Christmas Movie Advent Calendars for Kids & Parents

Is there a better way to get into the Christmas spirit than re-watching your favourite festive films?

Here at B&M HQ, we’ve been trying to narrow down our best-loved Christmas movies – from family-friendly to those just for parents – and with so many to choose from not everyone can agree on the best!

So we’ve come to a compromise, and decided the best way to countdown to Christmas is to watch one every weekend throughout December - like an Advent calendar! If you start on Saturday 5^th, you’ll finish exactly on Christmas Eve, just in time to hang your stocking and tuck the kids into bed.

So here they are, our Christmas movie Advent calendars for toddlers, older kids and just parents.

Universal Advent Calendar for Toddlers

We know Christmas isn’t just for kids, but the magic shines brightest in our toddlers. So it’s no surprise that we had tons of family-friendly movies to choose from.

Jump aboard the Polar Express as you begin your Universal-rated movie Advent calendar. Pay a visit to the North Pole where Arthur Christmas is waiting to show you his high-tech HQ and then change in 19th century London where Mickey and friends await to re-tell Dicken’s famous tale.

Our final stop is Who-ville, where the grumpy Grinch has had enough of the town’s relentless Christmas cheer. Will they convince him to join in with this year’s festivities? You’ll have to watch and find out!

• Week 1: The Polar Express
• Week 2: Arthur Christmas
• Week 3: Mickey’s Christmas Carol
• Christmas Eve: The Grinch (animated)

B&M Top Tip: don’t forget your snuggle hoodies, throws and hot water bottles for your cosy movie advent calendar nights!

PG Advent Calendar for Kids

We thought of so many great festive movies, but some contain a couple of scary scenes that might be too intense for the littlest viewers. So our PG-rated Christmas movie Advent calendar includes the films we all loved as kids and still love to this day!

Being left alone during the festive season isn’t all bad, not-least if you’re Kevin McAllister and have fallen out with your family! Kevin ultimately comes to realise how much his family means to him, and family is all Buddy the Elf is looking for in the much-loved comedy from 2003.

B&M Top Tip: looking for chocolate Advent calendars? We’ve got big brand calendars from the likes of Cadbury and Mars, as well as book calendars and alcohol for the adults!

Speaking of people who live in far-away, magical realms, Elsa and Anna are joined by Olaf the snowman for one of the best Disney Christmas films in recent memory – Frozen is sure to go down well in every household. And who can forget A Muppet Christmas Carol, possibly the greatest adaptation of Dickens’ classic ghost story.

• Week 1: Home Alone
• Week 2: Elf
• Week 3: Frozen
• Christmas Eve: A Muppet Christmas Carol

B&M Top Tip: why not start a new tradition this Christmas? Settle down for your movie marathon in matching Christmas pyjamas – we’ve got sizes for men, women and kids!

Advent Calendar For Parents

Once the kids are nestled all snug in their beds, it’s time to reach for the remote and watch the films too inappropriate for younger viewers.

Christmas is all about heart-warming stories and there are enough fuzzy tales to warm even the most Scrooge-like of hearts in Love Actually. But if you’re not keen on the mushy, sentimental stuff how about action movies and horrors set at Christmas time? Die Hard and Gremlins provide the perfect compromise!

But whatever your film preference, it’s hard to look past It’s a Wonderful Life as the perfect festive film on Christmas Eve, a beautiful story about generosity and the importance of family, not just at Christmas but all the year-round.

• Week 1: Love Actually
• Week 2: Die Hard
• Week 3: Gremlins
• Christmas Eve: It’s A Wonderful Life

B&M Top Tip: if you want to keep the film you watch on Christmas Eve a surprise for the little ones, why not incorporate your advent calendar into the kids’ Xmas Eve boxes? You can pick up lots of cute boxes at B&M, and we’ve got lots of great ideas for what to put in them in our Perfect Family Christmas Eve Ideas blog!

What did we miss? Share the Christmas movies you’d have in your own movie Advent calendar with the B&M Community on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.