12 Christmas Movies to Watch with Teens (That You’ll Love Too!)

Cosy Christmas films for family movie nights with teenagers — from old favourites and laugh-out-loud comedies to animation, adventure and a few films for older teens.

One of the lovely things about having teenagers at Christmas is that some of the traditions you enjoyed when they were younger don’t necessarily disappear — they simply change.

Christmas movie nights are a perfect example.

When children are small, choosing the film is relatively straightforward. You put on something Christmassy, make hot chocolate, pile everyone onto the sofa and you’re done.

With teenagers, things can become a little more complicated.

One person wants comedy. Someone else thinks anything made before 2015 is ancient history. Somebody wants action. Somebody wants romance. And invariably somebody announces that they are absolutely not watching whatever everyone else has chosen.

But when you find the right film, Christmas movie nights with teenagers can be some of the loveliest evenings of the season.

There’s something rather wonderful about everyone actually choosing to be in the same room for a couple of hours — Christmas tree lit, something nice to eat, phones hopefully abandoned for at least part of the evening.

So I’ve put together 12 Christmas movies that work particularly well for families with teenagers. Some are nostalgic favourites, some are newer, some are funny, some are sentimental and a few are especially good for older teens.

As always, teenagers vary enormously, so do check current age ratings and content guidance if you’re unsure whether a particular film is right for your family.

1. Home Alone (1990)

I don’t think Home Alone really needs an introduction at this stage.

It’s one of those rare Christmas films that seems to survive the transition from childhood to teenagerhood remarkably well. Younger children love Kevin’s adventures; teenagers tend to appreciate the ridiculousness, one-liners and increasingly alarming consequences of those booby traps; and adults get the nostalgia of watching something they’ve probably known for decades.

It’s also a lovely one to revisit with teenagers who watched it when they were little. Half the fun is hearing them quote lines they somehow still remember.

If you want an easy Christmas movie night that doesn’t require a family committee meeting, this is a very good place to start.

2. Elf (2003)

Elf is ridiculous, warm-hearted and completely committed to its own silliness — which is probably why it continues to work so well.

Will Ferrell’s Buddy is enthusiastic about absolutely everything, and teenagers who consider themselves far too sophisticated for Christmas magic can usually still be persuaded into this one.

There’s plenty of humour for adults, enough chaos to keep things moving and a genuinely lovely story underneath it all.

It’s particularly good for an evening when nobody wants anything remotely serious.

3. The Holiday (2006)

This is probably one I’d save for older teens, particularly those who enjoy romantic comedies.

Two women swap homes for Christmas — one heading from California to a tiny English cottage, the other escaping England for Los Angeles — and naturally life becomes considerably more complicated from there.

It’s cosy, funny and extremely Christmassy without really being a traditional Christmas film.

And between the snow-covered cottage, roaring fires, gorgeous houses and wonderfully comforting soundtrack, it may also cause you to spend half the film wondering whether you should move to the English countryside.

4. Klaus (2019)

If anyone in your house believes animation automatically means “for small children”, Klaus is an excellent film with which to prove them wrong.

It’s beautifully animated and tells an imaginative version of how the legend of Santa Claus might have begun, but underneath that is a story about friendship, kindness, community and the way one good act can lead to another.

There is plenty of humour, but it also has real emotional depth.

This is one of those Christmas films that adults and teenagers can genuinely enjoy for different reasons — and possibly one of the loveliest modern Christmas films altogether.

5. Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020)

For something much bigger, brighter and more fantastical, Jingle Jangle is great fun.

It’s a musical adventure filled with extraordinary inventions, elaborate costumes, wonderful sets and plenty of Christmas magic.

The story centres around an inventor whose life and work have gone badly wrong, and the granddaughter who arrives years later and begins to change things.

It’s particularly good if your teenagers enjoy musicals, fantasy or visually spectacular films — and it brings something quite different to a Christmas movie list dominated by romantic comedies and Santa stories.

6. Arthur Christmas (2011)

This is another animated Christmas film that absolutely doesn’t need small children in the room to be enjoyable.

The premise alone is brilliant: Santa’s enormous Christmas Eve operation is run with military precision and extraordinary technology — until one child’s present is accidentally left behind.

What follows is fast, funny and surprisingly clever.

There’s plenty here for teenagers and adults, particularly in the family dynamics between generations of Santas. And underneath all the chaos is a rather lovely question about what Christmas is actually supposed to be about.

Definitely don’t dismiss this one because it’s animated.

7. A Boy Called Christmas (2021)

If your family likes wintery fantasy and adventure, this is a lovely choice for a December evening.

A Boy Called Christmas follows a boy named Nikolas on a journey into the snowy north in search of his father and the legendary village of Elfhelm.

It has elves, magic, talking animals and plenty of snow, but it also has a slightly deeper and darker quality than many children’s Christmas films.

That makes it particularly good for families who have moved beyond very young children’s Christmas films but still enjoy a proper magical story.

8. The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

Kurt Russell as Santa Claus is reason enough to give this one a try.

The story follows a brother and sister whose attempt to capture Santa on camera leads to considerably more adventure than they bargained for.

It’s fast-moving, funny and has enough action to work well with teenagers who aren’t especially interested in slower or more sentimental Christmas films.

I also like that the sibling relationship sits at the heart of the story. It gives the film a little more substance than you might expect from the premise.

And yes, this Santa is considerably cooler than most.

9. The Grinch (2018)

Sometimes you don’t want a meaningful Christmas film.

You want something colourful, funny, easy to watch and unmistakably Christmassy.

The animated Grinch is exactly that.

It’s familiar enough that everyone knows roughly where the story is going, but modern enough to feel very different from earlier versions. It’s also short, cheerful and ideal for an evening when everyone is tired and nobody has the concentration for a two-and-a-half-hour epic.

Add snacks and Christmas lights and you’re sorted.

10. Last Christmas (2019)

Another one better suited to older teenagers, Last Christmas combines romantic comedy with the music of George Michael and Wham!, plenty of London-at-Christmas atmosphere and a story that turns out to have rather more emotional depth than it initially appears.

It’s funny, sentimental and festive without being a traditional family Christmas film.

This is a particularly good choice if you’ve reached the stage where your teenagers are quite happy to watch rom-coms with you but would revolt at the suggestion of another Santa adventure.

There is life after children’s Christmas films after all.

11. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

I will happily defend The Muppet Christmas Carol as one of the great Christmas films.

Yes, there are Muppets.

But there is also Michael Caine playing Ebenezer Scrooge with complete seriousness while surrounded by them, which somehow makes the whole thing work beautifully.

It’s funny and nostalgic, the music is wonderful, and underneath it is Charles Dickens’ story about generosity, regret, second chances and remembering what matters.

If your teenagers haven’t seen it since they were little — or have never seen it at all — this is a lovely one to bring back.

Sometimes returning to something from childhood when you’re old enough to understand it differently is part of the pleasure.

12. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

This one may require a little more persuasion.

Black and white. Made in 1946. More than two hours long.

I can already hear certain teenagers backing slowly towards the door.

But for older teens who enjoy a proper story, It’s a Wonderful Life is absolutely worth watching.

It isn’t actually light and fluffy for much of its running time. It deals with disappointment, money, family, community, dreams that haven’t worked out quite as expected and the difference one ordinary life can make to other people.

And perhaps that’s exactly why it has lasted.

If your family has never watched it together, choose a quiet evening, make something nice to eat and give it a chance.

There is a reason people have been returning to it at Christmas for generations.

A Few Christmas Films for Older Teens

Once teenagers get older, the Christmas movie possibilities become much wider.

Love Actually is an obvious December favourite in many homes, while Die Hard inevitably enters the annual debate about what does and does not constitute a Christmas film.

Both can be great fun with older teens and young adults, but they’re quite different from most of the family films on this list in terms of language, violence and sexual content.

Age ratings can also vary between countries and platforms, so I’d simply check the current classification and content information and decide what’s appropriate for your own family.

And then prepare to have the Die Hard Christmas-film argument for approximately the 400th time.

Make a Christmas Movie Night of It

You really don’t need to do very much to make an ordinary movie night feel Christmassy.

One of the easiest traditions is to let everyone in the family choose one Christmas film during December. Put the dates in the calendar, order pizza or make an easy dinner, bring out a few favourite snacks and turn on the tree lights.

You could have hot chocolate or popcorn if that appeals — but there is absolutely no requirement to create an elaborate themed snack board every time somebody watches Elf.

The film isn’t really the important part.

It’s the fact that everyone has stopped what they’re doing and ended up in the same room for a couple of hours.

With teenagers, I’ve come to appreciate those moments more and more.

Free Christmas Movies Companion

If Christmas movie nights are part of your December — or you’d like to make them one — I’ve also created a free Christmas Movies Companion to help you plan them.

Inside you’ll find:

• Christmas Movie Bucket List — space to choose 24 festive films you’d love to watch throughout the season
• Christmas Movie Night Planner — for planning the film, food, drinks and all the little details for a cosy evening
• Christmas Movie Night Memories — somewhere to record the evenings and films you particularly enjoyed
• Christmas Movie Night Ideas — a collection of Christmas film suggestions from different genres when nobody can agree on what to watch next

You certainly don’t need to watch 24 films or turn movie night into another December challenge. Use as much or as little of the companion as suits your family.

Print the pages you like, choose a handful of films and enjoy a few cosy evenings together.

Download the Free Christmas Movies Companion

Christmas Movie Nights Change Too

I think this is one of the lovely things about Christmas with teenagers.

Some traditions disappear. Some are firmly rejected. Others survive in slightly different forms.

You might no longer have small children sitting on the floor in Christmas pyjamas waiting impatiently for Santa films to begin. Instead, you may have teenagers negotiating the film choice, disappearing halfway through for more food, making sarcastic commentary from the sofa and insisting something isn’t a Christmas film despite the fact that it very clearly takes place at Christmas.

And yet they’re there.

You’re all together.

The tree is lit, something familiar is playing on the television, there are probably crumbs everywhere and, for an hour or two, nobody particularly needs to be anywhere else.

Perhaps that’s enough.

Christmas traditions don’t always need to stay exactly the same to be worth keeping.

Sometimes they simply need to grow up alongside the people we share them with.

Chat soon,

Ciara x

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