What Is the Christmas Pickle Ornament? Origin and Game

The Christmas pickle is a pickle-shaped ornament, usually green glass, that is hidden somewhere in the branches of the Christmas tree. On Christmas morning the first person to spot it wins a small prize, an extra gift, or the right to open the first present. It is usually described as an old German custom, but that story is disputed: most people in Germany have never heard of it, and the tradition as people know it today appears to be largely American.

Why a pickle ornament for Christmas?

The honest answer is that nobody knows for certain why it is a pickle. What the sources do agree on is how the ornament reached American trees. In the 1880s, Woolworth stores began selling blown glass ornaments imported from Germany, according to WhyChristmas.com. Those ornaments came in many shapes, including fruits and vegetables, and pickles were likely among them. Christmas Central also names Woolworth’s as one of the first American stores to import German blown glass ornaments, and says the pickles did not sell as well as other designs.

That has led to a popular theory: that a story about a lucky hidden pickle was attached to the ornament to help it sell. WhyChristmas.com goes as far as saying the custom was likely invented by American store owners in the 1880s. That is a plausible explanation, but it is still a theory, not a documented fact.

Is the Christmas pickle really a German tradition?

The evidence says probably not, at least not as a widespread one. In a 2016 YouGov survey of people in Germany, reported by both Christmas Central and TODAY, more than nine in ten respondents had never heard of the Christmas pickle, and only 2% said they actually practice it. A German studies professor at the University of Michigan told TODAY that it did not sound to her like a German Christmas tradition, and suggested it could have been one immigrant family’s custom.

Two more details point the same way:

• Christmas Central, citing The New York Times, reports that an ornament maker in Lauscha, the German town known for blown glass ornaments, only learned about the Christmas pickle on a trip to the United States in the 1990s.
• TODAY reports that Tim Merck, founder of the ornament company Old World Christmas, imported ornaments from Germany in the early 1980s, and that it is unknown whether he heard the pickle story in Germany or invented it.

So the fair summary is: the glass pickle ornament has German roots, because German glassmakers made fruit and vegetable ornaments, but the hide-the-pickle game is mostly an American custom with an uncertain origin.

The other origin stories

You will see two legends repeated often. Both are generally treated as unlikely.

• The Civil War prisoner. A Bavarian-born soldier, starving in a prison camp, begs a guard for a pickle, survives, and later hangs a pickle on his tree each year. WhyChristmas.com calls this story far-fetched.
• St. Nicholas and the barrel. Two boys traveling home for the holidays are killed by an innkeeper and hidden in a pickle barrel, and St. Nicholas brings them back to life. WhyChristmas.com points out that in the older St. Nicholas legend the barrel held meat, not pickles.

Berrien Springs, the “Christmas Pickle Capital”

Berrien Springs, Michigan, holds the title of Christmas Pickle Capital of the World. According to TODAY, the town held a Christmas Pickle Festival in the 1990s, an organizer said the idea was borrowed from Old World Christmas, and the area had many pickle farms and factories. The title was later given by the trade group Pickle Packers International. In other words, the festival grew out of the area’s pickle industry rather than proving where the custom began.

How to play the Christmas pickle game

The game is simple, and each family adapts it. Here is the usual way:

1. Hide the pickle. After everyone has gone to bed on Christmas Eve, one adult (or “Santa”) hangs the pickle ornament somewhere on the tree. It is green and shiny, so it blends into the branches.
2. Agree the rules first. Usually the hunt starts on Christmas morning before any presents are opened. Some families let only the children search; others let everyone play.
3. Look, do not touch. Many families ask searchers to look without moving the branches, so the tree and the other ornaments stay safe. The first person to spot it calls it out and points.
4. Give the prize. Common prizes, as described by Christmas Central and TODAY, are an extra small gift, the honor of handing out the presents, the first pick or first gift to open, or simply good luck for the coming year.

Tips for hiding it well

• Hang it on the inside of a branch, closer to the trunk, rather than on the tip where it catches the light.
• Place it near other green ornaments, or among a cluster of ornaments, so it does not stand out.
• For small children, hang it at their eye level and a little more in the open, so the game ends happily instead of in tears.
• If there are several children, use a different spot each year, and consider a shared prize so the youngest still has a chance.
• Glass pickles are fragile. If little hands are searching, a shatterproof pickle is the safer choice, and the hanger should be secure.

After the holidays, a glass pickle needs the same care as any glass ornament. Our guide on how to store Christmas ornaments covers wrapping and packing them.

Quick answers

• What is the Christmas pickle ornament? A pickle-shaped ornament hidden on the tree; the first to find it on Christmas morning wins a prize.
• Is it a German tradition? Disputed. Most Germans surveyed had never heard of it, and it appears to be mainly American.
• Where did it come from? Unknown. German glass vegetable ornaments were sold in the US from the 1880s, and the game seems to have grown up around them.
• Who gets the prize? Whoever spots the pickle first, usually an extra gift, the first present, or good luck for the year.