Fall Which Came First? 100 Fun Trivia Game Questions (+Free Printable)

Think you know the history of your favorite fall traditions? Put your autumn knowledge to the test with this fun Fall Which Came First? trivia game!

From pumpkin pie and apple pie to Halloween, Thanksgiving, cozy traditions, and favorite fall foods, players must decide which one came first. Some answers are surprisingly easy, while others might leave everyone debating!

This family-friendly game is perfect for:

fall parties
Thanksgiving gatherings
classrooms
youth groups
family game nights
harvest festivals
Halloween celebrations

Be sure to grab the free printable PDF at the bottom of this post! It is the blue “download” button.

fall which came first trivia game printable

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Contents

How to Play Which Came First?

One person reads each question aloud.

Players must guess which of the two choices came first in history. You can play individually or divide into teams and keep score.

Award one point for each correct answer. The player or team with the most points wins!

Tip: Some answers are obvious…others are much trickier than they seem!

*Grab the free printable below! (It’s the blue download button)

Jump to the Printable

100 Fall ‘Which Came First?’ Trivia Game Questions

Which came first in history?

1. Apple pie or pumpkin pie?

Apple pie: Apple pie recipes date back to medieval Europe. Pumpkin pie became popular in America centuries later.

2. Halloween or Thanksgiving?

Halloween: Halloween traditions date back to ancient Celtic celebrations. Thanksgiving as an American holiday came much later.

3. September or October?

September

4. Pumpkin pie or pecan pie?

Pumpkin pie: Pumpkin pie recipes appeared in American cookbooks before pecan pie became popular, with pumpkin pies dating back to the 17th century.

5. Candy corn or Skittles

Candy corn: Candy corn was invented in the 1880s, while Skittles weren’t introduced until the 1970s.

6. Pumpkin patch or corn maze?

Pumpkin patch: Pumpkin patches became popular as part of fall harvest traditions before corn mazes became a popular attraction in the 1990s.

7. Apple picking or pumpkin picking?

Pumpkin picking: Indigenous peoples were cultivating and harvesting pumpkins thousands of years before European-style apple orchards became established.

8. Sweet potatoes or white potatoes?

Sweet potatoes: They were domesticated in the Americas thousands of years before white potatoes.

9. Apple cider or pumpkin spice latte?

Apple cider: Apple cider has been enjoyed for centuries, while the pumpkin spice latte wasn’t introduced until 2003.

10. Candy apple or caramel apple?

Candy apple: Candy apples were invented in the early 1900s, while caramel apples became popular several decades later.

11. Candy corn or Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups?

Candy corn: Candy corn was invented in the 1880s, while Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were introduced in 1928.

12. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or the first televised NFL Thanksgiving game?

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was held in 1924, while the first televised NFL Thanksgiving game aired in 1934.

13. Frankenstein or Dracula?

Frankenstein: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was published in 1818, while Bram Stoker’s Dracula was published in 1897.

14. Hocus Pocus or Halloweentown?

Hocus Pocus: Hocus Pocus premiered in 1993, while Halloweentown premiered in 1998.

15. Labor Day or Halloween?

Halloween: The first U.S. Labor Day wasn’t celebrated until 1882.

16. Thanksgiving or Black Friday?

Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving became a U.S. federal holiday in 1863, while Black Friday as a major shopping tradition came much later.

17. Oktoberfest or Halloween?

Halloween: Halloween traces back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, roughly 2,000 years before the first Oktoberfest in 1810.

18. Columbus Day or Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving: The first U.S. Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621, while Columbus Day wasn’t officially recognized as a U.S. federal holiday until 1971.

19. Black Friday or Cyber Monday?

Black Friday: Black Friday became a popular shopping day before Cyber Monday, which was coined in 2005.

20. The Harvest Moon or Thanksgiving?

The Harvest Moon: The term “Harvest Moon” dates back centuries, while the first Thanksgiving in America was celebrated in 1621.

21. Cornbread or stuffing?

Generic food stuffing dates back to ancient Rome in the 1st century, whereas cornbread originated centuries later in Native American traditions.

22. Jack-o’-lanterns or trick-or-treating?

Jack-o’-lanterns: Jack-o’-lantern carving dates back to Irish folklore in the 1600s, while “trick or treat” wasn’t recorded until the 20th century.

23. Trick-or-treating or Halloween candy commercials?

Trick-or-treating: Trick-or-treating became popular in the 1930s, while Halloween candy commercials became widespread in the 1950s and 1960s.

24. Sweaters or hoodies

Sweaters: Hand-knitted sweaters date back centuries as traditional garments, whereas the modern hooded sweatshirt was not invented until the 1930s.

25. Dracula or The Wolf Man?

Dracula

26. Dracula or The Mummy (Universal)?

Dracula: Dracula (1931) came before The Wolf Man (1941), making Dracula the older classic monster movie.

27. Casper The Friendly Ghost or Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?

Casper The Friendly Ghost: Casper The Friendly Ghost (1945) came before Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (1969)

28. Scooby-Doo or Ghostbusters?

Scooby-Doo: Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (1969) came before Ghostbusters (1984)

29. Beetlejuice or Hocus Pocus?

Beetlejuice: Beetlejuice (1988) came before Hocus Pocus (1993)

30. The Nightmare Before Christmas or Coraline?

The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) came before Coraline (2009)

31. Goosebumps books or Harry Potter books?

Goosebumps books

32. Goosebumps or Fear Street?

Fear Street

33. Halloween (film) or Scream? (Related: Horror Movie Trivia)

Halloween

34. Friday the 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street?

Friday the 13th: Friday the 13th (1980) came before A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

35. “Thriller” or “Somebody’s Watching Me” (Related: Halloween Finish The Lyrics)

“Thriller”: “Thriller” (1982) came before “Somebody’s Watching Me” (1983)

36. “Monster Mash” or “Witch Doctor”

“Witch Doctor”: “Witch Doctor” (1958) came before “Monster Mash” (1962)

37. Harvest festivals or country fairs?

Harvest festivals: Ancient human societies celebrated successful crop yields with feasts and rituals thousands of years before the modern concept of an organized agricultural or county fair developed.

38. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or the Rose Parade?

Rose Parade: The Rose Parade debuted in 1890, while the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade debuted in 1924

39. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or the National Dog Show?

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (1924) and The National Dog Show first aired on NBC in 2002

40. Hot cocoa or hot apple cider?

Hot cocoa: Hot cocoa came first, with Mesoamerican civilizations drinking chocolate beverages 3,000–4,000 years ago, while apple cider developed later in ancient Europe.

41. The Honey Baked Ham Company or Butterball frozen turkeys?

Butterball frozen turkeys: Butterball frozen turkeys (1954) came before The Honey Baked Ham Company (1957)

42. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups or Skittles? (Related: Candy Trivia)

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (1928) came before Skittles (1979)

43. Snickers or Milky Way?

Milky Way: Milky Way (1923) came before the Snickers bar (1930)

44. Caramel apple or popcorn ball?

Popcorn ball: Popcorn ball recipes appeared in American cookbooks by 1861, whereas the caramel apple was not invented until the 1950s.

45. Roasted chestnuts or cranberry sauce

Roasted chestnuts: Roasted chestnuts came first, dating back thousands of years to ancient Greece and Rome, while cranberry sauce was first documented in 1672.

46. Green bean casserole or Cool Whip?

Green bean casserole: Green bean casserole (1955) came before Cool Whip (1966)

47. Peanut M&M’s or regular M&M’s?

Regular M&M’s: Regular M&M’s came first, debuting in 1941, while Peanut M&M’s were introduced in 1954.

48. Kettle corn or candy corn?

Kettle corn: Kettle corn came first, dating back to the late 1700s, while candy corn was invented in the 1880s.

49. Cool Whip or Reddi-wip?

Reddi-Wip: Reddi-Wip (1948) came before Cool Whip (1966)

50. Sweet potatoes or acorn squash?

Acorn squash: Squash came first, dating back roughly 10,000 years, while sweet potatoes were domesticated about 5,000–8,000 years ago.

51. Stove Top Stuffing or Hamburger Helper?

Hamburger Helper: Hamburger Helper (1971) came before Stove Top Stuffing (1973)

52. Cranberry sauce in a can or frozen pumpkin pie?

Canned cranberry sauce: Canned cranberry sauce hit grocery store shelves in 1941. Ready-to-serve frozen pumpkin pies emerged in the 1960s.

53. Apples or pumpkins (cultivated)?

Pumpkins: Pumpkins came first, with cultivation dating back 7,500–9,000 years, while apples were domesticated about 4,000–8,000 years ago.

54. Acorns or pumpkins?

Acorns: Acorns came first, with oak trees evolving about 55 million years ago, while pumpkins originated roughly 9–23 million years ago.

55. Mashed potatoes or sweet potato pie?

Mashed potatoes: Mashed potatoes came first, with the earliest known recipe published in 1747, while sweet potato pie was first recorded in 1881.

56. Corn or pumpkins?

Pumpkins: Pumpkins came first, with squash and pumpkin varieties cultivated 8,000–10,000 years ago, before corn was domesticated.

57. Wheat or corn?

Wheat: Humans began farming wheat in the Middle East around 11,000 to 9,000 BCE, while people in Mexico did not start growing corn from wild grass until about 9,000 years ago.

58. Maple syrup or apple cider?

Apple cider: Apple cider came first, with cider-making dating back to at least 55 BCE, while maple syrup production began centuries later in North America.

59. Deer or wild turkeys?

Deer: Deer came first, evolving about 50–55 million years ago, while wild turkeys appeared much later, around 20 million years ago.

60. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving or Garfield’s Thanksgiving?

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973) came before Garfield’s Thanksgiving (1989)

61. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown or Garfield’s Halloween Adventure?

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966) came before Garfield’s Halloween Adventure (1985)

62. The Addams Family TV series or The Munsters?

The Addams Family: The Addams Family (1964) premiered just six days before The Munsters.

63. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone or Twilight?

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (1997) came before Twilight (2005)?

64. Bobbing for apples or candy apples?

Bobbing for apples: Bobbing for apples came first, dating back centuries to European harvest festivals, while candy apples were invented in 1908.

65. Apple cider slushies or chai spice?

Chai spice: Chai spice dates back 3,000 to 5,000+ years

66. Practical Magic or Hocus Pocus?

Hocus Focus: Hocus Pocus (1993) came before Practical Magic (1998)

67. Coco or Encanto?

Coco: Coco (2017) came before Encanto (2021)

68. Turkey or ham?

Ham: Ham came first historically as a food source and holiday centerpiece, long before the turkey became domesticated and popularized in Europe and America.

69. Ghostbusters or Beetlejuice?

Ghostbusters: Ghostbusters (1984) came before Beetlejuice (1988)

70. Monster House or Hotel Transylvania?

Monster House: Monster House (2006) came before Hotel Transylvania (2012)

71. Coraline or ParaNorman?

Coraline: Coraline (2009) came before ParaNorman (2012)

72. Hershey’s Kisses or M&M’s?

Hershey’s Kisses: Hershey’s Kisses (1907) came before M&M’s (1941)

73. Kit Kat or Twix?

Kit Kat: Kit Kat (1935) came before Twix (1967)

74. Tootsie Rolls or Smarties?

Tootsie Rolls: Tootsie Rolls (1896) came before Smarties (1949)

75. Halloween costumes or Trick-or-treating?

Halloween costumes: Costumes came first, dating back centuries to Samhain and medieval guising, while trick-or-treating became popular in the 20th century.

76. Butterfinger or Baby Ruth?

Baby Ruth: Baby Ruth (1921) came before Butterfinger (1923)

77. Twizzlers or AirHeads?

Twizzlers: Twizzlers (1929) came before AirHeads (1985)

Related: Fall Foods Bucket List and October Trivia Questions

78. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow or Little Women?

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820) came before Little Women (1868)

79. Thanksgiving becoming a federal holiday or Halloween becoming America’s second-largest commercial holiday?

Thanksgiving became a federal holiday in 1870. Halloween evolved into a commercial holiday in the 20th century. (Related: Thanksgiving Trivia)

80. Pumpkin Spice Latte or Salted Caramel Mocha?

Pumpkin Spice Latte: Pumpkin Spice Latte (2003) came before Salted Caramel Mocha (2011)

81. Starbucks or Dunkin’?

Dunkin’: Dunkin’ came first, opening its original location 21 years before Starbucks.

82. Candy corn or popcorn balls?

Popcorn balls: Popcorn balls came first, with their first documented recipe published in 1861, while candy corn was invented in the 1880s.

83. Pumpkin carving contests or giant pumpkin weigh-offs?

Giant pumpkin weigh-offs: Pumpkin carving (as a general Halloween/harvest tradition) is much older, but organized giant pumpkin weigh-offs came first as formal, modern competitive events.

84. Haunted attractions or escape rooms?

Haunted attractions came first by many decades.

85. Hayrides or corn mazes?

Hayrides came first by more than a century.

86. Pumpkin spice Oreos or Peanut Butter Oreo cookies?

Peanut Butter Oreo cookies: Peanut Butter Oreo cookies came first, launching in 2002, while Pumpkin Spice Oreos debuted later in 2014.

87. The Wizard of Oz or Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory?

The Wizard of Oz: The Wizard of Oz (1939) came before Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

88. Candy apples or caramel popcorn?

Caramel popcorn: Caramel popcorn (1870s) came before candy apples (1908).

89. The first pumpkin Spice Latte or the first iPhone?

Pumpkin Spice Latte: Pumpkin Spice Latte (2003) came before the first iPhone (2007)

90. Candy corn or tootsie rolls?

Candy corn: Candy corn (1880s) came before Tootsie Rolls (1896)

91. Haunted houses or Halloween movie?

Haunted houses by many decades

92. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow or Frankenstein?

Frankenstein: Frankenstein (1818) came before The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820)

93. Milk Duds or Junior Mints?

Milk Duds: Milk Duds were first sold in 1926, created by F. Hoffman & Company in Chicago. Junior Mints were introduced later in 1949 by the James O. Welch Company.

94. The Great British Baking Show or Halloween Baking Championship?

The Great British Baking Show: The Great British Baking Show (2010) came before the Halloween Baking Championship (2015)

95. The first balloon in the Macy’s Day Parade or the first float?

The first float: The first float debuted in 1924, while the first giant balloon did not appear until 1927.

96. Trick or treat or passing out treats?

Passing out treats: Giving out food or treats came long before the modern phrase and practice of “trick-or-treating”.

97. Hocus Pocus or Nightmare Before Christmas?

Hocus Pocus: Hocus Pocus (July 1993) came before Nightmare Before Christmas (October 1993)

98. The first televised Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or color television broadcasts?

The first televised Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: The first televised Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade came first, debuting in black-and-white in 1939, whereas commercial color television broadcasts in the U.S. did not begin until 1951.

99. Ouija boards or the first Halloween movie?

Ouija boards: Ouija Boards were patented in 1891.

100. The Exorcist or Halloween?

The Exorcist: The Exorcist (1973) came before Halloween (1978)