Christmas quiz night fundraiser for a UK charity

Plan a Christmas quiz night for your charity: venue or online, rounds, teams, entry via your donate page, Gift Aid limits on entry fees and raffle rules.

In short A Christmas quiz night is one of the easiest events for a UK charity to run: 5 to 10 volunteers, 6 weeks of planning, teams of 4 to 6 and four to six rounds. Teams enter through your donate page. Entry fees are not eligible for Gift Aid, and a raffle needs the lottery rules checked first.

Why does a quiz night suit a Christmas appeal?

A quiz needs no stage and no stock. Friends, colleagues and neighbours already want a festive evening out, so a team entry is an easy yes. It works in a pub, a village hall or a church hall, and just as well on a video call.

It also fits the wider plan in our Christmas fundraising ideas for a charity, because one quiz can feed several other parts of your Christmas appeal.

Venue or online: which should you choose?

Choose a venue if you have volunteers who can host and a room that holds 10 to 15 tables. Choose online if your supporters are spread across the country or your budget is tight. Both formats use the same questions and the same scoring.

  • Venue: atmosphere, food and drink sales, easy to add a raffle at the event.
  • Online: no room hire, no travel, and relatives far away can join a team.
  • Hybrid: a small room plus a video link, which needs one extra volunteer to run the link.

For the digital side, see online Christmas fundraising and digital experiences.

How do you build the rounds and the teams?

Keep the evening to about 2 hours, including a break. Four to six rounds of 10 questions each is enough, and teams of 4 to 6 people keep the room lively without anyone sitting out.

  1. Christmas music, with a short clip to name.
  2. Films and television at Christmas.
  3. Festive food and drink.
  4. Traditions around the world and in the UK.
  5. A picture round, such as a Christmas jumper line up.
  6. A local round about your town and your cause.

Write the questions yourself or have a volunteer check them, and keep a spare set for a tie break. Print an answer sheet per team and appoint one scorer who is not on a team.

How do teams enter through your donate page?

Put the entry on your donate page so that every team pays in advance and you know your numbers early. Set a fixed price per team or per person, for example £5 per person, and ask for a team name and a contact in the message field or a short form.

Send each captain a confirmation with the date, the time and the joining link or the address. A reminder 48 hours before the quiz cuts no shows.

Does Gift Aid apply to quiz entry fees?

No. An entry fee is a payment to take part, not a gift, and HMRC guidance does not treat a paid event ticket as eligible for Gift Aid. The one exception is a clearly separate, voluntary extra amount that the donor chooses to add.

So offer a separate optional donation next to the entry. Gift Aid lets a charity claim 25p for every £1 given, so a £20 gift becomes £25, but only when the donor has made a valid declaration and the organisation is a recognised charity or a registered CASC. Ask HMRC if you are unsure how to split the two.

Can you run a raffle or offer prizes?

Prizes for the winning team are simple if they are donated, such as a hamper or a voucher. A raffle is different, because in law it is a lottery. Do not add one until you have checked the rules for your event.

At a venue, a raffle at the event may fall under an incidental lottery, which is capped at £100 of costs and £500 of bought prizes, with tickets sold only at the event. Selling raffle tickets online points to a small society lottery registered with your council. Raffle tickets are not eligible for Gift Aid either. Our guide to Christmas raffle rules for a UK charity goes through the options.

How to do it with WeGlow.world

WeGlow.world gives you a donate page in three steps, with one off and monthly gifts, that works on a phone. Use it, or an event with tickets, for the entry: name the team, add an optional extra donation, and you are done in a minute. The donate form does not collect Gift Aid declarations, so capture those yourself if you claim on the extra donation.

Supporters can start their own fundraiser page, so each team captain can ask friends to sponsor the team. You can set up a thank you text so that every team hears from you straight after entering. Our Christmas experiences are still a concept until the official launch. In the Starry Sky every gift becomes a star and you fly from star to star, and in the Card Wall every card hangs as an envelope on a string, each with a stamp. See the Starry Sky and the Card Wall, browse the Christmas hub or start free with an account. For the full timeline, read how to plan a Christmas fundraiser.

What is a good plan for the 6 weeks before?

Work back from the quiz date. Six weeks is enough for a small team, and a second quiz in January is easy once you have a question bank.

  • Week 6: pick the date, the venue or the platform, and set the entry price.
  • Week 5: open entries on your donate page and tell your supporters.
  • Weeks 4 to 3: write the rounds, ask for donated prizes, recruit a host and a scorer.
  • Week 2: send a reminder, test the sound or the video link.
  • Week 1: confirm teams, print sheets, prepare thank you messages.

After the quiz, thank everyone within 2 days and share the total raised.

What should you still ask before you start?

We could not confirm these points, so check them with the named body.

  • Which lottery route suits your raffle: ask your local council or the Gambling Commission.
  • What the Code of Fundraising Practice asks of you for prize draws: ask the Fundraising Regulator.
  • How to word the optional donation beside an entry fee: ask HMRC.
  • Rules in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which differ from England and Wales.

Frequently asked questions

These are the questions charities ask most before a Christmas quiz.

How many teams do we need to make a quiz worthwhile?

Eight to 12 teams of 4 to 6 people is a good first target. At £5 per person that is roughly £160 to £360 before any extra donations, and a venue can add a bar or a raffle on top.

Can we claim Gift Aid on the team entry fee?

No. An entry fee is a payment to take part. Only a clearly separate and voluntary extra donation can qualify, and only with a valid Gift Aid declaration.

Do we need a licence to run the quiz?

We could not confirm the licensing position of the quiz itself, so ask your local authority or the Gambling Commission. A raffle, a free draw or a prize competition has its own rules (see Standard 11 of the Code of Fundraising Practice), so check them before you add one.

Can we run the quiz online?

Yes. Use a video call, a shared answer form and the same donate page for entry. Allow 30 minutes more for sound checks and for teams to join.

What if a team pays but cannot attend?

Say in advance that entries are non refundable, or that a team can pass its place to another. Put that sentence on the donate page so there are no surprises.

Sources

All sources checked on 9 October 2026.

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