Christmas World Records and Trivia

At MerryStockings, we strive to make Christmas a part of your day, every day. We've brought you tips and how-tos, attractive products with equally lovely designs, trivia, and a lot of information over the years. So how about the biggest, the largest, the most of everything Christmas?

Most Number of Santas...

Who says that Santa Claus has to remain in the North Pole building toys during Christmas? Christmas eve 2010, 19 surfers dressed as Santa Claus braved the cold waters and went surfing on Cocoa Beach in Brevard County, Florida. The group, headed by George Trosset was aiming for a Guinness World Record, but the organization was not at hand to recognize the event.

In the United Kingdom, 42 people dressed up as Santa Claus got the world record for most number of Santas zip sliding in just one hour. Paul Benington led the Santas down a 70-feet high zip line that spanned 250 feet.

Largest Revolving Star

Munich Germany is home of the Siemens Superstar, which from December to January 6, 2010 lit up the area from dusk till dawn. What's more interesting is that the Superstar is run on renewable energy, as it is actually a windmill carrying 9,000 LED lights.

This is the largest revolving star in the whole world and is said to be as bright as approximately 20,000 Christmas candles. It uses so little electricity, however, eating up only as much energy that it would take to power a hair dryer.

Largest Indoor Christmas Lights Decoration

This distinction is held by a shopping center in Bucharest, Romania, called the Sun Plaza. Their Christmas display involved close to 450,000 lights, beating the previous record of 150,000 light bulbs. The Christmas lights display included over 500 light curtains, 120 lights garlands, and 40 Christmas trees.

The 2,500 Kilogram Cake

Would you believe that the world's largest Christmas cake weighed 2,500 kilograms and stood over 30 feet high while spanning two feet wide? The largest Christmas cake was created by Uday Samudra, a Kerala, India hotel. The cake was cut on December 24, 2007 and was given to poor homes in the city. There were enough for 22,000 people.

Previous record holder for the largest Christmas cake was the Mercure Hotel in Bangkok, which stood close to 28 feet and were later cut into more than 19,200 pieces.

Largest Christmas Stocking

At MerryStockings we take pride in creating the lovelies and the most original and beautiful Christmas stockings in the world, but even we take our hats off to the Children's Society in the United Kingdom for creating a Christmas Stocking that weighed as much as five reindeer! The stocking measured close to 15 meters from heel to toe and rose up to 32.56 meters! The fundraiser was able to gather £14,000 in donations!

But that is not the biggest Christmas stocking in the world. The record goes to a group of volunteers headed by Pubblica Assistenza Carrara of Tuscany, Italy. Their stocking measured more than 51 meters in length and close to 22 meters from heel to toe. The Carrara stocking was awarded the record on January 5, 2011.

Most Ancient Christmas Tree

Don't look now, but the oldest Christmas tree is much older than its owner. Janet Parker from the U.K. still puts outs a Christmas tree bought in 1886. The diminutive tree stands only 12 inches high and is often adorned with the Virgin Mary and cherubs.

Largest Christmas Star Ornament

Measuring 31.59 meters tall, the current largest Christmas star ornament according to the Guinness World Records Organization is twice as big as the previous record holder in Ohio, USA. Found in Kerala, India, and created by Apple A Day Properties, it was certified in December 31, 2009.

The Catchiest Christmas Song and Movie

Ever since it was released close to 70 years ago, Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" has sold more than 100 million records, making it the best selling Christmas song of all time.

Meanwhile, Jim Carrey has another reason to laugh. His 2000 movie, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" earned more than $55 million during its opening weekend in the United States alone. The film adaptation is currently the highest grossing Christmas-themed film with a total gross of $345 million worldwide during its entire theater run.

Christmas Tree Baubles

The largest Christmas ornament was seen in San Pedro Garcia in Mexico. The record holder, Sergio Rodriguez Villareal has held the record for more than 20 years now, having received the distinction from the Guinness World Records Organization in December 2000. The bauble is made of galvanized iron and depicts the Holy Family: Joseph, the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus.

It may be the biggest, but its price tag pales in comparison to the most expensive bauble. The extraordinary tree decor was created by Mark Hussey at Hallmark Jewellers in 2009 and is estimated to cost around £82,000. This is close to triple the previous record holder at £26,874.

Why the hefty price tag? For one, it took Hussey close to a year to make it. It features an 18 carat white gold material with close to 1,600 diamonds sprinkled all over. Then there are the three pieces of one-carat diamonds that line the center of the sphere, while ruby encrusted rings orbit the bauble. It also comes with an alarm system that goes off if the microwave bubble surrounding it gets broken, while an internal alarm fills the area with smoke when set off.

Longest Christmas Cracker

In December 2001, parents of students at Ley Hill School and Pre-School in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom came together to create the world's longest Christmas cracker. They succeeded with a cracker that measured 207 feet long and 13 feet in diameter. Can you imagine, though, just how many people it would take to pull this one? Well, they did not pull it. The largest FUNCTIONAL Christmas cracker on records, thus, is Australia's 181-feet monster cracker that measured close to 12 feet around. It was pulled in a Sydney shopping center in December 1998.

Just a bit of trivia, though you might know this already: the largest gift on record is the Statue of Liberty, all 151 feet and 225 tons of it.

Most Expensive Christmas Tree

The Guinness World Records say that the most expensively decorated Christmas tree was found at the Tsunamachi Misui Club in Tokyo, Japan. The Christmas tree was decorated with more than 80 pieces of jewelry and was valued at $10.85 million. However, the 2002 record was challenged in 2010 when an Abu Dhabi hotel in the United Arab Emirates decked its $10,000 tree with precious stones, jewelry and other baubles. The Emirates Palace said that the entire ensemble costs more than $11 million, and contains 181 diamonds, emeralds, pearls, sapphires, and other gems.

The extravagance has led the hotel to apologize for the "overloading" of its traditional Christmas tree display.

The Largest Artificial Tree

The largest artificial tree record was found in South America, the current record holder is Mexico City's 362 feet high Christmas tree. The tree is said to be 115 feet around and 330 tons in weight. Previous record holders abound, but Brazil is noteworthy for being the country where large Christmas trees are plentiful. The first record tree measured 171 feet high and was designed by Grupo Sonae Distribui § £o Brasil. The tree was on display from December 1, 2001 through January 6, 2002 at the Moinhos de Vento Park in the city of Porto Alegre.

And then again since 2007, Brazil held the world record for the same category with a tree that stood 361.3 feet, only 9 inches shorter than the current record holder.

Largest Christmas Tree on Water

In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, thousands of people came to see a 278 feet high floating Christmas tree that was decked with 2.9 million Christmas lights and around 1,600 ornaments. The tree's height is equivalent to that of a 28 story building and is powered by bio-diesel generators. It weighs 530 tons. The tree was unveiled in December 2010.

Largest Fiber Optic Tree

In 2010, a shopping mall in Hong Kong switched on the largest fiber optic Christmas tree in the world. The tree also holds the record for the most number of lights used at four million lights included in. The record breaking 70 feet high tree is part of an Alzheimer's disease awareness charity campaign.

Yummiest Christmas Tree

If you think that fiber optics make a great material for a Christmas tree, then you haven't been to Paris, France, where they had the tallest chocolate Christmas tree. The tree stands at a delicious 32 feet and weighing more than 8,000 pounds. By contrast, the world record holder for the largest chocolate bar weighs in at 9,722 pounds. It made use of around $45,000 worth of dark chocolate. The creator is French chocolate maker Patrick Roger.

The world record holder, however, is chef Alain Roby who created a chocolate Christmas tree that stood at 22 feet, roughly 10 feet shorter than Roger's yummy creation. The reason is that Roger did not go for the world record as he claims his efforts is for charity. Roger plans to auction parts of his chocolate tree and donate the money to advance the efforts of studying neuromuscular diseases.

Tallest Living Christmas Tree

Had enough of artificial trees and man-made wonders? Then head on over to Coeur d'Alene Resort in Idaho, USA, and get a glimpse of the 162-foot tall tree that they decorated with more than 30,000 Christmas lights. This is the tallest living Christmas tree.

Some interesting facts about real Christmas trees.

Did you know that every year around 25 million to 30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the United States alone? That's a big number, considering that there are only 350 million Christmas trees that are grown by all farmers in the United States. To take care of 30 million trees thrown out every year, there are around 4,000 recycling programs around the country.

Here is some Christmas trivia that is well known - MerryStockings.com features the largest assortment of Bucilla kits in the world. Well, perhaps that is an exaggeration. But, when you see our warehouse shelves you might agree. We love what we do to bring Christmas cheer all year round and we're so glad you are our customer!