Classic Christmas Movies and Specials

These are the Christmas films and TV specials most parents and grandparents grew up with, made between 1946 and 1993 and shown oldest first, from It's a Wonderful Life to The Nightmare Before Christmas. Six are TV specials, from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to The Snowman; the rest are feature films families still quote. Each note says what made it a classic, the age to start it at, and what to know first.

Every pick comes from our parents' guide and has a guide age between 3 and 13, a wider spread than the word "classic" suggests. A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman and The Snowman are fine from three, while It's a Wonderful Life is a 10, Gremlins a 12 and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation a 13. Some have also dated in ways worth a word before watching: a number celebrating minstrel shows in White Christmas, a Black housekeeper played as a caricature in It's a Wonderful Life, and Chinese stereotypes in A Christmas Story and Gremlins.

For the funniest of these and newer comedies too, see Funny Christmas Movies; for love stories, Christmas Romance Movies. To choose by your children's ages instead, Christmas Movies and Specials for Little Kids and Family Christmas Movies between them include most of these films, and the Christmas movie guide sorts every Christmas title we've checked by age.

• It's a Wonderful Life

  Movie · 1946

  The oldest pick, and the film most people mean by a Christmas classic: Frank Capra's 1946 drama with James Stewart and Donna Reed, a box-office disappointment that found its audience on television. Wait until about ten. George Bailey shouts at his crying children and stands on a bridge ready to jump, and the world without him, where his own mother doesn't know him, is eerie.

  Where to stream →10+ Parents' guide

• Miracle on 34th Street

  Movie · 1947

  The 1947 original, with Maureen O'Hara, John Payne and a young Natalie Wood as a girl raised not to believe in Santa; its opening was filmed at the real Macy's parade. Fine from six. There's no swearing, and the only blow is Kris rapping a cruel store employee on the head, but the attempt to have him committed may worry sensitive kids.

  Where to stream →6+ Parents' guide

• White Christmas

  Movie · 1954

  Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye as Army buddies turned song-and-dance men, with Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen as the sister act they follow to a Vermont inn run by their old general. Fine from six. The one startling moment is the opening, a camp under shelling where Kaye pulls Crosby clear of a falling wall, and the minstrel-show number deserves a word of explanation.

  Where to stream →6+ Parents' guide

• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

  TV special · 1964

  The first of the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials, narrated by Burl Ives as Sam the Snowman, and on TV every year since 1964. Fine from four. The Abominable Snow Monster, who traps Rudolph's family in his cave, is the scary part. Besides the bullying, two things have dated: the gender roles, and two Arctic characters glimpsed in an igloo, drawn as old-fashioned stereotypes.

  Where to stream →4+ Parents' guide

• A Charlie Brown Christmas

  TV special · 1965

  The first Peanuts special, from 1965, with real children voicing the parts and no villain or peril at all. Fine from three. Its gripe about Christmas going commercial, aluminum trees and all, lands harder with parents than with kids. The only rough edges are the name-calling, 'blockhead' and 'stupid,' and Charlie Brown briefly believing he's killed his little tree.

  Where to stream →3+ Parents' guide

• How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

  TV special · 1966

  The original Grinch, and the yardstick for both remakes: Dr. Seuss's rhymes read by Boris Karloff, in under half an hour. Fine from four. The scary bits, the Grinch's wicked smile and the loaded sleigh teetering at the mountain's edge, pass quickly. There's no swearing, romance or drinking; the harshest words are the ones sung about the Grinch himself.

  Where to stream →4+ Parents' guide

• Frosty the Snowman

  TV special · 1969

  Rankin/Bass again, but drawn rather than stop-motion, with Jimmy Durante narrating and singing the title song. Fine from three, and an easy first special: the villain, a clumsy magician, is more silly than menacing. Two moments to talk about: Karen hopping a freight train without telling a grown-up and nearly freezing on the way north, and Frosty melting in a locked greenhouse until Santa revives him.

  Where to stream →3+ Parents' guide

• Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

  TV special · 1970

  Mickey Rooney voices Kris Kringle in Rankin/Bass's answer to the questions kids ask about Santa, from the flying reindeer to the chimney and the stockings. Fine from four. The toy-banning mayor has Kris's adoptive elf family locked up, and one number, Kris offering children toys in exchange for a kiss, now sits badly; some TV airings leave it out.

  Where to stream →4+ Parents' guide

• The Snowman

  TV special · 1982

  A British Christmas institution since Channel 4 first showed it in 1982, and the pick here American families are least likely to know. After a short introduction it's all pictures and music. Fine from three. Prepare children for the ending: the boy runs out in the morning to a melted heap, and the film ends on him kneeling beside it, with no rescue.

  Where to stream →3+ Parents' guide

• A Christmas Story

  Movie · 1983

  Peter Billingsley as Ralphie, Darren McGavin as his furnace-cursing Old Man, and a leg lamp: a 1940s Indiana Christmas that families quote line by line. Best from eight. Kids will see a tongue frozen to a flagpole, soap in Ralphie's mouth for swearing and a BB-gun mishap near his eye, and the grown-ups swear more than the 'fudge' scene lets on.

  Where to stream →8+ Parents' guide

• Gremlins

  Movie · 1984

  Joe Dante's 1984 hit, a monster movie set in a Christmas-card town, and the classic least like the others here. We'd wait until twelve: its violence, from the kitchen-appliance kills to a teacher's death, helped prompt the PG-13 rating. Kate's chimney story tells believers outright there's no Santa, and the old Chinese shopkeeper is a mystical stereotype.

  Where to stream →12+ Parents' guide

• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

  Movie · 1989

  John Hughes wrote it, and Chevy Chase plays Clark Griswold, a dad set on giving his family a perfect old-fashioned Christmas. It's the one comedy many families watch every year, but it's PG-13 and best from thirteen. Beyond the sex jokes, a moment of nudity in Clark's pool fantasy and an f-word, Cousin Eddie kidnaps Clark's boss, and armed police storm the house in the finale, all played for laughs.

  Where to stream →13+ Parents' guide

• Home Alone

  Movie · 1990

  Macaulay Culkin as the eight-year-old his family forgets on the way to Paris, from a John Hughes script a generation of kids grew up quoting. Best from eight. Before the traps, there's a black-and-white gangster movie with a machine-gun killing, which Kevin plays to scare off visitors, a growling furnace that frightens him, and a Playboy he finds in his brother's room.

  Where to stream →8+ Parents' guide

• The Muppet Christmas Carol

  Movie · 1992

  The first Muppet film after Jim Henson's death, directed by his son Brian, with Gonzo as Charles Dickens and Rizzo the rat heckling him. For many of today's parents it's the Christmas Carol they grew up on. Fine from five. The ghosts are what to watch for, chained Marleys and a faceless final spirit; the rest is slapstick, like Rizzo's tail catching fire.

  Where to stream →5+ Parents' guide

• The Nightmare Before Christmas

  Movie · 1993

  Henry Selick directed it from Tim Burton's story, and Danny Elfman wrote the songs and sings Jack's part. It belongs to Halloween as much as Christmas, which suits families who like both. Fine from seven. Expect spooky sights throughout, from skeletons to Oogie Boogie's bug-filled lair, plus Sally sewing her limbs back on and guns blasting Jack's sleigh from the sky. The language stops at 'heck' and a 'by God' or two.

  Where to stream →7+ Parents' guide

🎄 All 55 Christmas movies and specials, sorted by age →

Still can't decide? Let us pick →

More lists like this

All 68 lists →

Picks are editorial recommendations. Streaming availability changes by region and over time — the “where to stream” links check current availability on JustWatch.