How to structure a Christmas quiz
A good quiz cannot be done on the fly; it requires preparation, planning and most importantly, rounds. Just like any pub quiz, it should be divided into different sections to keep things ordered and maintain a good flow. Moreover, having different rounds of questions will allow for pauses in the quiz for such important activities as eating turkey or gift giving. That's the key thing with a Christmas party quiz, it has to allow for the other events of the day and be something that keeps spirits high and people engaged in between quaffing canapés, champagne and pulling crackers. A picture round should always be distributed first, allowing people to work on it throughout the duration of the party.
We'll get onto specific ideas for rounds below but something to bear in mind is keeping them all different to have a change of pace between rounds; essentially, you don't want ten rounds of standard question and answer, even if they are all on different topics. You can have the aforementioned picture round, odd one out rounds and guess the name based on the emojis. A good idea, depending on the company, is to have at least one round that has questions aimed at different people within the group – so that everyone feels as if they have something they know more about than anyone else. It's not the easiest task as you'll have to make sure each person or department (should it be a work party) is covered, but it makes a fun, interactive round that can cover the highlights of the past year for example.
You do not want a quiz to feel exhaustive but it does need to feel meaty so aim for between five and ten rounds so people can get stuck in without getting bored (another reason to break up rounds with other activities). Each round should have at least one question that everyone can answer as an impossible quiz is not fun for anyone.
Ideas for rounds
Guess the name based on the emojis: this could be celebrities or people within your specific world, for example you could attempt to spell an interior design studio or three via emojis. It's always a good ice breaker round and leads to great hilarity as people guess completely bizarre answers.
This is a very simple one where you have three things per question, and people have to guess which one is not like the others. For example, House & Garden, The World of Interiors and The Economist – where the Economist is a weekly publication rather than monthly.
A classic children's game, this can work very well in a Christmas trivia quiz. Choose a certain number of things down one side and jumble up the corresponding number of answers down the other side so people have to draw a line between the two. The possibilities for subject within here are huge, from basic general knowledge to funny interpersonal jokes.
This could be quotations from your parents' text messages, politicians, your bosses, whoever makes sense within the people at your party. You could have the answers be written or do a first one to shout it out for maximum chaos and hilarity. It also works really well coupled with a ‘Match them up’ round.
Bingo is always a brilliant addition. Create a 3 x 3 grid with a combination of funny quotes, moments and pictures from the past year. You need around three times the amount of clues than number of people involved, so a group of 5 people will need around 15 clues to make it long enough. We like to make them into rhymes, as per real bingo. The weirder and more nonsensical the better in our eyes. The only thing you need to do is ensure everyone's sheet is different by about two or three clues so there's a clear winner. Legs eleven!
- Who designed this fabric?
- Whose baby picture is this?
- Which capital city is this famous building in?
- Which member of our extended family is this? (You cannot see the head)
