Birthday Trivia Questions With Answers: 45 Party Quiz Ideas

These birthday trivia questions cover traditions around the world, birthstones, zodiac signs, milestone ages and the story behind the birthday song, with answers after each question. Read them aloud at a party, turn them into a team quiz, or mix a few into a card for the birthday person. Every answer below is a well-established fact, so nobody ends up arguing with the quizmaster.

How to run a birthday trivia game

A trivia round is one of the easiest party games to host. Here is a simple format:

1. Form teams of three to five people. Mix friend groups so people meet.
2. Hand each team an answer sheet with numbered lines for each round.
3. Read each question twice, then give 30 to 45 seconds to answer.
4. Play rounds of ten questions, one category per round.
5. Swap sheets between teams for marking while you read the answers.
6. Keep a scoreboard visible so the competition builds.

Four rounds of ten take about 40 minutes with marking. That is the sweet spot for a party. Add a tiebreaker (see the end of this list) in case two teams finish level.

Birthday traditions around the world

1. In Mexico and many Latin American countries, what special celebration marks a girl’s 15th birthday? Answer: A quinceañera.

2. What party game, involving a decorated container filled with candy that is hit with a stick, is a birthday staple in Mexico? Answer: The piñata.

3. What soup is traditionally eaten on birthdays in Korea? Answer: Seaweed soup (miyeok-guk).

4. In China, what long food is eaten on birthdays as a symbol of a long life? Answer: Longevity noodles.

5. In Vietnam, everyone traditionally celebrated turning a year older on the same day. Which festival? Answer: Tết, the Lunar New Year.

6. In Japan, which three ages are celebrated with the Shichi-Go-San festival? Answer: Three, five and seven.

7. In Japan, Coming of Age Day celebrates people reaching which age? Answer: Twenty.

8. In Jewish tradition, at what age does a boy celebrate his bar mitzvah? Answer: Thirteen.

9. In the Netherlands, milestone birthdays such as the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th and 21st are given what name? Answer: Crown years (kroonjaren).

10. In the United States, which birthday is often celebrated with a “sweet 16” party? Answer: The 16th.

Birthstones by month

11. What is the birthstone for January? Answer: Garnet.

12. Which purple gemstone is February’s birthstone? Answer: Amethyst.

13. Which pale blue stone, named after the Latin for “sea water,” is March’s birthstone? Answer: Aquamarine.

14. April’s birthstone is the hardest natural substance. What is it? Answer: Diamond.

15. What green gem is the birthstone for May? Answer: Emerald.

16. June’s traditional birthstone is formed inside a mollusk. What is it? Answer: Pearl.

17. What red gemstone is the birthstone for July? Answer: Ruby.

18. What is the birthstone for September? Answer: Sapphire.

19. Which birthstone, known for its play of color, belongs to October? Answer: Opal.

20. Name one of the birthstones for December. Answer: Turquoise, tanzanite or zircon.

Zodiac and calendar birthday quiz questions

21. Someone born on Christmas Day has which zodiac sign? Answer: Capricorn.

22. What zodiac sign is someone born on July 4? Answer: Cancer.

23. Which zodiac sign is represented by a pair of twins? Answer: Gemini.

24. What is the name for someone born on February 29? Answer: A leapling (also called a leaper).

25. Roughly how often does February 29 occur? Answer: Once every four years, in a leap year.

26. According to the old nursery rhyme, what is “Monday’s child”? Answer: Fair of face.

27. And in the same rhyme, what is “Wednesday’s child”? Answer: Full of woe.

28. Which child “has far to go”? Answer: Thursday’s child.

Famous birthdays and history

29. The US federal holiday on the third Monday in February is officially named for whose birthday? Answer: George Washington’s.

30. The holiday on the third Monday in January honors the birthday of which civil rights leader? Answer: Martin Luther King Jr.

31. The British monarch has two birthdays: their real one and an official one. What ceremony marks the official birthday in June? Answer: Trooping the Colour.

32. On what date was Queen Elizabeth II actually born? Answer: April 21 (1926).

33. Which French woman holds the record for the longest verified human lifespan, at 122 years? Answer: Jeanne Calment.

34. What is a person who reaches their 100th birthday called? Answer: A centenarian.

35. And what is someone who reaches 110 called? Answer: A supercentenarian.

The Happy Birthday song

36. The melody of “Happy Birthday to You” comes from an earlier song written by two American sisters. What was it called? Answer: “Good Morning to All.”

37. What were the names of the two sisters behind it? Answer: Mildred and Patty Hill.

38. What profession did Patty Hill work in? Answer: Education. She was a kindergarten teacher and educator.

39. In 2015, a US federal judge ruled that a music publisher’s copyright claim over the lyrics was invalid. What was the result for most people? Answer: The song was effectively treated as public domain.

Birthday numbers and math

40. What is the “birthday paradox”? Answer: In a group of just 23 people, the chance that two share a birthday is more than 50 percent.

41. How many people do you need for the chance of a shared birthday to pass 99 percent? Answer: About 70.

42. What is the traditional extra candle on a birthday cake called? Answer: One to grow on.

43. A 25th anniversary is silver. What metal is linked to a 50th jubilee? Answer: Gold (a golden jubilee).

44. What is a 60th jubilee called? Answer: A diamond jubilee.

45. How many days old is a person on their first birthday, in a year without February 29? Answer: 365.

Tiebreaker question

Use a closest-number question to settle a tie: “How many birthday candles would you need in total to light one cake for every birthday from 1 to 30?” The answer is 465 (the sum of 1 through 30). The team with the nearest guess wins.

Birthday trivia scoring and format ideas

Format	Best for	How it works
Classic rounds	Dinner parties, 8 to 30 guests	Ten questions per round, teams write answers
Speed round	Large groups	Hands up to answer, first correct team scores
Picture round	Mixed ages	Show a birthstone, flag or cake photo, guess what it is
Bonus personal round	Any birthday	Add five questions about the guest of honor

The bonus personal round is where the biggest laughs come from. Our who knows the birthday girl best questions and who knows the birthday boy best questions lists have plenty to pull from. If you would rather hand out ready-made sheets, our printable birthday party games for adults include a personal quiz about the guest of honor.

For milestone parties, add a round about the year they were born. The guides to 50th birthday party games and 60th birthday party games have ideas for building an era round. And if trivia is one part of a bigger evening, see how to host a birthday game night.

A final tip: before the party, double-check any question you add yourself against a reliable reference. One disputed answer can stall a quiz for ten minutes, while clean answers keep the energy moving.