241 Christmas this or that questions

We read about a dozen of the pages that rank for this search before writing ours. Only one cites anything, and it cites other question lists. None splits kids by age, so a three-year-old and an eleven-year-old get the same questions. The page Google's AI Overview quoted first when we searched is British, with panto and Boxing Day questions, and most of the rest lean on holiday films and trademarked characters.

So this list does three things differently. Every pair is original and built from things that won't date: trees, cookies, snow, gifts, family habits. Kids get three age bands, written to what children can actually do at each age. And under the questions where a pollster asked Americans the same thing, you'll find the real answer, so the argument at the table has an ending.

What is the difference between this or that and would you rather?

This or that asks you to pick between two things: cocoa or cider, star or angel. Would you rather asks you to pick between two situations you have to imagine: would you rather live in a gingerbread house or an igloo? Both games have one rule in common. You commit to one side and say why.

The difference decides who can play. A quick this-or-that pick can be answered with one word or by pointing, so it works with toddlers and with a room full of coworkers who don't know each other yet. A would-you-rather question needs a moment of pretending, which is why the kids' sets below start them at age six. A good night usually runs in that order too: ten fast this-or-that picks to warm the room up, then the stranger scenarios once people are talking. The two banks below are kept apart so you can do exactly that.

How do you play Christmas this or that?

Read one question aloud. Everyone picks a side at the same moment, by pointing, raising a hand or walking to one side of the room, and nobody can say "both" or "neither". Then one person from each side gets a single sentence to defend their pick. Allow about a minute per question with reasons, so 15 to 20 questions fill a 20-minute round. Pick a format to fit the crowd:

If you want more games for the same evening, our Christmas party games list has full rules for 68 of them, sorted by crowd.

What age can kids play this or that?

From about two and a half, if you keep it to two things they can see. For a 2½-year-old, the American Academy of Pediatrics advises offering a choice between two items the child likes, because more than two is too much. Speech-language pathologists at ASHA suggest holding both options up so a child can answer by pointing or looking, and ZERO TO THREE says to offer choices where every option is acceptable. That's the whole design of the preschool set below: two pictures, no wrong answer.

The reason comes later. By age four most children can answer simple questions like "What is a coat for?", according to CDC developmental milestones. In school, the Common Core writing standards ask first graders to state an opinion and supply a reason for it, and second graders to link reasons with words like "because". "Pick one and say why" is that skill, out loud.

Christmas this or that questions

Good Christmas this or that questions pit two things everyone already has an opinion about: real tree or artificial, colored lights or white, a surprise or something you asked for. These quick picks work for any age that can talk, and for any mix of ages at once. They're sorted by part of the holiday, so you can stay on one topic or jump around.

The tree and the lights

1. Real tree or artificial? Of Americans putting up a tree in 2025, 81% planned an artificial one and 20% a real one, with a few doing both (YouGov). Asked which they'd rather have, the gap shrinks: 48% artificial, 40% real (YouGov, 2023).
2. Which smells better, a real tree or a candle that smells like one? No poll has pitted a tree against a candle, but against an artificial tree the real one wins easily: 79% of Americans say a real tree smells better (YouGov).
3. A tall, skinny tree or a short, wide one?
4. Colored lights or white lights? Colored, 57% to 36%, among Americans with a tree (YouGov). The first electrically lit Christmas tree, in 1882, had 80 hand-wired bulbs in red, white and blue (Library of Congress).
5. A star or an angel on top? Star, 47% to 18%, among Americans with a tree (YouGov).
6. Tinsel or garland? Much American tinsel contained lead until the early 1970s, when the FDA got manufacturers to stop (The Atlantic).
7. Tree up before Thanksgiving or after? After, by a lot: 18% of tree households put it up before Thanksgiving (YouGov).
8. Tree down before New Year's or after? After: of tree households, 21% take it down by New Year's and 71% sometime in January (YouGov). In medieval England, greenery often stayed up until February 2 (English Heritage).
9. Start the holiday season right after Halloween or right after Thanksgiving? Right after Thanksgiving, 45% to 20% (YouGov for Yahoo News, 2023).
10. Lights that twinkle or lights that stay still?
11. Ornaments that all match or ornaments that each have a story?
12. Lights outside the house or only inside? The first electric Christmas lights went up outdoors: Thomas Edison strung them around his Menlo Park lab in 1880, where train passengers could see them (Library of Congress).
13. Poinsettia or holly? Poinsettias aren't deadly. Researchers couldn't find a poisonous dose even at about 500 to 600 leaves, though eating them can upset a stomach (Poison Control).
14. Mistletoe over the door or no mistletoe? The name probably comes from Anglo-Saxon words for "dung" and "twig", because birds spread the seeds in their droppings (Smithsonian).
15. One big tree or a little tree in every room?

Gifts and wrapping

16. A surprise or something you asked for? Surprise, 54% to 26% (YouGov).
17. One big gift or ten small ones? Close to a tie: 51% one big gift, 48% ten small ones (Marist Poll, 2025).
18. A gift card or a wrapped gift? A near tie: asked which gifts they like to get, 56% named gift cards and 55% physical gifts (Ipsos for Wells Fargo).
19. Cash or a gift card? Most people are fine with either: 88% call cash an acceptable gift and 87% say the same of gift cards (AP-NORC).
20. Re-gifting: fine or rude? Fine, say 61% of Americans (AP-NORC).
21. Wrapping paper or a gift bag? Paper, 39% to 18% (YouGov, 2019). Printed gift wrap took off at Christmas 1917, when a Kansas City store ran out of tissue paper and sold fancy envelope liners instead (NPR).
22. Save the wrapping paper or toss it? Toss: 59% never keep it (YouGov, 2025).
23. Gift tags or write the name on the paper?
24. Wrap as you buy or all in one night?
25. Bows or ribbon?
26. Hide the presents in a new spot or the closet everyone already knows about?
27. Stockings by the fireplace or at the foot of the bed? Stockings were already hung "by the chimney with care" in the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (Smithsonian).
28. Mail holiday cards or skip them this year? Most skip them: 27% of Americans say they mail holiday cards, this year included (YouGov, 2025), yet 60% love or like getting one (YouGov, 2025). The first Christmas card, from 1843, sold for a shilling and was judged a flop (V&A).

Christmas morning

29. Open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Morning, 43% to 23% (YouGov, 2024). In Germany, presents are traditionally handed out on the afternoon or evening of December 24 (Germany's national tourist board).
30. Up at dawn or sleep in?
31. Pajamas all day or get dressed?
32. Stockings first or presents under the tree first?
33. Presents before breakfast or breakfast before presents?
34. Everyone opens at once or one at a time?
35. Youngest opens first or oldest opens first?
36. Play with the new things or take a nap?

Snow and the outdoors

37. Snow on Christmas Day or no snow? In Britain, 65% want it (YouGov, 2025). Crested Butte, Colorado, is one of a handful of US weather stations with a nearly 100% historical chance of a white Christmas (NOAA).
38. Snowman or snow angel? Snow looks white but is translucent: the many sides of each snowflake scatter light in all directions (NSIDC).
39. Shovel the driveway or brush off the car?
40. Mittens or gloves?
41. A crackling fire or a window to watch the snow?
42. Christmas or Thanksgiving? 36% of Americans call Christmas their favorite day of the year and 23% say the same of Thanksgiving, rating each holiday separately (YouGov, 2024).

Christmas food this or that

The food pairs that split a table best are the ones the polls call close: turkey edges ham 56% to 52% when people can pick both, while mini marshmallows beat one big one 71% to 5%. Food is where people get loud, so play this round at the table.

43. Turkey or ham? Turkey edges it: asked which holiday mains they prefer, with more than one answer allowed, 56% chose turkey and 52% ham (Harris Poll for Instacart, 2024).
44. Sugar cookies or gingerbread? Sugar: 52% name it among their favorite holiday cookies, against 33% for gingerbread (Harris Poll for Instacart). A food historian dates gingerbread houses to the 1600s (Smithsonian).
45. Chocolate chip or snickerdoodle? Chocolate chip is the most-picked holiday cookie at 57% and snickerdoodles get 32%, while oatmeal raisin tops the least-favorite list at 21% (Harris Poll for Instacart).
46. Hot cocoa or eggnog? Cocoa, easily: 28% call it their favorite holiday drink and 12% pick eggnog (YouGov, 2022).
47. Eggnog: love it or leave it? 55% love or like it and 33% dislike or hate it (YouGov). On Christmas Eve 1826, a forbidden eggnog party at West Point turned into the "Eggnog Riot" (U.S. Army).
48. Marshmallows in your cocoa or none? With, 42% to 24%, and 31% like it both ways (YouGov).
49. Mini marshmallows or one big one? Mini, 71% to 5% (YouGov).
50. Hot cocoa or hot apple cider?
51. Fruitcake or no fruitcake? No fruitcake, 56% to 39% (Saint Leo University Polling Institute, 2021). In 2017, conservators working on artifacts from an Antarctic hut found a fruitcake probably left by a 1910-1913 expedition that looked and smelled almost edible (Antarctic Heritage Trust).
52. Candy cane or gingerbread man? Christmas candy sticks were plain white for a long time; red-and-white stripes didn't show up until around 1900 (Smithsonian).
53. Mashed potatoes or stuffing?
54. Pumpkin pie or pecan pie?
55. Cinnamon rolls or pancakes on Christmas morning?
56. Fudge or peppermint bark?
57. Cranberry sauce from a can or homemade?
58. Dinner rolls or cornbread?
59. Decorate the cookies or eat them plain?

Christmas this or that for kids, by age

Preschoolers need two things they can picture, and some of them will answer by pointing. School-age kids can handle a reason, and by nine or ten they enjoy defending a strange choice. Use the band that fits the youngest player at the table.

Ages 3 to 5

60. Snowman or reindeer?
61. Wreath or Christmas tree?
62. Red or green?
63. Mittens or boots?
64. Sled or snowball?
65. Penguin or polar bear? They never meet in the wild: polar bears live only around the North Pole, and penguins almost entirely in the Southern Hemisphere (Audubon).
66. Bells or drums?
67. Hot cocoa or a glass of milk?
68. Teddy bear or toy train?
69. Santa hat or reindeer antlers?
70. Gingerbread man or snowman cookie?
71. Blue lights or rainbow lights?
72. Gingerbread house or snow globe?
73. Sprinkles or chocolate chips?
74. Elf or reindeer?
75. Snowflakes or stars?
76. Pajamas or a cozy sweater?

Ages 6 to 8

77. Cut out paper snowflakes or make a pinecone bird feeder?
78. Bake the cookies or decorate them?
79. Write Santa a letter or draw him a picture?
80. Gingerbread house or gingerbread cookies?
81. Sledding or ice skating? People have skated for a very long time: ice skates made of animal bone date back to about 1800 BC (a 2007 study of skating through history).
82. Sing in the holiday show or help paint the scenery?
83. Pick out the tree or put the star on top?
84. Paper chain countdown or an Advent calendar? The first printed Advent calendar is usually credited to a Munich publisher in 1908, and chocolate ones didn't reach stores until 1958 (Knauf Museum).
85. Snowball fight or snow fort?
86. Make a gift for your teacher or for a grandparent?
87. See real reindeer at a farm or the holiday lights at the zoo? Female reindeer can keep their antlers all winter, while adult males shed theirs after the fall breeding season (National Park Service).
88. Leave cookies for Santa or carrots for the reindeer? Cookies are the safe bet: 55% of parents say their kids will leave out cookies and milk, though the poll didn't ask about carrots (YouGov).
89. Christmas pajamas or new slippers?
90. Wrap presents or make the gift tags?
91. Play in the snow in the morning or after dark?
92. Peppermint or chocolate?

Ages 9 to 12

93. Wrap presents neatly or as fast as you can?
94. Make a gift or buy one?
95. Stay up late on Christmas Eve or wake up first on Christmas morning?
96. A snow day off school or an extra day of winter break?
97. Help cook Christmas dinner or set the table?
98. Build a gingerbread house from a kit or from scratch?
99. Thank-you notes by hand or a thank-you video call?
100. Give a present or open one?
101. Hang the outside lights or decorate inside?
102. Go caroling or sit by the fire? In medieval Europe a "carole" was a dance: people linked arms in a ring and sang as they followed the leader's steps (Britannica).
103. Read a Christmas story or make one up?
104. Snowmobile ride or horse-drawn sleigh ride?
105. Hide the presents or find them?
106. Spend your gift money now or save it?
107. Naughty list or nice list, honestly? 71% of American adults think they've been more nice than naughty this year (YouGov, 2024).

Would you rather questions for kids

Would you rather questions for kids ask them to imagine two situations and pick one, like living in a gingerbread house or an igloo. They need a little imagination, so they suit kids from about six, and the silly ones are the ones they'll repeat to their grandparents.

North Pole magic

108. Would you rather visit Santa's workshop or ride along on Christmas Eve?
109. Would you rather have a pet reindeer or a pet penguin?
110. Would you rather be the elf who tests the toys or the elf who wraps them?
111. Would you rather live in a gingerbread house or an igloo?
112. Would you rather be able to talk to snowmen or fly like a reindeer? In the first printing of "A Visit from St. Nicholas", in 1823, two of the reindeer were Dunder and Blixem, Dutch for thunder and lightning (New York State Library).
113. Would you rather have a stocking that refills itself with candy or a tree that sings carols?
114. Would you rather spend a day at the North Pole or a night inside a snow globe?
115. Would you rather help Santa read the letters or help him check the list?
116. Would you rather have snow that tastes like vanilla ice cream or icicles that taste like candy canes?
117. Would you rather shrink to the size of an ornament or grow as tall as the tree?

Silly ones

118. Would you rather sneeze glitter or hiccup jingle bells?
119. Would you rather have hair that sparkles like tinsel or ears that jingle when you walk?
120. Would you rather wear a sweater that blinks or one that plays a carol every hour?
121. Would you rather eat a candy cane that tastes like broccoli or broccoli that tastes like a candy cane?
122. Would you rather wake up as a snowman or as a gingerbread man?
123. Would you rather it snowed marshmallows or rained hot cocoa?
124. Would you rather have Christmas twice a year or your birthday twice a year?
125. Would you rather open a present packed in ten boxes, one inside the other, or one wrapped in a hundred layers of tape?
126. Would you rather have to prance everywhere like a reindeer on Christmas Day or waddle everywhere like a penguin?
127. Would you rather have a reindeer that only walks backward or a sleigh that only flies in circles?

What Christmas this or that questions work for teens?

Teens will play if the questions take their side of things seriously: sleep, phones, money and how embarrassing the family photo card is. The last eight are would you rather questions.

128. Matching family pajamas or your own comfiest clothes? No poll asked this exact pair, but holiday pajamas are mostly a parent thing: 37% of Americans plan to wear them (YouGov), against 59% of parents of kids under 18 (YouGov).
129. Holiday music: starts too early or right on time? Too early, say 54% of Americans (YouGov for Yahoo News).
130. New Year's Eve with family or with friends?
131. Ugly sweater or dressed up? No poll asked this exact pair, but sweaters have a following: 40% of Americans plan to wear a holiday sweater this season (YouGov).
132. A holiday job for extra money or the whole break off?
133. Secret Santa or white elephant?
134. Bake with family or shop with friends?
135. Phone off for Christmas Day or phone on?
136. Drive around to see the lights or walk the neighborhood?
137. Classic carols or new holiday pop?
138. Go in on one big gift with your siblings or buy your own?
139. Post your Christmas online or keep it offline?
140. Star in a holiday movie or record a holiday song? Movie, 72% to 26% (Marist Poll, 2024).
141. Would you rather control the music all Christmas Day or pick what the family watches that night?
142. Would you rather wrap every present in the house or clean up after Christmas dinner?
143. Would you rather go without your phone on Christmas Day or open no presents until noon?
144. Would you rather share a room with your cousins for a week or sleep on the couch?
145. Would you rather the family card use your worst school photo or your most embarrassing baby photo?
146. Would you rather spend the whole break shoveling snow or watching your youngest cousins?
147. Would you rather sing a carol solo at dinner or give a toast?
148. Would you rather get $100 to spend on other people or $50 to spend on yourself?

Which questions work for the whole family and grandparents?

Mixed-age tables need questions a seven-year-old and a seventy-year-old can both answer. These do, and they work best with one follow-up after each answer: what's the story behind that? Ask a grandparent "Christmases now or when you were a kid?" and you'll often get a story nobody at the table has heard before.

149. The Christmases you had as a kid or the ones we have now?
150. Homemade decorations or store-bought?
151. Grandma's recipe or a new one this year?
152. Keep a tradition or start a new one?
153. Carols around the piano or a playlist?
154. A big dinner or snacks all day?
155. A walk after dinner or cocoa on the couch?
156. Board games or a jigsaw puzzle?
157. Christmas Eve or Christmas Day as the big day? In Britain, 45% prefer Christmas Day and 19% Christmas Eve (YouGov, 2024).
158. A photo of everyone or one of just the kids?
159. A letter or a phone call from someone far away?
160. Handwritten cards or a family group text?
161. The house full of people or just us?
162. Christmas dinner at midday or in the evening?
163. Tell the story of your best Christmas or your funniest one?
164. A kids' table or everyone at one table?

When the answers start turning into stories, our list of questions to ask your grandparents picks up from there, with the method oral historians use.

Would you rather questions for adults

Adults are the easiest crowd for would you rather because everyone has hosted, traveled or assembled something at midnight. The first group is for laughs, the second is the logistics everyone argues about anyway, and the last group is harder.

Funny ones

165. Would you rather untangle every string of lights in the house or wrap every present?
166. Would you rather hear the same carol on a loop all December or no carols at all?
167. Would you rather assemble a toy at 1 a.m. with no instructions or with instructions in a language you can't read?
168. Would you rather have a tree that drops every needle on December 20 or lights where only half the strand works?
169. Would you rather step barefoot on a pine cone or on an ornament hook?
170. Would you rather learn you've mailed cards to an old address for years or that you misspelled a name on every one?
171. Would you rather wear an ugly sweater to work all December or matching pajamas to the grocery store?
172. Would you rather live across from the brightest light display on the street or own it?
173. Would you rather receive a fruitcake every year or be the person who gives one every year?
174. Would you rather have to sing every time you speak on Christmas Day or rhyme every sentence?

Quick picks: hosting, travel and the in-laws

175. Host or be a guest?
176. Travel for the holidays or stay home? Stay home, 82% to 18% (Marist Poll, 2025), up from 75% a year earlier (Marist Poll, 2024).
177. Shop early or last-minute?
178. Shop online or in stores? Close: on Black Friday 2025, about 85.7 million Americans shopped online and 80.3 million in stores (National Retail Federation).
179. "Merry Christmas" or "Happy holidays"? 65% of Americans prefer "Merry Christmas" and 26% "Happy holidays"; even among people who don't celebrate Christmas, 42% prefer "Merry Christmas" (YouGov, 2024).
180. Stay with family or book a hotel?
181. Drive or fly?
182. The holiday season: more fun or more stressful? An exact split: 50% to 50%, up from 37% "more stressful" in 2022 (Marist Poll, 2025).
183. Believing in Santa: never too old, or is there an age? 28% of Americans say children are never too old (YouGov).
184. Cook the whole meal or assign dishes?

Harder ones

185. Would you rather have one perfect Christmas you remember forever or a good one every year that blurs together?
186. Would you rather spend Christmas with family far away or with friends close by?
187. Would you rather give up Christmas music or Christmas lights?
188. Would you rather know every present in advance or never be able to return one?
189. Would you rather have Christmas without a tree or without the big dinner?
190. Would you rather find the letter you wrote to Santa as a kid or a letter a grandparent wrote about you?
191. Would you rather relive your favorite childhood Christmas for one day or see what Christmas looks like in 30 years?
192. Would you rather receive no gifts this year or give none?
193. Would you rather keep one ornament forever or one photo forever?
194. Would you rather spend Christmas Day volunteering or hosting?

What are good Christmas this or that questions for work?

Good work questions are about the party, not the person: potluck or catered, cookie swap or gift swap, a holiday party or a bonus. Office lists go wrong in two ways: questions that are too personal for people who've just met, and questions that assume everyone celebrates the same way. These stick to the party itself, use "holiday" where it reads more naturally, and leave out drinking. Most of them work on a video call too.

195. A gift exchange: fun or stressful? Fun, 39% to 13% (YouGov, 2017).
196. A holiday party or a bonus? Bonus, by a mile: 79% of employed Americans would rather have one than a company party (The Harris Poll, 2024).
197. A holiday party at the office or at a restaurant?
198. Potluck or catered?
199. Lunch party or after-work party?
200. Ugly sweater day or pajama day?
201. Desk decorations: none or all-out?
202. Cookie swap or gift swap?
203. Holiday playlist on or a quiet office?
204. Hot cocoa bar or coffee bar?
205. Team volunteer day or team lunch?
206. Party on a video call or in person?
207. Out-of-office message: funny or plain?
208. A sweet table or a savory table?
209. One group card or individual notes?
210. Leave early on the last day or take a long lunch?
211. Party games or just conversation?

Christmas this or that across the US

No other list we read had these. Christmas looks very different in New Mexico, Louisiana, Hawaii and Vermont, and these questions start that conversation.

212. Tamales on Christmas Eve or a seafood feast?
213. Luminarias along the walk or lights on the roof?
214. A snowy Christmas in Vermont or 80 degrees in Florida?
215. A Christmas Day luau or a sit-down roast dinner?
216. Gumbo or prime rib?
217. Christmas Eve bonfires on the levee or a lighted boat parade?
218. A Christmas parade or a tree lighting?
219. Biscuits and gravy or bagels for Christmas breakfast?
220. Cookie exchange or gingerbread house contest?
221. Sweet potato pie or pumpkin pie?
222. Pozole or chili on Christmas Eve?

Christmas this or that around the world

Every pair here starts from a real tradition somewhere else, with the fact and the source under it, so this round doubles as a little trivia.

223. Porridge for the tomte or cookies for Santa? In Sweden, the traditional bowl left out is Christmas porridge for the tomte, a farm spirit said to watch over the animals (Nordiska museet).
224. A shoe by the fireplace or a stocking? Dutch children have put out a shoe for Sinterklaas since the 1400s, and many tuck something in it for his horse (Meertens Institute).
225. Christmas Eve supper when the first star appears or Christmas Day dinner? In Poland, the Christmas Eve supper traditionally starts when the first star shows, with an extra place set for an unexpected guest (Poland's National Institute of Cultural Heritage).
226. Christmas crackers or no crackers? London confectioner Tom Smith is credited with inventing the cracker; the V&A dates his first one to 1847 (V&A).
227. Mince pies or Christmas pudding? In Britain, mince pies beat pudding 45% to 27% (YouGov). On Stir-up Sunday, everyone in the family takes a turn stirring the pudding and makes a wish (South West Heritage Trust).
228. Real candles on the tree or electric? Real ones haven't died out in Germany: in a 2019 survey, about 17% of Germans with a tree used real candles (Bundeswehr University Munich).
229. Hide a pickle ornament or skip it? The "old German" Christmas pickle is barely known in Germany: 91% of Germans in a 2016 YouGov poll had never heard of it (YouGov Germany).
230. Boxing Day or New Year's Day as the best day off? Boxing Day, December 26, is a holiday in Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand (Britannica).
231. Feather tree or pine tree? Some of the first artificial Christmas trees were made in Germany in the late 1800s from goose feathers dyed green (Sauk County Historical Society).
232. Give books for Christmas, Iceland style, or games? Iceland's publishers release a flood of new titles as the year ends, which Icelanders call Jólabókaflóð, the Christmas Book Flood (Visit Iceland).
233. Write "Christmas" or "Xmas"? The X is the Greek letter chi, the first letter of Christ's name in Greek, and the X abbreviation dates back to at least 1551 (Cambridge Dictionary blog).

Faith-friendly Christmas this or that

The lists above stay secular on purpose, so they work at school and at work. This optional set is for families and church groups who keep Christmas mainly as a religious holiday, as 51% of Americans who celebrate it do (YouGov).

234. Midnight service or Christmas morning service?
235. Nativity scene inside or outside?
236. "Silent Night" or "O Holy Night"?
237. Advent wreath or Advent calendar?
238. Read the Christmas story from Luke or from Matthew?
239. Carol at church or carol door to door?
240. Give to a food bank or a toy drive?
241. Light the Advent candles at dinner or at bedtime?

What do most Americans pick?

Here are 14 of the questions above where a pollster asked Americans the same thing. Each figure links to the original poll.

Percentages are as each pollster published them. Where a poll let people pick more than one answer, or asked only people with a tree, the question above says so.

How do you write your own this or that questions?

Make both options tempting, or make both ridiculous. A pair where one side obviously wins, like "presents or no presents", ends the game in a second, which is why "one big gift or ten small ones" works so well: Marist found Americans split 51% to 48%. Keep the two options in the same category, so it's cookie against cookie and not cookie against snow day.

Skip films, songs from the radio and characters from TV. They date fast, and a seven-year-old and her grandfather won't know the same ones, while everybody knows what a candy cane is. For preschoolers, follow the ZERO TO THREE rule and only offer two choices you'd be happy with either way; for teens, add a cost to each side, as in "$100 for other people or $50 for yourself". And try every question out loud once. If it takes more than one breath to read, cut it in half.

Santa's workshop or the northern lights?

Ask your kid that one last pick, then let them star in it. Upload one photo and we paint your child as the hero of the world they chose, printed as a puzzle, a canvas or an ornament. You approve a free, watermarked proof before anything prints.

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See them in Santa's workshop

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Want to see the worlds first? Here are Santa's Workshop and the Northern Lights. For more table fun, try our Christmas trivia questions or the Christmas jokes for kids, sorted by age.

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