Movies like The Search for Secret Santa (2022)
The best movies like The Search for Secret Santa (2022) are Ghosts of Christmas Always (2022), 'Tis the Season to be Merry (2021) and A Kiss Before Christmas (2021). If The Search for Secret Santa hooked you with its tv movie and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Apartment (1960)8.2/10 from 2,848 votes
- NewestDrink and Be Merry (2025)Released 2025
Ghosts of Christmas Always (2022)
Katherine is a Ghost of Christmas Present and she must help one soul, Peter, rediscover his Christmas spirit. But this year has something unusual in store.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this'Tis the Season to be Merry (2021)
Looking for a fresh angle to her book on relationships, Merry heads to snow-covered Vermont. She finds a new perspective and Christmas cheer with charismatic aid worker Chris.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Kiss Before Christmas (2021)
Ethan, always the nice guy, wakes up in a new reality at Christmas. Initially, he is enthralled with his new life but soon realizes that it's not what he thought it would be.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Royal Nanny (2022)
Claire is an MI5 agent who goes undercover as the royal nanny. She must overcome the challenges of her assignment, like resisting the charms of Prince Colin, while keeping the family safe at Christmas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPicture a Perfect Christmas (2019)
An extreme-sports photographer returns home for the holiday to take care of her grandmother, only to have a neighbor grab her attention as he needs assistance watching his young nephew.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas at Castle Hart (2021)
Brooke Bennett goes to Ireland for Christmas to search for her Irish roots. While there, she meets Aiden Hart, Earl of Glaslough. Mistaken for an elite event planner, she’s hired to host his castle’s epic Christmas party.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHaul Out the Holly (2022)
Emily arrives home, hoping to visit her parents, only to discover that they are leaving on a trip of their own. As she stays at their house for the holidays, their HOA is determined to get Emily to participate in the neighborhood’s many Christmas festivities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCoyote Creek Christmas (2021)
While throwing a "Christmas Around the World" party at her family's inn, an event planner discovers Christmas magic with a charming father-son duo whose presence brings about tension and joy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNext Stop, Christmas (2021)
Angie wonders what her life would be like if she had married a former boyfriend who became a famous sportscaster. She takes the train home to spend Christmas with her family and inexplicably finds herself 10 years in the past. With the advice of the train's enigmatic conductor, Angie has the chance to revisit that Christmas and learn what — and who — is truly important to her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Christmas Prince (2017)
Samantha, a dedicated teacher in Manhattan, returns to her home town of Maple Falls, Wyoming every year for Christmas. This year, she’s delighted when her boyfriend Alex, a European diplomat from the tiny country of Madelvia, decides to joins her. Samantha later discovers Alex is actually a prince destined for the throne, turning her entire world upside down. Realizing that staying with Alex means spending her life in the constant glare of publicity and giving up the job opportunity of a lifetime, Samantha must decide if she loves Alex enough to make the transition from teacher to royal – or will it be too big a leap
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Maple Valley Christmas (2022)
Erica is a rancher who has spent her whole life working the family farm with her mother and sister. When Aaron arrives and disrupts her plans, she starts to question what it is she actually wants.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Christmas Contest (2021)
Exes Lara and Ben compete in a Christmas contest to win money for the charity of their choosing. The city watches them battle and choose what is more important, victory or love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Nine Kittens of Christmas (2021)
Cat lovers Zachary and Marilee are thrown back together at Christmas when they're tasked with finding homes for a litter of adorable kittens.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJingle Bell Princess (2021)
An actual princess has some mechanical issues and is temporarily grounded. Does she have time for a lobster roll? It is Christmas time in Maine which means snow, quaint scenery, and lots of Christmas lights near the ocean. With the crew distracted attending to the repair, Princess Amelia deplanes to walk through a magical Christmas tree lot near the airport perimeter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisB&B Merry (2022)
Tracey Wise is a renowned luxury travel blogger who is invited by Graham Cooper to a Christmas getaway in exchange for her review of his family’s small bed & breakfast, Silver Peak. Unfortunately, the humble B&B is facing tough competition from an upscale hotel resort nearby that has been stealing guests and threatening the survival of the family business.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Merry Christmas Wish (2022)
Janie, a rising marketing executive living in The Big Apple, returns to her hometown of Woodland Falls when her Great-Uncle Randall passes away. Randall has even arranged for his farmhand, Dylan to help at the event, which is being held in the farm’s sprawling barn. Aware that her Manhattan boyfriend is anxious for her to return to the city so the pair can jet off to a previously planned holiday on the beach, Janie begins to feel an unexpected emotional tug about living life in a more authentic, meaningful way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Kindhearted Christmas (2021)
Jamie owns a sightseeing and tour company in the small town of Cooperville, New York. Navigating the holidays with enthusiasm is trickier for Jamie since her husband Matt passed. Matt loved Christmas and found unparalleled joy in giving to others. While reminiscing with family, Jamie realizes the town desperately needs someone with Matt’s genius for thinking of the small gestures that bring genuine happiness to the holidays.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas at the Drive-In (2022)
Sadie Walker is starting over in her hometown of Chesterfield, New York, following a series of major life disruptions that include leaving her law practice after losing her biggest case and no longer being engaged.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisCatering Christmas (2022)
A fledgling caterer, Molly Frost, is hired by Jean Harrison, the perfectionistic director of the renowned Harrison Foundation, to cater this year’s annual Christmas Gala dinner. Things get complicated when Molly falls for Jean’s nephew, Carson, 30s, a travel photographer with no desire to take over the family’s foundation… until his aunt assigns him to the task of making sure the catered dinner goes perfectly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas in Evergreen (2017)
Allie, a veterinarian in Evergreen, reluctantly will spend Christmas with her long-distance boyfriend. Bound for the airport, she has engine trouble, and Ryan, headed to Florida with his daughter Zoe, stops to help. Sure they won’t meet again, they ignore their attraction, and part ways. At the diner, Zoe wishes on a snow globe, and a storm seems to grant her wish.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas à la Carte (2021)
When food correspondent, Carly, gets a shot at her own show, she is sent to Angel Heights to help Grant open his diner and film it as a Holiday special for her TV show. Will Grant and Carly open their hearts too?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
The Family Stone (2005)
An uptight, conservative businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family's annual Christmas celebration and finds that she's a fish out of water in their free-spirited way of life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas Crush (2012)
Twenty-eight-year-old Georgia is convinced the man of her dreams is "the one that got away" back in high school. When Georgia learns of her high school reunion a week before Christmas, she's ecstatic to finally have her chance to win Craig back. But as she gets to relive high school for a night, she begins to realize it might not be Craig at all who got away, but Ben, an old friend with whom she'd fallen out of touch.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Apartment (1960)
Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLove Actually (2003)
Eight very different couples deal with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Christmas Tale (2008)
When their regal matriarch falls ill, the troubled Vuillard family come together for a hesitant Christmastime reunion. Among them is rebellious ne'er-do-well Henri and the uptight Elizabeth. Together under the same roof for the first time in many years, their intricate, long denied resentments and yearnings emerge again.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Christmas Cabin (2019)
When Seth unknowingly interrupts Sammi's quiet holiday getaway at her family cabin, their hearts get more than they bargain for; The Christmas Cabin is a romantic comedy about finding unexpected love with a little help from the Christmas season.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Final Wager (2024)
Former sports gambling addict Chance needs $60,000 to save his mother from nursing home eviction. So he falls back into his old habits, only to learn he's never lost a bet on Christmas. Is this the Christmas miracle he's been waiting for? Or just an addict who can't control himself?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Drink and Be Merry (2025)
At a struggling New York dive bar in the days leading up to Christmas 2019, Chet, a beleaguered bartender in a state of extended arrested development, must balance caring for his misanthropic, aging regulars — who have nowhere else to go, and rely on him for far more than pouring drinks — with his naive desires to muster some Christmas spirit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
A retelling of the classic Dickens tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, miser extraordinaire. He is held accountable for his dastardly ways during nighttime visitations by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like The Search for Secret Santa and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Search for Secret Santa?
The closest matches to The Search for Secret Santa are Ghosts of Christmas Always (2022), 'Tis the Season to be Merry (2021) and A Kiss Before Christmas (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Search for Secret Santa?
Start with Ghosts of Christmas Always (2022), the closest match to The Search for Secret Santa.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Search for Secret Santa?
The Apartment (1960), rated 8.2/10 by 2,848 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Search for Secret Santa?
Drink and Be Merry (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Search for Secret Santa?
Yes: Ghosts of Christmas Always (2022), 'Tis the Season to be Merry (2021) and A Kiss Before Christmas (2021).
How are movies similar to The Search for Secret Santa chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Search for Secret Santa, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.