Festive records to warm your heart this Christmas: oldest choir to gigantic pudding

We hope you're having yourself a merry little Christmas! To celebrate the festive season, we're looking back at some of the most interesting Christmas-related records. From the biggest ever stocking to the longest time to belt out Christmas songs, these records are sure to get you in the spirit. 

Singing their hearts out at any age: meet the world’s oldest choir 

What do you plan to be up to at the age of 90? Well, these guys, aged between 90 and 99 years old, sing together and call themselves the Prime Timers Choir.  

The choir is made up of 17 singers, and together they have an average age of 94, proving that their voices don’t retire; they get better with age. The group was created by Runwood Homes, a company that has care homes in Warwickshire, UK, and seven of those homes had residents taking part in the choir. 

Picture credit: Runwood Homes

On 19 December 2024, the seasoned singers came together to sing fresh harmonies at a Christmas carol concert that was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel’s Grand Ballroom in Stratford-Upon-Avon. 

During the concert, the choir members were presented with the Guinness World Records title for oldest choir, and the concert also saw actress Sian Reeves and singer Tony Christie (both UK) take to the stage and get involved in the momentous occasion. 

The Prime Timers are sure to be in their golden years, but they clearly love showing off their golden voices and spreading cheer amongst the community. 

The sock of shocking proportions - and it's bigger than a jet! 

The average-sized Christmas stocking will fit perfectly under the tree, or hung on the fireplace ready for Santa’s arrival, but have you ever seen one this size? 

The largest Christmas stocking to date was produced by the volunteer emergency services organization Pubblica Assistenza Carrara e Sezioni (Italy). 

On 5 January 2011, a charity fundraising event was organized by the company to help raise money for the aged, but also doubled as a seasonal celebration for the city of Carrara.  

So just how big was it? It measured 51 m 35 cm (168 ft 5.65 in) in length and 21 m 63 cm (70 ft 11.57 in) wide. For scale, this is bigger than a Boeing 737 plane and would be wide enough to hold a tennis court sideways. 

If you want to attempt this record, the stocking must be filled with presents, so the volunteers of this charity filled it with balloons that contained sweets inside. 

Check out more festive records in our special Christmas video…

Largest Christmas trees: one grown naturally, one made from... humans? 

Throughout the festive seasons, Christmas trees have changed with the times, with different decoration styles, shapes, and sizes, but have you ever wondered how big they can actually get? 

The tallest Christmas tree was a Douglas fir (Pseudotsga menziesii) that measured a huge 64.6 m (212 ft), which is roughly the same height as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was so tall that the branches had to be temporarily removed during the transport process, then reattached when the tree was installed in December 1950 at Northgate Shopping Center, Seattle, Washington, USA. 

During the decorating process, over 3,600 lights were attached that required an electrical generator, which was installed next to the tree. 

How about a tree made from humans? 

The largest human Christmas tree consisted of 4,030 people who all came together on 19 December 2015 for this record-breaking attempt. 

The event took place in Chengannur, India, and was organized by Mission Chengannur and Sobhana George. Many school children from the village of Chengannur took part. 

This Christmas, National Trust Cragside (UK) broke the record for tallest bedded Christmas tree.

The site, in Rothbury, Northumberland, has a Giant Redwood Wellingtonia - an evergreen coniferous tree - that stands at 44.70 m (146 ft 7 in) tall.

They celebrated by wrapping it in 1,000 multi-coloured lights and lots of large bows.

A feast fit to serve the nation: the humungous Christmas treat 

If you were going to attempt to make a huge Christmas pudding, how big do you think you could really get it? 

The journey to creating the largest Christmas pudding began on 3 July 1992 and took around a week to be fully completed. The pudding was revealed during the Famous Aughton Pudding Festival which took place on 11 July 1992.  

By the time it was finished, the pudding weighed an incredible 3.28 tonnes (7,231 lb 1 oz), which would roughly work out as the equivalent to over 16,000 bags of potatoes, or even a small car. 

So, it’s pretty big, right? A lot of planning was involved in achieving this amazing feat, or feast, if you will. The whole thing was planned by Mitzi Hayhurst, who took the role of chief pudding maker, and the villagers of Aughton, Lancashire, also helped along the way.  

There was a large amount of ingredients used in making the pudding, and according to The Guardian, it was made from 1,000 lb of raisins, currants, sultanas, carrots, sugar, and suet, 250 lb of flour and candied peel, 15 lb of nutmeg, 5 lb of salt, 2,250 eggs, 35 gallons of milk, and 15 gallons of brandy. There were also an extra 1,500 lb of secret ingredients used, and there are only a couple of people who know the secret: Mitzi, her mother, and festival president Annie Clarke. 

The mixture for the pudding had to be blended in a cement mixer for 30 hours, and then a giant stainless-steel vat was used to steam it afterwards. 

Roughly, if you tried to make this today, the ingredients would cost you over £12,000 ($16,000), so if you want to beat this record, then you’d better get saving! 

Read about more edible record-breaking creations in our Food and Drink section.

Pulling together to crack an incredible record 

The Harrodian School (UK) in Barnes, London, is the Guinness World Records title holder for the longest Christmas cracker pulling chain.  

They first attempted the record in 2014, and then on 10 December 2015 tried again, and succeeded. 

The chain consisted of 1,081 people, and after 10 years, the record still stands, so if you want to have a crack at this one, then you’ll need a lot of people to help you! 

Do you love Christmas songs this much?

On 21 December 2024, a new Guinness World Records title was gained by Confidence Survival Eyong (Nigeria), when she warmed up her singing voice to achieve the longest marathon singing Christmas songs.  

The record was broken in Lagos, Nigeria, and Confidence successfully sung for 40 hours.

She wanted to rise to the challenge to spread hope and joy to people from all faiths and all over the world.