Best Family Christmas Movies

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These are 30 of the best family Christmas movies of all time. They include something for everyone, with movies rated G, PG and R. There are Christmas movies from the 1930’s all the way up to the current day on this list. And an emphasis was placed on all-time favorite Christmas movies.

I created a 4-page free printable list of Christmas Movies. The first page contains all 30 movies broken out by ratings. Then there is one page each for all the G rated movies, the PG rated movies and the R rated movies.

This makes it easy to choose from the list appropriate for your family movie watching.

My family of five has a tradition of watching Christmas movies starting on the weekend after Thanksgiving. We all have our favorite movies and insist that they’re included in the watch list each year. We also have other movies that we enjoy, but may only watch every few years.

Movie watching can be a great inter-generational activity, too. It’s a great way to share grandma and grandpa’s favorite movies with your children.

Check out my tips on how to pick a family movie.

I started with our family list of movies we’ve all enjoyed over the years and then added a couple more that are friends’ favorites. These are movies my husband and I grew up with, my kids grew up with and we’ve adopted as favorites as adults. So you know this list of the best Christmas movies is tried and true and appeal to a wide range of ages.

How to Find the Best Family Christmas Movies

• Check a reputable movie site run by a mom. Best Movies Right Now is my go-to.
• Check IMBD for details about the movie.
• Ask your local librarian.
• Ask family and friends. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to poll all the guests.

List of the Best Family Christmas Movies

I recommend being purposeful in selecting movies. Choose to watch an animated favorites and then watch an oldie, but goodie black and white movie next. Watch a comedy and then later watch a musical.

It’s a great way to broaden your movie watching and to find something for everyone.

Best G Rated Family Christmas Movies

The best kids Christmas movies are often the adults’ favorite Christmas movies because they bring back nostalgic memories.

The old movies are also great because the content is fine for children and the story-lines are a bit more interesting for adults.

• Miracle on 34th Street – 1947 – Comedy and drama
• The Polar Express – 2004  – Adventure, comedy and animation
• It’s A Wonderful Life – 1946 – Drama and fantasy
• Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer – 1964 – Animation and comedy
• Scrooge – 1970 – Musical and Drama
• A Charlie Brown Christmas – 1965 –  Animation and comedy
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas – 1966 – Animation
• Annabelle’s Wish – 1997 – Animation
• A Year Without A Santa Clause – 1974 – Animation
• Santa Clause Is Coming to Town – 1970 – Animation
• A Muppets Christmas – 2008 – Animation and comedy
• The Little Drummer Boy – 1968 – Animation
• White Christmas – 1954 -Musical and comedy
• Frosty the Snowman – 1974 – Animation
• Prancer – 1989 – Drama

Best PG Rated Family Christmas Movies

Be sure to read a synopsis of PG and PG13 rated movies to make sure they’re appropriate for your family. Each family, and each child, has different considerations. And sometimes I’m surprised at movies they rated PG because I can’t even figure out why.

• A Christmas Story – 1983 -Comedy
• Elf – 2003 – Comedy
• Home Alone – 1990 –  Comedy
• Scrooged –  Comedy
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – 1989 –  Comedy
• The Santa Claus – 1994 – Comedy and drama
• The Nightmare Before Christmas – 1993  – Animation & fantasy
• Gremlins – 1984 –  Comedy and mild horror
• Jingle All the Way – 1996 – Comedy
• Arthur Christmas – 2011 – Animation and Comedy

My family became addicted to watching Hallmark Christmas movies together a couple of years ago. We find them corny, and sometimes charming, and thoroughly entertaining.

To make the movie watching even more fun I created 10 different Hallmark Scavenger Hunt free game boards. You

Best R Rated Christmas Movies

These movies may be best for once the children go to sleep for families with teens. And, yes, I did add a Thanksgiving comedy movie, but it’s worth watching on Thanksgiving evening or that weekend after Thanksgiving.

• Planes, Trains and Automobiles – 1987 – Thanksgiving Comedy
• Die Hard – 1988 – Action and Thriller
• The Ref – 1994 – Comedy and Drama
• Love Actually – 2003 – Comedy and Romance
• Trading Places – 1983 – Comedy

How to Print out the Best Family Christmas Movies List

• Download your free copy of the Best Family Christmas Movies List when you sign up for our free weekly newsletter. You’ll be sent an email with the 4-page printable pdf.
• When the document opens, you can choose to save it to your device to print later or you can print it immediately.
• Choose whether you want to print all four pages or just specific pages.

Pin for next year and next year and next. Make watching the best family Christmas movies a tradition in your family.

See all my most festive Christmas ideas, printables and recipes in the table below. You can scroll though the table and look for ideas or search for specific ideas with the magnifying glass in the upper right-hand corner (on desktop). Click on the topic and then click through the specific article.