I know we’re all supposed to say spending time with loved ones (and opening top-notch Christmas presents, obv) is the most important part of Christmas. But that probably became A Thing before we had a bajillion amazing holiday movies to choose from, to be honest. Even if you’re spending the day off with friends or fam, there are still a glorious ~24 days~ (or more, if you start at Thanksgiving!) to keep yourself in the holiday spirit. If Christmas and holiday movies are your thing—congrats, you have taste and everyone knows it—then you are absolutely wealthy with options to watch.
Despite the ongoing debate about whether certain iconic movies are, in fact, Christmas movies, there’s also a bunch of films on here that give the full snow-and-tinsel experience. There are some family-friendly movies if you’re watching together as you drift into a food coma, and then there are picks for watching with friends or after work with a warm beverage. Honestly, IMO, there’s no better way to spend a day than bingeing a bunch of Hallmark Christmas movies while you nom on cute lil cookies and eggnog (either with a partner to snuggle or solo—you do you, bb).
So, to help you live out all your Christmas fantasies, we’ve made a list of old faves and new classics to watch, re-watch, and re-re-watch as much as you like. Here’s our list of the best movies to watch when you’re trying to get into the holiday spirit.
1. Elf
Will Ferrell is hilarious as Buddy, a human raised by elves at the North Pole. He travels to New York in search of his true identify and discovers that life outside Santa’s Workshop is mean and scary but maybe totally worth it.
2. The Knight Before Christmas
Fun fact, this is one of two Vanessa Hudgens holiday romance movies on this list! And although she doesn’t play a princess in this one, she gets romanced by a cute medieval English knight (Josh Whitehouse) who somehow finds himself in present-day America. Vanessa’s character, a science teacher, is disillusioned by love but starts to change her mind when she finds herself smitten with this stranger who magically appears.
3. Planes, Trains and Automobiles
This one’s from John Hughes, the genius behind Home Alone, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and all your fave ’80s flicks…so you know it’s an absolute gem. Planes, Trains and Automobiles features John Candy and Steve Martin as rivals who are stuck navigating the mess that is holiday travel together on their way home for Christmas. (And without cell phones. Can you even?!)
4. A Christmas Story
If you don’t hear someone say, “You’ll shoot your eye out,” did Christmas even happen?
5. 8-Bit Christmas
This is for all the nostalgia-lovers out there: an adult dad (Neil Patrick Harris) recounts to his daughter the saga of desperately wanting a Nintendo for Christmas in the 1980s. Sound familiar? (It’s basically Christmas Story but in the 80s!) But it’s also really cute.
6. Carol
Fun fact, this is considered one of the greatest films of the 21st century—but also, it’s about two women who fall in love over the Christmas season. Oh yea, and it’s the 1950s, so things are complicated.
7. White Christmas
f you ever thought, Hey, I love that “White Christmas” song! well, this movie is a must-see. The film featured a new version of the Bing Crosby cover that’s also (kind of spoiler alert but not really) really integral to the plot of the film. If you like sweet and silly, put it on immediately.
8. Single All the Way
You’ve heard the setup: Guy convinces BFF to be his fake boyfriend over the Christmas holiday. Feelings develop. Complications ensue! And, since it’s a rom-com, everything turns out GD adorably.
9. Better Watch Out
Speaking of! This is Horror with a capital H, but since it stars a bunch of tweens, it’s both adorable and totally terrifying?? You’ll be shocked by how good this is if your interests include both scary gore-fest and also Christmas.
10. Mean Girls
All right, this is a stretch, but there is an iconic Santa dance so we’re counting it. May your day be merry and fetch.
11. Klaus
This animated Netflix original looks at Santa Claus before he was the jolly man in the red suit. It all begins with a town called Smeerensburg—a sinister place with a generations-old feud between two families. A new postman named Jesper gets deployed there and meets a lonely toymaker named Klaus. Together, they find a way to bring joy to the kids in the town and generate newfound holiday spirit.
12. Noelle
Anna Kendrick plays Noelle, Santa’s daughter who’s the embodiment of Christmas spirit. But it’s her brother, Nick (Bill Hader), who’s taking over the family business. When the pressure becomes too much for him, Noelle advises that he take a bit of a break. Then he gets cold feet and never comes back….
13. Last Christmas
Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding make an incredibly charming pair in this Christmas rom-com. Kate (Emilia) works as an elf in a year-round Christmas store, where she meets charming Tom (Henry). And although they don’t get along at first, chance encounters keep bringing them together, and Kate’s life seems to take a turn for the better.
14. The Princess Switch
Think The Parent Trap but with a Christmas twist. A Chicago baker (Vanessa Hudgens) goes on a trip to Belgradia (an imaginary European town) and discovers that the Prince of Belgradia’s fiancée (also Vanessa Hudgens) looks exactly like her. They switch places for two days and lots of love and Christmas cheer ensues. It’s super cute.
15. Office Christmas Party
A CEO (Jennifer Aniston) announces that she’s going to shut down her brother’s (TJ Miller) branch, so he and his coworker (Jason Bateman) throw the biggest Christmas party of the year to try to save it. It’s wild and hilarious, but there are still a few moments that will sucker punch you right in the feels.
16. Love Actually
“To me, you are perfect,” is not the way everyone would describe this ensemble romance, but fans consider it peak holiday for its humor, warmth, and optimism.
17. The Family Stone
This may not be the tightest screenplay of all time, but it stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Rachel McAdams, and Diane Keaton—and they’re only half of the stellar cast. Watch with red wine and you won’t even notice its flaws.
18. Home Alone
The magic of this movie is remembering a time when you were so young and wide-eyed that you really, truly believed if 8-year-old Kevin McCallister could pull off all those stunts, maybe you could too!
19. The Holiday
Iris (Kate Winslet), who lives in London, and Amanda (Cameron Diaz), who lives in L.A., swap homes for the holidays and find love on the other side of the Atlantic.
20. Serendipity
This holiday movie is full cheese, but you can’t deny the magic between Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack. Black cashmere gloves forever!
21. A Christmas Carol (original title: Scrooge)
The 1951 Alastair Sim picture takes the figgy pudding as the best film version of the Dickens classic. Scary enough to qualify as a legit ghost story but also sappy enough to remind you it’s a Christmas tale of redemption. Bonus points for the use of sad music to pull tears out of your eyes.
22. While You Were Sleeping
After a transit token worker Lucy (Sandra Bullock) saves a handsome man named Peter (Peter Gallagher) from the tracks on Christmas Day, he falls into a coma. In an innocent mix-up, his family confuses Lucy for his fiancée and she ends up spending a chunk of the holidays with the group, which includes Peter’s equally handsome brother Jack (Bill Pullman).
23. It’s a Wonderful Life
There’s no better tradition than spending just over two hours with George Bailey, arguably one of Jimmy Stewart’s best roles.
24. A Bad Moms Christmas
The cast of Bad Moms is a Christmas gift on its own, and getting these hilarious women back together for a holiday installment of the saga? Even better. Plus, the Bad Moms Christmas tale introduces the Bad Moms’ moms, played by legends Cheryl Hines, Christine Baranski, and Susan Sarandon.
25. Bad Santa
Sometimes you’re in the mood for a dark comedy, even during the merriest and brightest of seasons—and that’s where Bad Santa comes in. In the movie, Billy Bob Thornton plays a con artist who is gearing up for his annual Christmas con but struggling as he deals with his growing depression and alcoholism. Don’t worry: It’s funnier than that description makes it sound.
26. You’ve Got Mail
For two enemies to meet under the anonymity of the internet and fall in love online, it pretty much has to be a Christmas miracle, right? That’s the premise of the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan rom-com classic You’ve Got Mail—which includes some equally classic Christmas in New York moments.
27. Krampus
Who said Christmas and horror movies had to be mutually exclusive? In this movie, a demonic presence called Krampus begins to prey on a family and they must band together to defeat the monster.
28. Holidate
Sloane (Emma Roberts) and Jackson (Luke Bracey) are fed up with being single during the holidays, so they use each other as platonic plus-ones, or “holidates.” This little scheme of theirs seems like the perfect plan, until actual feelings get in the way.
29. Happy Christmas
Anna Kendrick likes starring in Christmas movies, y’all! Here she’s the messy one, moving in with her brother’s family, drinking too much, and generally just trying to pull her life together. It’s all about the dysfunction (relatable!!), but it’s actually v sweet too.
30. Your Christmas or Mine?
Ah, young love! It’s sweet, innocent, and definitely leads to some very dumb decisions. A couple say their goodbyes as they go their separate ways for the holidays at a London train station. But they both make the last-minute decision to switch tracks and go to the other’s train as a surprise. This obviously doesn’t turn out well and makes for very awkward Christmas celebrations.
31. Bridget Jones’s Diary
Yes, Bridget Jones’s Diary is most definitely a Christmas movie. Though a lot of the events in the film take place over the course of the year, it is bookended by the holidays during which our protagonist reflects upon the past 12 months.