29 of the Best Kids’ Christmas Movies on Netflix
Updated: Mar. 10, 2023
The holiday season is the perfect time for a family movie night with these kids' Christmas movies on Netflix!
Ring in the holidays with these “flix”
Streaming has changed the way we consume media, and Netflix has oodles of prime holiday content. Virtually gone are the days of popping in a VHS or DVD when you snuggle up with your kids to watch a Christmas classic, but there are still plenty of great kids’ Christmas movies to go around! This list of Netflix originals, holiday specials, and funny Christmas movies will add some holiday cheer. Plus, check out our list of the best Christmas movies of all time and many other Christmas activities you can try this year!
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
In this 2020 musical starring Forest Whitaker, Keegan-Michael Key, and Anika Noni Rose and with music by John Legend, a jaded former toymaker meets the granddaughter he never knew he had and the two team up to stop another toy magnate from stealing his invention.
Klaus
In this fresh take on the Santa origin story, a spoiled postman gets a job in a remote town devoid of joy where the two groups of residents can’t stand each other. When he encounters a reclusive old woodsman named Klaus whose passion is making toys, they team up to turn things around in town.
The Holiday Movies That Made Us
Unfortunately, neither Elf nor The Nightmare Before Christmas are kids’ Christmas movies on Netflix. But Netflix does have a documentary going behind the scenes on the making of these two bona fide Christmas classics. Creatives and film critics detail the films’ journeys from concept to cinema—to classic. If you want to watch the films themselves, Elf is one of the Christmas movies on Amazon Prime and you can find The Nightmare Before Christmas among these Christmas movies on Disney Plus.
The Christmas Chronicles
Kurt Russell delights as Santa himself in this live-action holiday romp. A pair of combative siblings are stuck home alone on Christmas Eve and try to get a glimpse of Santa. They do a bit more than that—they end up stowed away in his sleigh, and the adventures commence!
The Christmas Chronicles 2
If your kiddo loved the first one, you bet they made a sequel! This time the sister from the original, Kate, and her family friend Jack end up at the North Pole itself—which is under threat from a scheming elf. Goldie Hawn (Kurt Russell’s real-life partner) joins the cast as Mrs. Claus!
The App That Stole Christmas
In a family-friendly holiday movie for our time, a tech magnate has created a successful app to cut the holiday shopping craze. But it’s got people glued to their phones and obsessed with “stuff”—and when the inventor ends up stuck in Santa’s village, he must reconnect with the spirit of the holiday to get out in time to celebrate Christmas with his family.
Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square
Dolly Parton stars in and wrote the music for this 2020 feel-good film in which a woman inherits a small town and plans to sell it off—but the residents won’t give up their home that easily. A good dose of holiday cheer could be all she needs to change her mind.
Elf Pets: A Fox Cub’s Christmas Tale
The “Elf on the Shelf” decoration has inspired a couple of kids’ Christmas movies on Netflix. Just a half-hour long and good for the youngest crowd, A Fox Cub’s Christmas Tale features the elf gang enlisting the help of a team of fox cubs to cheer up a young boy whose mother is overseas.
A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish
The original 2004 A Cinderella Story starring Hilary Duff is a teen rom-com classic. This much-later Christmas spinoff (it was released in 2019) puts Austin & Ally star Laura Marano in the role of the modern-day fairy tale heroine. (Oh, and it’s a musical.) We smell a double feature! Here are more romantic Christmas movies to swoon over.
DreamWorks Holiday Classics
You get not one but four madcap Christmas adventures in this Netflix collection of holiday specials featuring Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, the How to Train Your Dragon crew, the animals of Madagascar, and, of course, those pesky penguins!
A Family Reunion Christmas
In this special Christmas episode of the Netflix series starring Tia Mowry, the family takes part in a Christmas pageant, causing the Williams sisters to butt heads.
Angela’s Christmas
Frank McCourt’s renowned memoir about his experiences in poverty as a second-generation Irish-American, Angela’s Ashes, may not seem like it would be the best inspiration for kids’ Christmas movies on Netflix. But this 2018 half-hour special pays sweet tribute to McCourt’s mother, Angela, by portraying her as a little girl in Ireland inspired by her church’s Nativity display. Follow it up with the 2020 sequel.
Spookley and the Christmas Kittens
Halloween hero Spookley the Square Pumpkin, star of one of the best Halloween movies for kids, must help a quartet of cats that shows up at the farm. There are even some musical numbers!
Free Rein: The 12 Neighs of Christmas
This hour-long film is perfect for those kiddos who are constantly asking for a pony for Christmas. Give them the next best thing with 12 Neighs of Christmas, a holiday spinoff of the British series (also available on Netflix). When a family ornament is broken right before a major holiday ball, series star Zoe learns a secret about her family.
48 Christmas Wishes
A pair of newbie elves accidentally loses all of the letters to Santa from an entire town in this 2017 TV movie. So naturally, they go undercover in town to get the letters back in time. Once movie night is over, break out one of these fun Christmas games!
Trolls Holiday
The peppy, singing (not to mention franchise-spawning) troll Poppy wants to bring holidays to the Bergens in this half-hour special that takes place in between the original and Trolls: World Tour.
Holiday Rush
Radio DJ Rashon “Rush” Williams has been spoiling his kids since their mother passed away. But when loses his job right around Christmas, he and his kids must move in with other family members. Romany Malco and Sonequa Martin-Green star.
A Christmas Prince
Over-the-top Christmas movies involving royalty are a dime a dozen—and, in fact, 2015’s A Christmas Prince now has two sequels. It delivers all the mushy holiday romance of Hallmark Christmas movies, but with some comic-relief moments and characters that are in there for the enjoyment of the kiddos.
Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker
For lovers of dance and/or documentaries, this 2020 special focuses on star choreographer Debbie Allen as she puts together her Dance Academy’s annual production of the Hot Chocolate Nutcracker. It’s great for families who want a twist on the classic Nutcracker Ballet—and a look behind the scenes!
Alien Xmas
When an elf mistakes a real-life extraterrestrial named X for a Christmas gift, the whole holiday—and even Earth’s gravity!—could be at stake from X’s pals’ nefarious plans. Unless he can stop them with a little Christmas magic!
A Christmas Special: Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir
Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir is a French superhero cartoon featuring two Parisian teens who team up to become superheroes—but don’t know each other’s true identities. The main series has plenty to delight the little ones—gather the whole fam to watch the 2016 Christmas special. Marinette aka Ladybug must suit up to help out her friend Adrien (who—dramatic irony abounds—is Cat Noir) after he runs away from home.
Spirit Riding Free: The Spirit of Christmas
Who knew so many kids’ Christmas movies on Netflix had to do with horses?! Nearly 20 years after the original DreamWorks film, 2021’s Spirit Untamed is inspiring a whole new generation of viewers. But if you and your kiddos haven’t yet watched the 2019 holiday special that debuted before the new film, as part of the Spirit Riding Free series, now’s the time! Spirit’s human, Lucky, must devise a way for her and her friends to get home for Christmas in the midst of a snowstorm.
DreamWorks Home: For the Holidays
Continuing the story of 2015’s Home, it’s Oh the alien’s first Christmas on Earth. He teams up with his human friend Tip to introduce Christmas to his alien species, the Boov—but with Oh in charge, you know the plan’s going to go hilariously awry. Check out these Christmas movies on Hulu to watch this year, too.
The Princess Switch
This silly-but-that’s-exactly-what-you-want flick stars Vanessa Hudgens and…Vanessa Hudgens in a Prince and the Pauper–like tale. Baker Stacy gets the chance of a lifetime to enter a Christmastime baking competition in the nation of Belgravia—where she and the Duchess discover that they look identical. Three guesses as to what they decide to do for a little excitement.
Puppy Star Christmas
From the team behind the Air Bud films comes this live-action dog romp, part of the Pup Star series. The canine quartet of Pup Star cuties discovers a plan to ruin Christmas and must journey to the North Pole.
Dragons: Rescue Riders: Huttsgalor Holiday
This is a holiday installment of the Dragons: Rescue Riders series, a spinoff of the wildly successful How to Train Your Dragon films. Aimed at a younger audience than the main film series, Huttsgalor Holiday features the Rescue Riders trying to save the Viking holiday of Odinyule when bad weather threatens the celebrations.
Robin Robin
This and all of the following entries are kids’ Christmas movies on Netflix that are arriving on the platform this year, closer to the holiday. Get ready for even more movie nights! First up is Robin Robin, a British stop-motion film about a bird raised in a family of mice, premiering November 24. What looks like beautiful animation and Christmassy tunes await! Speaking of, here are our all-time favorite Christmas songs.
A Boy Called Christmas
In this British Christmas movie featuring Dame Maggie Smith and Kristen Wiig, a young boy named Nikolas (hmmm…) journeys to the chilly north to find his family. It starts streaming November 26.
Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas
Stop-motion star Shaun the Sheep will bring some holiday cheer to your Netflix stream starting on December 3. When little Timmy the sheep goes missing from the farmhouse while trying to find Christmas stockings, it’s up to the rest of the flock to rescue him. Next, check out the full list of Christmas movies on Netflix we’ll be cueing up this year.
Originally Published: December 23, 2021
