Christmas is the season of lights, presents and long evenings with family, and riddles are the perfect game for all of it. Here are 60 Christmas riddles with answers: easy riddles for kids, groan-worthy Santa jokes, classic “what am I” riddles and properly hard riddles for adults.
Tap “Show answer” under each riddle to check your guess.
Contents
- Easy Christmas Riddles for Kids
- Funny Christmas Riddles
- Christmas “What Am I?” Riddles
- Hard Christmas Riddles for Adults
- Christmas Riddle Games
- More Holiday Riddles
- Frequently Asked Questions
Easy Christmas Riddles for Kids
1. I have lots of needles but I never sew. In December I stand in your living room with lights all over me. What am I?
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Answer: A Christmas tree.
2. I wear a red suit, have a long white beard and say “Ho ho ho!” Who am I?
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Santa Claus.
3. I have a red nose that glows, and I lead Santa’s sleigh on foggy nights. Who am I?
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Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.
4. I’m made of snow, I have a carrot nose and coal for eyes. What am I?
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Answer: A snowman.
5. I hang by the fireplace on Christmas Eve, waiting to be filled. What am I?
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Answer: A stocking.
6. I’m wrapped in paper with a bow on top, and you open me on Christmas morning. What am I?
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Answer: A present.
7. I’m a red-and-white striped sweet shaped like a hook. What am I?
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Answer: A candy cane.
8. I’m a shape of a star, and I sit at the very top of the tree. What am I?
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Answer: The Christmas star (tree topper).
9. I’m a little helper with pointy ears who makes toys at the North Pole. Who am I?
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Answer: An elf.
10. I fall from the sky, I’m white and cold, and no two of me are the same. What am I?
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Answer: A snowflake.
11. Santa comes down me to deliver presents. What am I?
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Answer: The chimney.
12. I’m a cookie shaped like a little man, and I run away so you can’t catch me. Who am I?
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Answer: The gingerbread man.
13. I ring and jingle all the way. What am I?
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Answer: A bell (jingle bells).
14. Where does Santa live?
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Answer: At the North Pole.
15. How many reindeer pull Santa’s sleigh, counting Rudolph?
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Nine: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph.
Funny Christmas Riddles
16. What do you call Santa’s helpers?
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Subordinate Clauses.
17. What do snowmen eat for breakfast?
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Frosted flakes.
18. What do you get if you cross Santa with a duck?
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Answer: A Christmas quacker.
19. Why is Santa so good at karate?
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Answer: Because he has a black belt.
20. What’s every elf’s favourite type of music?
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Wrap music.
21. What do you call a cat on the beach at Christmas?
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Sandy Claws.
22. Why did the Christmas tree go to the barber?
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Answer: It needed a trim.
23. What do you call an elf who sings?
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Answer: A wrapper.
24. How does a snowman get to work?
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Answer: By icicle.
25. What do reindeer hang on their Christmas trees?
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Horn-aments.
26. Why does Santa go down the chimney?
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Answer: Because it soots him.
27. What did the gingerbread man put on his bed?
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Answer: A cookie sheet.
28. What does Santa suffer from if he gets stuck in a chimney?
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Claus-trophobia.
29. What do you call a reindeer with no eyes?
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No eye deer (no idea).
30. What’s the best Christmas present?
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Answer: A broken drum – you can’t beat it.
Christmas “What Am I?” Riddles
31. I’m green and grow on oak trees. If you stand under me, someone might kiss you. What am I?
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Mistletoe.
32. I come in many colours, I twinkle and I turn houses into a beautiful sight. What am I?
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Christmas lights.
33. I’m a round wreath of green branches and I hang on your front door. What am I?
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Answer: A wreath.
34. I get bigger the more you add to me, and the kids roll me through the garden. What am I?
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Answer: A snowball.
35. I’m a pudding but you can set me on fire. What am I?
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Answer: A Christmas pudding.
36. I’m a cracker you can’t eat. Pull me and I go “bang”, with a paper crown inside. What am I?
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Answer: A Christmas cracker.
37. I’m written in December and sent all the way to the North Pole. What am I?
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Answer: A letter to Santa.
38. I count down the days with little doors from 1 to 24. What am I?
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Answer: An Advent calendar.
39. I’m a song sung door to door in winter. What am I?
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Answer: A Christmas carol.
40. I’m made of ice and hang from the roof like a frozen dagger. What am I?
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Answer: An icicle.
41. I’m a little house made of biscuits, sweets and icing, and you’re allowed to eat my walls. What am I?
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Answer: A gingerbread house.
42. I’m hot, sweet and chocolatey, often with marshmallows on top on a snowy day. What am I?
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Hot chocolate.
43. I’m pulled across the sky by reindeer and full of presents. What am I?
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Santa’s sleigh.
44. I’m green and grumpy, and in a famous story I tried to steal Christmas. Who am I?
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The Grinch.
45. I crackle in the fireplace on Christmas Eve, and there’s also a chocolate cake named after me. What am I?
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Answer: A Yule log.
Hard Christmas Riddles for Adults
46. I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest person can’t hold me for more than a few minutes. On a cold Christmas morning you can see me. What am I?
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Answer: Your breath.
47. What goes up the chimney down, but can’t go down the chimney up?
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Answer: An umbrella.
48. The more you take from me, the bigger I get. On Christmas you dig me in the snow. What am I?
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Answer: A hole.
49. What can you hold in your left hand but not in your right?
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Answer: Your right elbow.
50. A man rode into town on Friday, stayed for Christmas, and left on Friday. How?
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Answer: His horse is named Friday.
51. What has roots nobody sees, is taller than a Christmas tree, up, up it goes, yet never grows?
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Answer: A mountain.
52. What runs but never walks, murmurs but never talks, and freezes over in December?
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Answer: A river.
53. Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain on Earth?
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Mount Everest – it was already the highest.
54. If an electric train is travelling north to the North Pole, which way does the smoke blow?
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Nowhere – electric trains don’t make smoke.
55. Some months have 31 days, some have 30. How many have 28?
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All twelve.
56. What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?
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Answer: A stamp – on your Christmas card.
57. What has a head and a tail, but no body, and sometimes ends up in a Christmas pudding?
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Answer: A coin.
58. Three wise men walk into a stable. Each gives one gift. How many gifts are there?
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Three: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
59. What disappears the moment you say its name, especially on Silent Night?
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Silence.
60. What is always in front of you on Christmas morning but cannot be seen?
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Answer: The future.
Christmas Riddle Games
- Present riddles: tape a riddle to each present – it can only be opened after the riddle is solved.
- Advent riddles: one riddle a day from 1 to 24 December.
- Cracker swap: replace the jokes in Christmas crackers with riddles from this page.
More Holiday Riddles
- New Year Riddles 2027
- 40 Thanksgiving Riddles
- 60+ Halloween Riddles
- 1000+ Easy Riddles
- The Hardest Riddles in the World
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good Christmas riddle for kids?
“I have lots of needles but I never sew. In December I stand in your living room with lights all over me. What am I?” – a Christmas tree.
What are Santa’s reindeer called?
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen, led on foggy nights by Rudolph.
What is a hard Christmas riddle for adults?
“What goes up the chimney down, but can’t go down the chimney up?” – an umbrella.
How do you use riddles at a Christmas party?
Play in teams, hide riddles in crackers or attach one to every present that can only be opened when the riddle is solved.