Christmas Jokes for Kids: 60 Funny, Clean Jokes and Riddles

These Christmas jokes for kids are clean, short and silly: Santa jokes, reindeer jokes, elf and snowman jokes, knock-knock jokes, easy jokes for kindergarteners, a few Christmas cracker jokes and some riddles. There are 60 in all, each with the answer underneath, plus free printable joke cards for lunchboxes, Advent calendars and the Christmas table.

Christmas 2026 is on Friday, December 25. Read one joke each morning in December, slip a joke card into the Advent calendar, or use them to fill the gap between dinner and dessert. If the children are counting the sleeps, our live Christmas countdown shows exactly how many are left.

Christmas jokes for kids at a glance

Santa jokes for kids

1. What does Santa get if he is stuck in a chimney?
   Claus-trophobia.
2. Why does Santa have three gardens?
   So he can ho, ho, ho.
3. What do you call Santa when he takes a break?
   Santa Pause.
4. What is Santa’s favorite type of music?
   Wrap music.
5. Why is Santa so good at karate?
   He has a black belt.
6. What do you call a Santa with no money?
   Saint Nickel-less.
7. Who brings presents to baby sharks at Christmas?
   Santa Jaws.
8. How much did Santa pay for his sleigh?
   Nothing. It was on the house!
9. What goes “oh, oh, oh”?
   Santa walking backwards.
10. What is Santa’s favorite sandwich?
    Peanut butter and jolly.

Reindeer jokes

11. What do you call a reindeer with no eyes?
    No eye-deer.
12. What do reindeer hang on their Christmas trees?
    Horn-aments.
13. What do reindeer say before telling a joke?
    This one will sleigh you!
14. Why did Rudolph get a bad report card?
    He went down in history.
15. What is a reindeer’s favorite game?
    Stable tennis.
16. Which of Santa’s reindeer is the best at parties?
    Dancer!
17. What do you get if you cross a reindeer with a ghost?
    A cari-boo!

Elf and snowman jokes

18. What do you call an elf who sings?
    A wrapper.
19. What do elves learn at school?
    The elf-abet.
20. Why was the elf sad?
    He had low elf-esteem.
21. What is an elf’s favorite sport?
    North Pole vaulting.
22. What do you call a greedy elf?
    Elfish.
23. What do snowmen call their children?
    Chill-dren.
24. Where do snowmen keep their money?
    In a snow bank.
25. What did one snowman say to the other snowman?
    “Do you smell carrots?”
26. How do snowmen get around town?
    They ride an icicle.
27. What do you call a snowman with six-pack abs?
    An abdominal snowman.

Christmas tree, present and food jokes

28. Why are Christmas trees bad at knitting?
    They keep dropping their needles.
29. What did the Christmas tree say to the ornament?
    “Quit hanging around!”
30. Why did the Christmas tree go to the barber?
    It needed a trim.
31. What do Christmas trees love to do on the computer?
    Log in.
32. What did the gingerbread man put on his bed?
    A cookie sheet.
33. What do you get if you eat Christmas decorations?
    Tinsel-itis.
34. What is the best Christmas present?
    A broken drum: you can’t beat it!
35. What do you call a cat on the beach at Christmas?
    Sandy Claws.
36. Why is it so cold at Christmas?
    Because it’s in Decem-brrr!
37. What do you call a kid who doesn’t believe in Santa?
    A rebel without a Claus.

Free printable Christmas joke cards

Print 24 of these jokes as cut-apart cards, 12 to a page, each with a little Christmas tree. Tuck one into a lunchbox, add one to each pocket of a homemade Advent calendar or use them as place cards at the children’s table.

Christmas knock-knock jokes

38. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Mary. Mary who?
    Mary Christmas!
39. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Holly. Holly who?
    Holly-days are here again!
40. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Elf. Elf who?
    Elf me wrap these presents!
41. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Yule. Yule who?
    Yule never guess!
42. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Snow. Snow who?
    Snow use, I forgot my name again!
43. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Rabbit. Rabbit who?
    Rabbit up nicely, it’s a present!
44. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Dexter. Dexter who?
    Dexter halls with boughs of holly!
45. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Interrupting Santa. Interrupting San…
    HO, HO, HO!

Easy Christmas jokes for kindergarteners

46. What do you call a snowman in summer?
    A puddle.
47. What falls but never gets hurt?
    Snow.
48. Why did the snowman call his dog Frost?
    Because Frost bites!
49. What do you sing at a snowman’s birthday party?
    “Freeze a jolly good fellow!”
50. What does Santa say at the start of a race?
    “Ready, set, ho!”
51. What is a penguin’s favorite relative?
    Aunt Arctica.

Christmas cracker jokes for grown-ups

In the UK and Ireland, Christmas crackers are paper tubes pulled apart with a bang at Christmas dinner, and each one holds a paper hat, a small toy and a joke that is meant to make everyone groan. The jokes below are in that tradition.

52. Why did Dad ask for a broken pencil for Christmas?
    He heard it was pointless.
53. How do you lift a frozen car?
    With a jack frost.
54. Who is never hungry at Christmas dinner?
    The turkey: it’s always stuffed.
55. What do you call people who are scared of Santa?
    Claus-trophobic.
56. Why did the Christmas cracker go to school?
    To get a little snappier.

Christmas riddles for kids

57. What has a trunk, branches and lights but never moves?
    A Christmas tree.
58. I am white, I fall from the sky, and no two of me are the same. What am I?
    A snowflake.
59. What has 36 legs and flies on Christmas Eve?
    Santa’s nine reindeer, if you count Rudolph.
60. What list does Santa check twice?
    The naughty and nice list.

Why do young children miss some funny Christmas jokes?

Most Christmas jokes for kids are puns, so a child only laughs if they already know the hidden word the joke is playing with. “No eye-deer” is funny once a child hears “no idea” inside it, while “Claus-trophobia” needs the word claustrophobia, which many young children have not met yet. Sorting the jokes by the kind of wordplay makes it easy to pick ones that will land.

• Sound-alike puns (easiest): chill-dren (children), elf-abet (alphabet) and horn-aments (ornaments). Say the two words side by side and many children of 5 or 6 hear the joke straight away.
• Double-meaning jokes (medium): a tree that “needed a trim” (trimming a tree also means decorating it), a snowman’s “snow bank” and Santa’s “black belt”. The child has to know both meanings, so explain the second one the first time.
• Big-word puns (hardest): Claus-trophobia, tinsel-itis (tonsillitis), Saint Nickel-less (Saint Nicholas) and the abdominal snowman (the abominable snowman). Keep these for older children, and for the Christmas cracker jokes at the grown-ups’ end of the table.

Christmas knock-knock jokes are the exception: the hard part there is the script, not the pun. Practice the five lines with the child playing the person at the door first, starting with joke 38, “Mary Christmas”. Puns built on words that sound the same are also a gentle way into homophone pairs like pair and pear, and a child who would rather solve a puzzle than hear a pun can go from the four riddles above to picture riddles and what am I riddles to print.

How to use these Christmas jokes for kids

• A joke-a-day Advent calendar: 24 joke cards fit one per day from December 1 to Christmas Eve.
• Homemade crackers: roll a joke card and a small treat inside a toilet-paper tube, wrap it in tissue paper and twist the ends.
• Classroom party: each child draws a joke card and reads it to the class, which is great reading-aloud practice.
• Guess the punchline: one person reads the question and everyone has ten seconds to guess before the answer.
• Gift-passing game: tape a joke card between the wrapping layers of the prize in a read-aloud story game where the parcel moves left and right, and whoever removes a layer reads the joke.
• Write your own: most Christmas jokes are puns. Pick a Christmas word (elf, snow, Claus, tree) and look for a word it sounds like.

How to run a joke-a-day Advent countdown with Christmas jokes for kids

A joke-a-day countdown needs 24 jokes, one for each day from December 1 to Christmas Eve, and the two printable pages above give you exactly 24 cards. Set it up once at the end of November and it runs itself for the rest of the month.

1. Print both pages. Cardstock keeps the cards flat in a pocket or a lunchbox. Ordinary paper works too if you fold each card in half.
2. Cut the cards apart and number the backs 1 to 24. A child who can count can then find today’s card without help.
3. Put the shortest jokes first. Early jokes that land make a young child keen for the next one, so save the longer puns for later in the month.
4. Pick one delivery spot and keep to it. An Advent calendar pocket, the lunchbox, the breakfast plate or the hands of the family’s scout elf all work. If the elf is new this year, start with one of our three scout elf arrival letters, with a goodbye letter for Christmas Eve.
5. Collect the used cards in a jar. By Christmas Eve it holds 24 funny Christmas jokes, ready for a family vote on the best one.

Frequently asked questions

8 quick answers

Which funny Christmas jokes work best for kids?

A favorite is “What do you call Santa when he takes a break? Santa Pause.” It is short and easy for young children to retell.

What are good Christmas jokes for kindergarteners?

Simple ones with a picture in them: “What do you call a snowman in summer? A puddle”, or “What does Santa say at the start of a race? Ready, set, ho!”

What is a good Christmas knock-knock joke?

Knock, knock. Who’s there? Mary. Mary who? Mary Christmas!

What are Christmas cracker jokes?

Short, groan-worthy jokes printed on slips of paper inside Christmas crackers, a British and Irish tradition at Christmas dinner.

Are these Christmas jokes clean for school?

Yes. All 60 are suitable for children and the classroom.

Can I print these Christmas jokes for kids?

Yes. The free joke cards have 24 jokes, 12 per page, in US Letter and A4.

How many jokes do I need for a joke-a-day Advent calendar?

24, one for each day from December 1 to December 24. The free printable joke cards on this page have exactly 24 jokes, 12 per page.

Can the Elf on the Shelf bring Christmas jokes for kids?

Yes. Stand the elf next to one joke card each morning, or tape the card to its hands, so the child finds a new joke along with the elf. 24 cards cover December 1 to Christmas Eve.

More Christmas fun for kids

• How many days until Christmas: live countdown and printables
• Christmas coloring pages
• Christmas word search printables
• Christmas trivia and Christmas bingo
• Easy Elf on the Shelf ideas
• Thanksgiving jokes for kids
• Color-in countdown to Christmas morning, with a paper chain version
• Festive quiz night pack with a host sheet and team answer sheets
• Seven Christmas worksheets, from a word scramble to an acrostic poem
• Would you rather questions for long holiday car rides: 90 clean ones, with printable cards

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Last updated: November 2026