Christmas World Records

Christmas is the perfect time of year for gathering with family and friends to bake scrumptious treats, decorate the tree, and go caroling, but some people have taken the celebration of the season a little more seriously than most. Join The StickerTalk as we take a gander at some world records that can only be described as Christmas miracles!

While we all enjoy decorating a gingerbread house around Christmastime, one organization in Bryan, Texas, took gingerbread-based construction to a whole new level. In 2013 the Bryan Traditions Club created the world’s largest gingerbread house. Measuring 60 feet long, 42 feet wide, and 10 feet tall at its peak, this sweet shelter currently holds the world record for the largest gingerbread house ever made. It is estimated that this gingerbread house contained 35 million calories after it was fully decorated with over 1,000 feet of licorice and nearly 2,000 chocolate bars helping to hold the house together.

All Christmas trees hold sentimental value to their owners, but one tree in Estepona, Spain, is worth far more than fond memories. In 2019, the Kempinski Hotel Bahia partnered with celebrity designer Debbie Wingham to decorate the world’s most expensive Christmas tree. Adorned with diamond-encrusted ornaments, this tree was worth an estimated 15 million dollars! By comparison, the Christmas tree in New York’s Rockefeller Center is only appraised at about 74 thousand dollars.

Advent calendars are a sweet tradition used to illustrate the anticipation of the Christmas season, but a lack of patience proved profitable for one man. Kevin Strahle, known by many as the “LA Beast,” holds the current world record for the fastest time to open all 24 doors of an Advent calendar while eating all of the chocolate inside. Taking only 1 minute and 27.84 seconds to complete, this festive feat took a surprising amount of practice to achieve; Stahle states that he consumed 38 Advent calendars while preparing for his record-setting stunt.

Who doesn’t enjoy a bracing mug of hot chocolate? The American Dairy Association and Dairy Council obviously thought that sharing a cup of cocoa would help cultivate Christmas spirit! In 2010, they unveiled the world’s largest cup of hot chocolate in New York City’s Bryant Park. Containing 487 gallons of hot chocolate, this magnificent mug measured seven feet in diameter and weighed almost 3 tons. Organizers were able to split the hot chocolate about 8,000 ways between event spectators.

Christmas caroling ensembles tend to vary in size, and the singing troupe from the Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom is definitely on the upper end of the spectrum! Comprised of 25,272 members, this Christmas choir set the world record for the largest group of carolers in the December of 2015. The chorale gave a 20-minute performance that included classic ditties such as “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” and “O Christmas Tree.”

Sources:

• Largest group of carol singers: Nigeria breaks Guinness World Records’ record (VIDEO) (worldrecordacademy.com)
• From Santa costumes to gingerbread houses – 10 wacky Christmas world records – Manchester Evening News
• Guinness World Records Top 10 Christmas Records (whsmith.co.uk)
• The History of Gingerbread Houses – How The Tradition Started (bestgingerbreadhouses.com)
• Man Eats Advent Calendar Chocolates In Record Time | LittleThings.com
• What is an Advent Calendar? Tradition’s Meaning & Importance (crosswalk.com)
• Largest Cup of Hot Chocolate – world record set in New York (worldrecordacademy.com)