Christmas Riddles: 37 Riddles with Answers for Kids and Adults

I stay green all winter long. In December you bring me inside, wrap me in lights and hang shiny balls on my branches, and the presents wait under me. What am I?

I’m a giant sock, but nobody wears me. I hang by the fireplace on Christmas Eve, empty at night and full of treats by morning. What am I?

I’m a sweet shaped like the letter J. I’m striped red and white, and I usually taste like peppermint. What am I?

Kids build me in the yard from three big balls of snow. I get a carrot nose, a scarf and stick arms, but when the sun comes out, I start to shrink. What am I?

My walls are cookies, my roof is covered in icing, and my windows and door are made of candy. You don’t live in me, you eat me. What am I?

I have hooves and big antlers, and in the stories I pull a sleigh through the sky. In real life I live in the cold far north, and unlike other deer, the females in my family grow antlers too. What am I?

I’m colorful and crinkly. I hide presents so nobody can peek, and on Christmas morning I’m ripped off in about two seconds. What am I?

I’m a ring of evergreen branches with a big bow, and I hang on the front door to welcome guests. I have no beginning and no end. What am I?

I’m small, I wear pointy shoes and a pointy hat, and in the stories I spend all year making toys in a workshop at the North Pole. What am I?

Smoke goes up me all winter, but on Christmas Eve, the story says, Santa comes down me. What am I?

I have runners, but I never run. I glide over the snow, and bells often jingle on the animals that pull me. What am I?

Many of me have 24 little doors. You open one each day in December, and behind it there’s a picture, a chocolate or a tiny toy, until Christmas Eve finally comes. What am I?

I’m a plant with white berries, and I don’t grow in the ground. I grow on the branches of trees. People hang me in doorways, and anyone caught standing under me might get a kiss. What am I?

My bright red “petals” aren’t petals at all. They’re leaves. I come from Mexico, and I’m named after Joel Poinsett, the first United States minister to Mexico. What am I?

I’m the day after Christmas. In the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia I’m a holiday, and despite my name, nobody steps into a ring to fight. What am I?

I’m a wooden soldier with a big jaw. Put a walnut in my mouth, press the lever on my back and crack! A famous ballet by Tchaikovsky is named after me. What am I?

We go from door to door in the cold, but we’re not selling anything. We stand on the porch and sing songs like “Deck the Halls” and “Jingle Bells.” Who are we?

In the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” what gift does the singer’s true love send on the very first day?

The first ones sold in shops were printed in England in 1843. Today millions of us are mailed every December, with a picture on the front and a message inside. What are we?

Santa Claus’s name comes from me. I was a bishop who lived about 1,700 years ago in what is now Turkey, and I was famous for giving gifts in secret. Who am I?

I’m a Christmas carol first sung on Christmas Eve in 1818 in a small church in Austria, with a guitar playing along. My title says the night was calm and quiet. What am I?

Long ago I was a huge piece of wood burned in the fireplace over the holidays. Today I’m more often a rolled chocolate cake, frosted to look like tree bark. What am I?

What do you call an elf who sings?

Why is it always so cold at Christmas?

What do you call a reindeer with no eyes?

Why did the Christmas tree go to the barber?

Why did the Christmas alphabet have only 25 letters?

In “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” each verse repeats all the earlier gifts, so on day 3 the singer gets 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves and a partridge. Counting every gift in every verse, how many gifts arrive over all twelve days?

Santa’s workshop is said to be at the exact North Pole. If you walked out of the front door, which direction would you be facing, no matter which way the door points?

Christmas Day 2026 falls on a Friday. On which day of the week will New Year’s Day 2027 fall?

When the day after tomorrow is Christmas Day, what was the date the day before yesterday?

At a holiday dinner, every guest clinks glasses with every other guest exactly once. There are 28 clinks in all. How many guests are at the table?

A string of Christmas lights repeats the same pattern all the way along: red, green, gold, red, green, gold. What color is the 100th bulb?

Ellie bakes a batch of cookies. She gives half to the neighbors, then half of what’s left to her teacher. She eats 3 and puts the last 9 on a plate for Santa. How many cookies did she bake?

Three stockings are labeled “Candy,” “Toys” and “Candy and Toys.” One holds only candy, one only toys and one both, but every label is wrong. You may reach into just one stocking and pull out one item without looking. Which stocking do you pick to fix all three labels?

Somebody ate the cookies left out for Santa, and it was one of three elves. Alder says, “Birch did it.” Birch says, “I didn’t do it.” Cedar says, “I didn’t do it.” Exactly one of them is telling the truth. Who ate the cookies?

In the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (1823), which begins “’Twas the night before Christmas,” Santa calls out to eight reindeer. Two of them, in the names most people know today, are named after the German words for thunder and lightning. Which two?