50 Christmas Riddles

Christmas riddles are the easiest holiday game to start, because all you need is a voice and a quiet moment at the table. This page has 50 original riddles with answers, sorted by age so a toddler, a seven year old and a grandparent each get one they can win. There are picture riddles for the little ones, tricky ones for the grown ups, and a free set of printable cards that keeps the answers on a separate page. Nothing here needs props, a screen or a pencil.

Riddles by age

A riddle is not the same thing as a joke. A joke ends with a twist you only have to hear, while a riddle ends with an answer you can actually work out from the clues. That difference matters for age. An article from The 74 says children do not really understand puns until around age 7, though they try them earlier, so the last group on this page (the ones with a joke for an answer) is the one I would save for older kids.

I wrote all 50 myself and sorted them into six groups. I only kept a riddle if the answer can be reached from the words in it, which is why none of them ask a child to know a date or a famous name. The age bands below are my own rule of thumb, not a test result. If your child is a year younger or older than the band, trust your child. For plain jokes without answers to work out, our page of jokes for 5 year olds is the better stop.

Riddles for toddlers and preschoolers

A two year old will not solve a riddle the way an older child does, and that is fine. At this age the riddle is really a picture game. You ask, you pause, and your child points at the tree or shouts the word they know. The first eight are written as one short question each, with one clear picture in the answer.

1. Who says ho, ho, ho and wears a red hat? Answer: Santa Claus.
2. What jingles and jangles on the sleigh? Answer: Bells.
3. What is round and shiny and hangs from a branch? Answer: An ornament.
4. Who has a red nose that glows in the dark? Answer: Rudolph the reindeer.
5. What do you hang by the fireplace for Santa to fill? Answer: A stocking.
6. What has a big bow and a surprise inside? Answer: A present.
7. What is cold and white and wears a carrot for a nose? Answer: A snowman.
8. What is red and white and tastes like mint? Answer: A candy cane.

Hold the real object up as you ask, such as an ornament from the box or a stocking from the mantel. Saying the answer a second time in a silly voice is part of the game. Do not count a wrong answer as wrong. A toddler who says reindeer for Santa is still playing, and you can say the word Santa back to them with a smile.

Christmas riddles for kids

These ten are for ages 4 to 7, when a child can hold two clues in mind at once. Each one gives a shape or a job first, then a second clue. Read slowly and pause after each clue. Let your child guess before you go on, because most kids at this age call out an answer after the very first clue, and that is half the fun.

9. I am round and green with a red bow, and I hang on the front door. I have no beginning and no end. What am I? Answer: A wreath.
10. I have runners instead of wheels, and reindeer instead of an engine. What am I? Answer: A sleigh.
11. I am small, I wear pointy shoes, and I make toys at the North Pole. Who am I? Answer: An elf.
12. I am a cookie who runs away in a story, and my buttons are made of candy. Who am I? Answer: The gingerbread man.
13. I am warm and brown and I come in a mug, with tiny white puffs floating on top. What am I? Answer: Hot chocolate.
14. I sit at the very top of the tree. You can wish on my cousins in the night sky. What am I? Answer: A star.
15. I am a green plant with white berries. I hang in a doorway, and people stop under me to kiss. What am I? Answer: Mistletoe.
16. I crackle and glow in the living room, and stockings hang above me. What am I? Answer: A fireplace.
17. Children leave me on a plate with a glass of milk. By morning I am gone and only crumbs are left. What am I? Answer: Cookies for Santa.
18. I am soft and cold and white. You can roll me into three balls and make a friend. What am I? Answer: Snow.

The wreath riddle is the one I would try first, because it gives a child something to look at while thinking. The cookie riddle is good for a child who loves stories and may remember the chase. If a child gets stuck, ask what room in the house the answer would be in. That one question rescues most of these.

What am I Christmas riddles

A what am I riddle speaks as the object and ends with the question. That makes it easy to read aloud, and it is the format a child can invent on their own once they have heard a few. These ten start with a plain clue and then add a trick, such as needles that cannot sew or a mouth that never talks.

19. I have a star on top but I am not in the sky. I have needles but I cannot sew. What am I? Answer: A Christmas tree.
20. I am a house you can eat, and nobody lives inside me. What am I? Answer: A gingerbread house.
21. I am a long string of tiny bulbs. I was packed away neatly last year, yet I come out tangled every time. What am I? Answer: Christmas lights.
22. I am a small glass world with a storm inside. Shake me and it snows, put me down and it stops. What am I? Answer: A snow globe.
23. I have no words written on me. It takes an hour to fold me neatly and ten seconds to tear me off. What am I? Answer: Wrapping paper.
24. I am a song with a partridge, a pear tree, and a list of gifts that gets longer every verse. What am I? Answer: The Twelve Days of Christmas.
25. I am a small card tied to a gift. I say who it is for and who it is from. What am I? Answer: A gift tag.
26. I am a letter with a very long list on it. I get written in November and mailed to the North Pole. What am I? Answer: A letter to Santa.
27. I have sharp, shiny green leaves and red berries. You can decorate with me, but you should not eat my berries. What am I? Answer: Holly.
28. I come once a year and I always land on the twenty fifth. Everyone counts the days until I get here. What am I? Answer: Christmas Day.

Try turning the game around once your child knows the format. Hold a decoration behind your back and let your child ask yes or no questions until they can guess it. It is the same riddle, built the other way, and it teaches them how clues work.

Hard Christmas riddles

The hard riddles are not about hard words. They are about a trick in the question, such as a word that sits somewhere unexpected, a letter hiding at the end, or a number that behaves in a way you did not expect. A few need pencil and paper if you are not used to them. Most can be solved out loud if the group takes turns.

29. Christmas comes after Thanksgiving on the calendar. Where does Christmas come before Thanksgiving? Answer: In the dictionary, because C comes before T.
30. What can you put into a Christmas stocking to make it lighter? Answer: A hole.
31. Three gifts sit in a row: a drum, a doll and a train. The doll is on the left. The train is not next to the doll. Where is the drum? Answer: In the middle, between the doll and the train.
32. I have twenty four small doors, but nobody lives behind them, and I only open one door a day. What am I? Answer: An advent calendar.
33. Rearrange the letters of LISTEN and you get a word that describes the night in the carol. What is the word? Answer: SILENT.
34. Spell NOEL backwards and you get a boy’s name. What is it? Answer: LEON.
35. What comes at the very end of Christmas and the very start of snow? Answer: The letter S.
36. I stand on the table in December. I give light, but I get shorter with every minute I live. What am I? Answer: A candle.

The first riddle is the favorite of this set, because the answer is so ordinary that most people miss it. Number 31 is a spatial puzzle, so draw three boxes in the air as you read it. For the SILENT and LEON riddles, write the letters down. They are far easier to see than to hear.

Christmas riddles for adults

These seven are for the dinner table after the kids have gone to bed or once the grandparents arrive. They are all clean, in case a child is sitting nearby, and they lean on logic more than trivia. A few are classic puzzles in a Christmas coat, like the elves and the weight of a ton. The twelve days riddle has a real number behind it. I checked that total by adding up all twelve verses myself.

37. I travel to every part of the world on Christmas cards, yet I never leave my corner. What am I? Answer: A postage stamp.
38. If five elves can wrap five gifts in five minutes, how long would it take one hundred elves to wrap one hundred gifts? Answer: Five minutes, because each elf still wraps one gift in five minutes.
39. If you add up every gift in The Twelve Days of Christmas, counting each repeat, how many gifts is that in total? Answer: 364.
40. Which weighs more, a ton of coal or a ton of presents? Answer: Neither. A ton is a ton.
41. I am stuffed before I am cooked and carved before I am eaten. What am I? Answer: A roast turkey.
42. A carrot, five pieces of coal and a scarf are lying in the middle of a green lawn. No one dropped them there. What happened? Answer: A snowman melted and left them behind.
43. I have a flap for a mouth, I swallow cards and letters all December, and I never say a word. What am I? Answer: A mailbox.

If you are hosting, read one between courses rather than all seven at once. Our list of family Christmas games for all ages has more ways to fill a long evening, and Christmas get together ideas covers the setup.

Funny riddles with a joke for an answer

The last seven sit halfway between a riddle and a joke. Each starts with a why question, and the answer is a pun. That is the format The 74 says younger children find hard, so I would use these with kids around 7 and up, or with a younger child who just likes the groan.

44. Why can’t a Christmas tree stand up on its own? Answer: It has a trunk, but no legs.
45. Why did the elf bring a pencil to the party? Answer: He had to draw names for Secret Santa.
46. Why did the candy cane go to the doctor? Answer: It was feeling a little crooked.
47. Why did the snow globe get invited to every party? Answer: It knew how to shake things up.
48. Why did the Christmas present stay so quiet? Answer: It did not want to give itself away.
49. Why was the fireplace the star of the party? Answer: It was the hottest spot in the house.
50. Why did the Christmas star feel so important? Answer: Everyone looked up to it.

The tree riddle answers a question that people search for on its own. If a child asks why the tree needs a stand at all, that is a good chance to look at the base together. For more silly lines in the same spirit, try our winter children’s jokes, which come with a printable jar.

Printable Christmas riddle cards with an answer key

The riddle cards turn this page into a game you can hand to someone else. Five pages of the PDF hold ten cards each, numbered from 1 to 50 with a small tag for the group. Page six holds every answer. That way a child can hold a card without the answer sitting on the back or on the next line.

Free download: Get the Christmas riddle cards PDF with all 50 riddles and an answer key

Cut along the dotted lines, shuffle the stack and let each person draw a card. Keep the answer page with one grown up so the reader can check the answer without showing it. If your family also likes puzzles, our Christmas word search is a good quiet pair. Please do not sell the file or repost it on another site.

How to play riddles at the table

A riddle needs a little structure, or the first child to guess ends the game for everyone else. These are the habits I would use.

• Read it twice: The second time, slow down on the last clue.
• Give a hint ladder: First say what category it is, then what room it lives in, then the first letter.
• Whisper the answer: If a child guesses right, let them whisper it so the others can keep thinking.
• Pass the card: The child who solves one becomes the next reader.
• Skip without shame: If a riddle is flat, move on and come back to it tomorrow.

You can also spread the 50 over the weeks before Christmas, one riddle each morning, as a quiet countdown. Tuck a card into a lunch box or a stocking and keep the answer for dinner. Riddles are easier to remember when someone has to wait for the answer.

Frequently asked questions about Christmas riddles

What are what am I riddles for the holidays?

A what am I riddle speaks as the object and ends with the question what am I. It gives clues in the first person, such as I have needles but I cannot sew, and the answer is a Christmas tree. Ten of them are in the what am I group on this page.

When does Christmas come before Thanksgiving riddle?

The answer is in the dictionary. Christmas starts with C and Thanksgiving starts with T, so Christmas comes first in alphabetical order. It is riddle number 29 on this page.

What is a Christmas riddle?

A Christmas riddle is a short puzzle about the holiday whose answer can be worked out from the clues. An example is what has a big bow and a surprise inside, and the answer is a present. It differs from a joke because the answer is something you can solve.

Why can’t the Christmas tree stand up riddle?

The answer is that it has a trunk, but no legs. The riddle plays on the way a tree has a trunk like an animal does but no legs to stand on, which is why a tree needs a stand. It is riddle number 44 on this page.

What is a hard Christmas riddle?

A hard Christmas riddle hides a trick in the question instead of using hard words. An example is to rearrange the letters of LISTEN to describe the night in the carol, and the answer is SILENT. Writing the letters down makes it much easier.

What age are these riddles good for?

The first eight are for ages 2 to 4, the easy and what am I groups are for roughly ages 4 to 7, and the hard and grown up riddles are for ages 8 and up. Those bands are a rule of thumb, so adjust for your own child.

How do I help a child who is stuck on a riddle?

Use a hint ladder. First say what category the answer belongs to, then say what room it lives in, and last give the first letter. Most children only need the first hint, and they enjoy the answer more when they reach it themselves.

Can I print these riddles?

Yes. The free PDF on this page has all 50 riddles on cards, ten per page, with the answers on a separate sixth page. It prints on US Letter paper.

Pick three riddles tonight and read them over dessert. Eeshan and Vihaan would shout the answer to the stocking riddle before I finished the sentence, and whoever got the hole one first would be unbearable for the rest of the evening. That is exactly the kind of fun a riddle is for.