnickel
By one common legend the Basque Olentzero was one of the jentillak. Who were they?Answer: Giants of the Pyrenees. Source: Wikipedia: Olentzero
Children never see the Christkind. In some homes, what tells them it has just left the room with the tree?Answer: A small bell ringing. Source: Wikipedia: Christkind
In France, children leave carrots and treats in their shoes for Père Noël's donkey, Gui. What does the name Gui mean?Answer: Mistletoe. Source: Wikipedia: Père Noël
In German-speaking Switzerland, Schmutzli goes about with Samichlaus. What does Schmutzli carry?Answer: A twig broom. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
In Greece, which saint is the winter gift-bringer, linked with New Year's Day?Answer: Saint Basil. Source: Wikipedia: List of Christmas and winter gift-bringers
In Hungary, Mikulás comes on the night of December 5 with sweets for good children. What do the others get?Answer: A golden birch switch. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
In Icelandic Christmas folklore, who is the mother of the Yule Lads?Answer: Grýla. Source: Wikipedia: Icelandic Christmas folklore
In Sweden the old farm guardian merged with Saint Nicholas to make the Jultomten. Whose work made that figure known?Answer: Jenny Nyström. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas elf
In the Cajun country of Louisiana, Papa Noël comes in a boat called a pirogue. Which animals tow it?Answer: Eight alligators. Source: Wikipedia: Père Noël
In the Czech tradition, the presents are brought by Ježíšek. Who is that?Answer: Baby Jesus. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
In the Netherlands, Santa Claus is not Sinterklaas. He is de Kerstman. What does that mean?Answer: The Christmas man. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
In Verona, Bergamo and parts of Sicily, which saint brings gifts on the eve of her feast day, December 13?Answer: Saint Lucy. Source: Wikipedia: List of Christmas and winter gift-bringers
Joulupukki, the Finnish Santa, travels in a sleigh pulled by reindeer. How do they differ from Santa's team?Answer: They do not fly. Source: Wikipedia: Joulupukki
Noel Baba is the name of the Christmas gift-bringer in which country?Answer: Turkey. Source: Wikipedia: Père Noël
One Polish gift-bringer is called Gwiazdor. What does the name mean?Answer: Star Man. Source: Wikipedia: List of Christmas and winter gift-bringers
Slovenian children may get gifts from three winter visitors. Which one comes on the evening of December 31?Answer: Dedek Mraz. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
What is the literal translation of Ded Moroz, the name of the Russian gift-bringer?Answer: Grandfather Frost. Source: Wikipedia: Ded Moroz
Which Central Asian country named a mountain peak after Santa Claus and declared 2008 the Year of Santa Claus?Answer: Kyrgyzstan. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
Which Russian town was declared the home of Ded Moroz in 1998?Answer: Veliky Ustyug. Source: Wikipedia: Ded Moroz
From Sinterklaas to Santa Claus 9
The 1821 book that first showed Santa's sleigh was sold as a present for which day?Answer: New Year's Day. Source: Wikipedia: Old Santeclaus with Much Delight
How did Washington Irving picture Santa Claus in his History of New York of 1809?Answer: As a Dutch sailor with a pipe. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
In the 1821 poem about Santeclaus, what do naughty children receive?Answer: A long black birch rod. Source: Wikipedia: Old Santeclaus with Much Delight
In the first picture of the 1821 poem about Santeclaus, the sleigh carries a sign with one word. Which word?Answer: Rewards. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus's reindeer
In the pictures of the 1821 poem 'Old Santeclaus with Much Delight', how many reindeer pull the sleigh?Answer: One. Source: Wikipedia: Old Santeclaus with Much Delight
In which decade did the American Santa Claus arrive in England, where Father Christmas began to take on his ways?Answer: The 1850s. Source: Wikipedia: Father Christmas
In which year was the name Santa Claus first used in the American press?Answer: 1773. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
The pictures of the 1821 book about Santeclaus are counted as the first use in the United States of which printing method?Answer: Lithography. Source: Wikipedia: Old Santeclaus with Much Delight
Which reformer promoted the Christ Child as the bringer of gifts, in place of Saint Nicholas?Answer: Martin Luther. Source: Wikipedia: Christkind
Saint Nicholas of Myra 13
According to legend, how was Nicholas chosen as bishop of Myra?Answer: He was the first priest into the church that morning. Source: Wikipedia: Saint Nicholas
An early list puts Nicholas among the bishops at which church council of the year 325?Answer: The First Council of Nicaea. Source: Wikipedia: Saint Nicholas
In his most famous story, Nicholas secretly threw gold into a poor man's house by night. What was the gold for?Answer: Dowries for three daughters. Source: Wikipedia: Saint Nicholas
In which seaport of Lycia is Saint Nicholas said to have been born?Answer: Patara. Source: Wikipedia: Saint Nicholas
Less than 200 years after Nicholas died, which emperor ordered a church built at Myra where he had served?Answer: Theodosius II. Source: Wikipedia: Saint Nicholas
Merchants carried the major bones of Saint Nicholas to Italy in 1087. To which city did sailors later take the remaining fragments?Answer: Venice. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
Nicholas is said to have been put in prison during the Great Persecution. Under which emperor did it take place?Answer: Diocletian. Source: Wikipedia: Saint Nicholas
Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors. Which story about him explains it?Answer: He calmed a storm at sea. Source: Wikipedia: Saint Nicholas
Nicholas was bishop of Myra, in Lycia. What is the town called today?Answer: Demre. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
Saint Nicholas has a second title, earned by the many miracles credited to him. What is it?Answer: Nicholas the Wonderworker. Source: Wikipedia: Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of a long list of people. Which of these is on it?Answer: Repentant thieves. Source: Wikipedia: Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of two cities that are capitals today. Which two?Answer: Amsterdam and Moscow. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Claus
The three gold balls of the Saint Nicholas story became the sign of which trade?Answer: Pawnbrokers. Source: Wikipedia: Christmas stocking
How this list was compiled: Written for this site; nothing was copied from another list. Every question, wrong choice and explanation is our own wording. Each answer, and every extra fact in an explanation, agrees with a sentence or table row in the English Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org) named and linked beside the question, read on October 15, 2026; Wikipedia's text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. The 79 questions rest on 23 articles, and the article on Santa Claus gives 24 of them. Where the articles disagree, the point is not asked: one says Father Christmas dates from the reign of Henry VIII and another that he first appears in the 1600s, so his age is not asked; one puts the first telephone call to the air defense center down to a misprinted number and another to a child who misdialed, so the question asks only what the advertisement invited. Where an article reports a legend or a claim, the question says so (is said to, by the usual account, according to legend). Poems of 1821 and 1823 are quoted in a few words; both are long out of copyright. Left out on purpose: living people, film, television and song titles in copyright, company and brand names, the darker companions of Saint Nicholas, records and counts that change from year to year, and every question about whether Santa is real. Postal addresses for letters are as the article gave them on the day it was read. Levels are our estimate for a table of adults and children. No question repeats word for word in the site's other trivia packs as they stood on October 15, 2026. Licence: own work
How it works
This Santa trivia stays with the legend itself: the bishop of Myra, the poem that named eight reindeer, the artists who dressed him in red and the post offices that sort his mail. Each answer links the article it was checked in.
Read the full guide
Six rounds, from the poem to the bishop
The night before Christmas has the reindeer and the jolly old elf. The red suit, the workshop and Mrs. Claus follows Thomas Nast's drawings and the first store grotto. Letters to Santa and the North Pole sorts the mail. Gift-bringers around the world meets Joulupukki, Ded Moroz and a boat towed by alligators. From Sinterklaas to Santa Claus and Saint Nicholas of Myra go back to the start.
Santa Claus trivia questions and answers for kids
With children who still wait up for him, keep to the poem and the gift-bringers. The suit and letters rounds talk about store Santas and about who answers the mail.
The night before Christmas is the gentlest round by our estimate, and Saint Nicholas of Myra the hardest.
Read the 1823 poem aloud first. It is long out of copyright, and its round is easier with the lines fresh.
Questions and answers
What are the names of Santa's reindeer?
The 1823 poem names eight: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blixem. The last two are known today as Donner and Blitzen. Rudolph, the ninth, comes from a story written in 1939.
Who was the real Santa Claus?
Saint Nicholas, a Greek bishop of Myra in the fourth century, in what is now Turkey. He was known for giving in secret, and Sinterklaas, the Dutch form of his name, became Santa Claus in America.
Why does Santa wear red?
Pictures in a New York children's book of 1821 already dress him in red, and Thomas Nast drew the red suit for a weekly magazine decades before the soft drink advertisements that often get the credit.
Where does Santa Claus live?
By tradition at the North Pole, a story that Thomas Nast's pictures of the 1860s may have started. Finland says Korvatunturi in Lapland, Danes say Greenland, and Norway names the town of Drøbak.
Who wrote 'Twas the Night Before Christmas?
The poem was printed without a name in 1823. Clement Clarke Moore put it in a book of his own poems in 1844, and the family of Henry Livingston Jr. has long claimed it for him.