There are few things cozier than a family Christmas movie night.
Turn on the Christmas tree lights, make some hot chocolate, grab a bowl of popcorn and let the Christmas magic begin.
But with hundreds of holiday movies available, which ones are actually good choices for children?
We picked 10 Christmas movies that combine fun, adventure, humor and plenty of Christmas spirit. Some are perfect for younger children, while others are better suited to slightly older kids who enjoy bigger adventures and a little more excitement.
For every movie, we'll tell you what it's about, why kids love it, whether Santa appears and anything parents may want to know before pressing play.
A note for parents: Our suggested ages are general recommendations rather than official ratings. Children are different, and movie ratings can also vary between countries.
So put on your Christmas pajamas.
Here are our 10 Best Christmas Movies for Kids.
10. Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas – 1999 🎁🐭
If you have younger children, this is a lovely place to begin.
Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas brings Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and their friends together for three separate Christmas stories about generosity, family and discovering what really matters at Christmas. Disney describes it as three stories centered on love, magic and Christmas surprises.
One story follows Donald's nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie after they wish that Christmas could happen every day.
At first, that sounds amazing.
Presents every morning!
Christmas dinner every night!
But they quickly discover that Christmas wouldn't feel very special if it happened every single day.
Another story follows Goofy and Max as Goofy tries to keep Max's belief in Santa Claus alive.
🎄 Why kids will love it
It's colorful, funny and filled with familiar Disney characters.
The stories are also short enough that younger children don't need to follow one complicated plot for an entire movie.
🎅 Is Santa in it?
Yes. Santa Claus and belief in Santa play an important role, especially in Goofy and Max's story.
👧 Suggested age
Around 3+
⚠️ Parents should know
This is one of the gentler choices on our list. There are emotional moments, but very little that should frighten most young children.
⭐ Christmas message
Christmas becomes special when we share it with other people.
9. A Charlie Brown Christmas – 1965 🎄
Christmas doesn't always have to be loud, enormous and filled with special effects.
Sometimes all you need is a very small Christmas tree.
Charlie Brown is surrounded by people enjoying the holidays, yet he can't understand why he doesn't feel happy.
He becomes frustrated by how commercial Christmas has become and agrees to direct his friends' Christmas play.
Then he finds a tiny, rather sad-looking Christmas tree.
Everyone laughs at it.
Charlie Brown sees something different.
A Charlie Brown Christmas was released in 1965 and runs only about 25 minutes, making it particularly easy to watch with younger children.
🎄 Why kids will love it
Snoopy.
That might already be enough.
But children can also relate to Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and the other kids because they act like actual children rather than perfect Christmas-movie characters.
🎅 Is Santa in it?
Santa isn't the focus.
This movie is much more about discovering the meaning of Christmas.
👧 Suggested age
Around 4+
⚠️ Parents should know
Charlie Brown is teased and feels sad during parts of the story, but the movie has a warm and reassuring ending.
⭐ Christmas message
Something doesn't have to be big, expensive or perfect to be special.
8. How the Grinch Stole Christmas – 2000 💚🎄
High above Whoville lives someone who absolutely hates Christmas.
The Grinch.
The people of Whoville love Christmas decorations, presents, parties and enormous celebrations.
The Grinch would prefer all of it to disappear.
So he develops a plan.
He will dress as Santa Claus, sneak into Whoville and steal Christmas.
Unfortunately for the Grinch, a young girl named Cindy Lou Who begins wondering whether there might be something good hiding underneath all that green fur.
The 2000 live-action movie stars Jim Carrey as the Grinch and expands the original Dr. Seuss story with a much larger version of Whoville and more of the Grinch's background.
🎄 Why kids will love it
Whoville looks like Christmas exploded.
There are crazy hairstyles, enormous decorations, strange machines, funny characters and one of the most exaggerated Christmas villains ever put on screen.
🎅 Is Santa in it?
Not exactly.
The Grinch dresses as Santa, complete with a red suit, sleigh and reluctant dog-reindeer named Max.
👧 Suggested age
Around 6+
⚠️ Parents should know
The Grinch can look a little frightening to very young children, and there is plenty of rude humor and chaotic behavior.
For younger children, the animated versions of The Grinch may be a gentler alternative.
⭐ Christmas message
The Grinch eventually discovers that Christmas means much more than presents and decorations.
7. The Muppet Christmas Carol – 1992 🐸👻🎄
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol has been adapted into countless movies.
But only one has Kermit the Frog.
Michael Caine plays Ebenezer Scrooge, a cold-hearted businessman who cares more about money than Christmas.
On Christmas Eve, several mysterious spirits visit him and show him his past, present and possible future.
Meanwhile, the Muppets fill Victorian London with songs, jokes and Christmas chaos.
Disney's 1992 version combines Dickens' story with characters including Kermit as Bob Cratchit and the familiar Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.
🎄 Why kids will love it
The Muppets make a surprisingly serious Christmas story much more approachable.
There are songs, funny animals and lots of comedy between the emotional scenes.
🎅 Is Santa in it?
No.
But Christmas itself is at the center of the story.
👧 Suggested age
Around 6+
⚠️ Parents should know
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is intentionally spooky, and there are themes involving poverty, loss and death.
Sensitive younger children may prefer one of the lighter movies on this list.
⭐ Christmas message
It is never too late to become kinder.
6. Home Alone – 1990 🏠🎄
Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister wakes up and discovers something extraordinary.
His entire family is gone.
After a chaotic departure for a Christmas vacation, Kevin has accidentally been left at home.
At first, this seems fantastic.
He can watch whatever he wants.
Eat whatever he wants.
And nobody can tell him what to do.
Then two burglars decide that Kevin's house should be their next target.
Big mistake.
Kevin begins preparing some of the most famous traps in Christmas movie history.
Disney describes the movie as the story of eight-year-old Kevin defending his family's home from two burglars after accidentally being left behind during Christmas.
🎄 Why kids will love it
Kevin gets to do almost everything children imagine doing if the adults suddenly disappeared.
He eats junk food, explores the house and eventually turns it into a giant obstacle course.
And the burglars fall into practically every trap imaginable.
🎅 Is Santa in it?
Kevin briefly encounters a man dressed as Santa, but Santa isn't central to the story.
👧 Suggested age
Around 7+
⚠️ Parents should know
There is a lot of slapstick violence.
Characters fall down stairs, get burned, hit by objects and experience injuries that would be much more serious in real life.
There is also some mild language and family arguing.
⭐ Christmas message
Kevin begins the movie frustrated with his family.
By Christmas morning, there is nothing he wants more than to have them back.
5. The Santa Clause – 1994 🎅
What would happen if your dad suddenly became Santa Claus?
Charlie Calvin finds out.
On Christmas Eve, Charlie and his father Scott hear something on the roof.
After a very unusual accident involving Santa Claus, Scott puts on Santa's red suit and finishes the Christmas deliveries.
He assumes that's the end of the adventure.
It isn't.
Over the following months, Scott begins gaining weight.
His hair turns white.
A huge beard appears no matter how often he shaves.
And he suddenly has an enormous appetite for milk and cookies.
Scott has accidentally agreed to become the new Santa Claus.
Disney's official synopsis describes Scott's transformation after he puts on Santa's suit and discovers that doing so means accepting all of Santa's responsibilities.
🎄 Why kids will love it
This movie takes questions children might genuinely have about Santa and turns them into a story.
What does the North Pole look like?
How does Santa get into houses?
What if someone actually met the elves?
And what if your own dad became Santa?
🎅 Is Santa in it?
Absolutely.
The entire movie is about becoming Santa Claus.
👧 Suggested age
Around 6+
⚠️ Parents should know
The original Santa falls from a roof early in the movie and disappears, which could upset very young children.
The story also involves divorced parents and disagreements about Charlie's belief in Santa.
The movie carries a PG rating in the United States.
⭐ Christmas message
Sometimes believing in something extraordinary requires looking beyond what seems possible.
4. Elf – 2003 🧝♂️🎄
Buddy has a problem.
He's an elf.
Or at least he thinks he is.
As a baby, Buddy accidentally crawled into Santa's sack and was transported to the North Pole.
He was raised by elves and spent his childhood making toys.
There is just one difficulty.
Buddy is human.
And eventually it becomes rather difficult to ignore the fact that he is several times taller than everybody else.
Buddy travels to New York City to find his biological father and discovers that the human world is very different from the North Pole. The 2003 film stars Will Ferrell as Buddy and follows his journey from Santa's workshop to New York.
🎄 Why kids will love it
Buddy behaves like an enormous five-year-old who thinks Christmas is the greatest thing ever invented.
Everything excites him.
Christmas trees.
Snow.
Candy.
Department stores.
Santa.
And especially syrup.
🎅 Is Santa in it?
Yes.
Santa is an important character and Buddy knows him personally from growing up at the North Pole.
👧 Suggested age
Around 7+
⚠️ Parents should know
There is some mild rude humor, language and comic fighting. Elf is officially rated PG in the United States.
Some jokes are clearly written more for adults, but most will go straight over younger children's heads.
⭐ Christmas message
Christmas spirit grows when people believe, connect and celebrate together.
3. The Polar Express – 2004 🚂🎅
Late on Christmas Eve, a young boy hears an enormous noise outside his house.
There is a steam locomotive parked in the street.
The conductor announces that the train is going somewhere extraordinary.
The North Pole.
The boy climbs aboard and begins a magical journey filled with snowy mountains, hot chocolate, dangerous adventures, other children and eventually Santa Claus himself.
The movie follows a child who has begun doubting Santa as he travels aboard the Polar Express toward Santa's headquarters at the North Pole.
🎄 Why kids will love it
The idea alone is irresistible.
A secret train arrives at your house on Christmas Eve and takes you directly to Santa.
The North Pole scenes are enormous, the train journey is exciting and Santa's eventual appearance feels like a major event.
🎅 Is Santa in it?
Yes.
Santa is extremely important to the story, even though the movie deliberately makes children wait before finally meeting him.
👧 Suggested age
Around 6+
⚠️ Parents should know
There are several tense sequences involving the moving train, steep drops and characters in danger.
Some younger children may also find the mysterious hobo character or certain North Pole scenes slightly creepy.
The film is rated G in the U.S. listing on Apple TV.
⭐ Christmas message
The movie is about belief—not simply believing in Santa, but holding onto wonder even as you grow older.
2. Klaus – 2019 🎅❄️
Klaus begins with someone who definitely isn't thinking about Christmas spirit.
Jesper is a spoiled young man whose father sends him to work as a postman in the remote northern town of Smeerensburg.
There's just one problem.
Nobody sends letters.
The town's two families have been fighting for generations.
Then Jesper discovers a mysterious woodsman named Klaus living alone in the forest.
His house is filled with handmade toys.
Jesper gets an idea.
If children write letters, perhaps Klaus could deliver toys to them.
One letter becomes another.
One present becomes another.
And slowly, something that looks suspiciously like the legend of Santa Claus begins to appear.
Netflix describes the story as the unlikely friendship between a postman and a reclusive toymaker who begin bringing joy to a cold and unhappy town.
🎄 Why kids will love it
Klaus feels different from almost every other Christmas movie.
The animation is beautiful, the characters are funny and children get to watch familiar Santa traditions appear one by one.
Why do children write letters to Santa?
Why does Santa deliver toys?
Why does he use a sleigh?
Why do presents arrive secretly?
The movie creates its own imaginative answers.
🎅 Is Santa in it?
Yes—but not quite the Santa you expect.
Klaus begins as a mysterious woodsman and toy maker.
👧 Suggested age
Around 7+
⚠️ Parents should know
There are feuding families, comic fights, weapons used in exaggerated ways and some emotional themes involving grief and loss.
Netflix categorizes Klaus as a kids-and-family movie and lists it as PG in some regions.
⭐ Christmas message
One of the film's central ideas is beautifully simple:
One act of kindness can inspire another.
1. Arthur Christmas – 2011 🎅🎁🛷
Every child has probably wondered the same thing.
How does Santa Claus deliver presents to children all around the world in a single night?
Arthur Christmas provides one of the most entertaining answers ever invented.
Santa doesn't do it alone.
Underneath the North Pole is a gigantic high-tech Christmas operation.
Thousands upon thousands of elves work with military precision.
A massive spacecraft circles the globe.
Computers track every delivery.
Christmas Eve operates like the biggest secret mission on Earth.
And somehow...
They miss one child.
Santa's younger son Arthur is horrified.
To everyone else, one missed present among billions seems like an incredibly successful Christmas.
To Arthur, it means one child will wake up believing Santa forgot her.
So Arthur, Grand Santa, an old sleigh and a small group of reindeer set out to deliver one last present before sunrise.
Sony describes the movie's North Pole as a huge high-tech operation and Arthur's mission as an attempt to deliver the one present that was accidentally missed.
🎄 Why kids will love it
This movie has almost everything children could want from a Christmas adventure:
Santa Claus.
Elves.
Reindeer.
Flying sleighs.
Spaceships.
Millions of presents.
A secret North Pole.
And a race against time before Christmas morning.
🎅 Is Santa in it?
There are several Santas.
The story introduces multiple generations of the Claus family, including the current Santa, Grand Santa and the next generation waiting to inherit the job.
👧 Suggested age
Around 5+
⚠️ Parents should know
There are some fast action sequences, comic danger and family arguments, but the overall tone is very family-friendly.
The movie is officially rated PG in the United States.
⭐ Christmas message
What makes Arthur special isn't that he is the strongest, smartest or most efficient member of the Claus family.
He simply understands something important:
Every child matters.
And that makes Arthur Christmas one of our favorite Christmas movies for families.
🎬 Our 10 Best Christmas Movies for Kids
10. Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999) 🐭 Great for younger children
9. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) 🎄 Best short Christmas classic
8. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) 💚 Best Christmas mischief
7. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) 🐸 Best introduction to a Christmas classic
6. Home Alone (1990) 🏠 Best Christmas comedy adventure
5. The Santa Clause (1994) 🎅 Best movie about becoming Santa
4. Elf (2003) 🧝♂️ Funniest North Pole visitor
3. The Polar Express (2004) 🚂 Best magical Christmas journey
2. Klaus (2019) ❄️ Most beautiful Santa origin story
1. Arthur Christmas (2011) 🎁 Our family Christmas adventure pick
🎄 Which Christmas Movie Should You Choose?
If you're still trying to decide what to watch tonight, here's a simple guide.
For very young children
Try:
Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Both are gentler choices without long, complicated adventures.
For children who LOVE Santa
Try:
Arthur Christmas
The Polar Express
The Santa Clause
These movies give children plenty of Santa, elves, North Pole magic and Christmas Eve adventures.
For children who want to laugh
Try:
Elf
Home Alone
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
These are louder, sillier and filled with comedy.
For a Christmas story with a little more heart
Try:
Klaus
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Both have funny moments, but their stories also have deeper messages about kindness, family and helping others.
🍿 Make It a Family Christmas Movie Night
You can make watching the movie part of the Christmas tradition.
Put on Christmas pajamas.
Turn off the main lights and leave the Christmas tree glowing.
Make popcorn.
Prepare hot chocolate.
Add marshmallows.
Let the kids choose the movie.
And perhaps leave a few Christmas cookies nearby.
Afterward, ask everyone one question:
“What was your favorite part?”
You may discover that the movie itself becomes less important than the memory of watching it together.
🎅 What Is Your Child's Favorite Christmas Movie?
Does your family watch Home Alone every year?
Do your kids dream about riding the Polar Express?
Do they love Buddy the Elf?
Or would they rather visit Arthur's enormous North Pole?
🎄 Tell us your family's favorite Christmas movie!
And if your children are still deciding whether Santa Claus might really be out there somewhere...
Maybe tonight is the perfect night for a Christmas movie.
More Christmas Movies to Watch
If you've already watched all ten, try these next:
The Grinch (2018)
Frozen
A Boy Called Christmas
The Christmas Chronicles
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
Santa Buddies
The Search for Santa Paws
Frosty the Snowman
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
