The holiday season is, once again, upon us. If you are ready to celebrate the season with an exceptionally fun gathering, it is time to start planning a Christmas trivia night.
Let me explain what makes trivia night so great. Your friends and family get to show off the depths of their knowledge, learn fun new things, and work together with their team. When you wrap that all up in the spirit of good-hearted fun and competition, it is always a crowd-pleaser. Using a Christmas trivia printable with answers means it will be an easy event to pull together. If you are ready to plan a memorable trivia night, here is what you need to know.
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Preparations
The work you put in behind the scenes before your guests arrive will help your event stand out. It can be as simple or elaborate as you desire, but make sure to tackle these things before the big night.
Guest List: Inviting the perfect crowd involves a little strategy. Think through how many people you want on a team and how many teams you want to include. You will have a ballpark number of guests to shoot for, but the more, the merrier. You can always add additional teams, and teams don’t even have to be equal for everyone to have a good time.
Location: You can host a trivia night just about anywhere. Ensure you have enough space to accommodate your guest list and find space for every team to work together away from other teams.
Refreshments: Take things to the next level by offering your guests a tasty spread of snacks and drinks. You can even amp up the holiday spirit by making a snowman cheese ball, some Christmas light cupcakes, or a Christmas tree cheese platter.
Trivia Questions: In the days before the event, work on curating the perfect list of trivia questions and answers. They should be challenging but not impossible, fun-spirited, and interesting. If coming up with questions isn’t your thing, download a printable Christmas game of trivia and skip out on all the hard work.
The Main Event
The great thing about all that prep work is that most things can run on autopilot once your guests arrive. Let everyone take time to mingle and enjoy the snacks, and then it’s time to get started. And the best way to start is to communicate exactly how the rest of the night will proceed.
Rules: What is and isn’t allowed? Explain how they will write down and submit their answers. Cover things like restricting phones or outside resources, no shouting answers, submitted answers are final, and no arguing with the judge. When everyone knows the expectations, you will avoid problems down the road.
Scoring: Allow people to strategize their win by breaking down the point values before they get started. How many questions will there be? What will the point value be per question? Is there a final or bonus question at the end with a higher value? Lay it out in advance so people know what it takes to win.
Prizes: Your guests also need to know what is at stake. Is it purely their pride on the line, or are their prizes to win? Your guests will have a great time whatever you decide, so if prizes will blow your budget, you can skip them. You can also consider having your guests do a “buy-in” that will be split amongst the winners.
Teams: Team size will be determined by how many people are at the trivia night. Break the group up into a handful of teams of 2-6 people. You will then need to give each team a place to sit comfortably and collaborate on answers without other teams overhearing them. Once everyone settles in, allow them to work together on a team name, and you will be ready to begin.
Time Limit: To avoid the game dragging on all night, you will need to set some boundaries. When each question has a time limit (1-2 minutes), you will maintain some momentum. Be sure to plan adequate breaks along the way so people can refill their snack plates or use the bathroom. Keeping things on track will ensure things wrap up on time and nobody gets bored.
You Are Ready to Begin: With that, it’s time to get things started. As a host, do your best to keep the energy high. Play music while people collaborate on answers and narrate the evening with reminders and cues. Tell jokes, encourage friendly competition, and give periodic updates on how teams are doing. This will help the night flow smoothly and keep all your guests informed and excited.
Trivia night is a great way to get the people you love together, make new friends, and build community. It is an excellent activity for all ages that you customize for the group you are hosting. And while Christmas offers the perfect excuse to host a trivia night of your own, it is something you can do any time of the year.
