Movies like Christmas by Candlelight (2023)
The best movies like Christmas by Candlelight (2023) are 12 Gifts of Christmas (2015), A Christmas Miracle for Daisy (2021) and Holiday in Handcuffs (2007). If Christmas by Candlelight 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 Holdovers (2023)7.6/10 from 2,777 votes
- NewestChristmas on Windmill Way (2023)Released 2023
12 Gifts of Christmas (2015)
When Anna Parisi, an unemployed fine arts painter, is unable to make ends meet, she is hired to become a personal Christmas shopper for Marc, an uptight corporate exec. As they begin working together, Marc learns that Christmas giving has less to do with the amount of money spent and more to do with the importance of the gift, while Anna discovers she might find success as an artist in a way she never expected. The best gift of all of course is the love they discover with one another.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Christmas Miracle for Daisy (2021)
Whitney Alder owns interior design firm Marietta Designs, which she runs with her friend Andi in the small town of Marietta, Montana. Whitney is designing Santa’s float for the annual Marietta Christmas Parade when a potential job opportunity comes her way: the full redesign of a landmark home by Christmas Eve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisHoliday in Handcuffs (2007)
A ne’er-do-well thirty-something attempts to appease her family by kidnapping herself an attractive boyfriend for the family Christmas. Despite unlikely odds and dysfunctional family moments, the two fall in love and share a magical Christmas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas in Love (2018)
Ellie Hartman is an aspiring crafter working in her small town’s bakery making famous Christmas Kringles. When the new, big-city CEO Nick Carlingson visits the bakery, he arrives filled with modernization ideas destined to lay off many employees.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Christmas Dream (2016)
A department store manager sets out to create an amazing holiday display window to impress the owner. She asks a recently-fired employee to help her make the display, and as they work together, they start to fall in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Cookie Cutter Christmas (2014)
Two longtime rivals and elementary school teachers duke it out during the holidays in a Christmas cookie bake-off, but their real feud ignites over a shared interest in a handsome single dad. With both determined to win the prize and the romance, their competitiveness could jeopardize what matters most this Christmas season.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTwinkle All the Way (2019)
To pull off a spectacular Christmas-themed wedding, a wedding planner joins forces with the co-owner of a family-run Christmas decoration and house-lighting company.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMerry Christmas, Drake & Josh (2008)
Step brothers Drake and Josh must give a foster family the best Christmas ever or face years in jail for a Christmas party gone wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 thisNever Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater (2020)
Single mom Maggie is facing Christmas alone until Lucas crashes into her life and becomes an unexpected house guest. Together they overcome Christmas while finding comfort in their growing bond.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mistle-Tones (2012)
Holly, blessed with an amazing singing voice, is all set to audition for the newly vacated spot in a legendary local Christmas group which was founded by her late mother years ago. Shocked and upset when the slot goes to the barely talented best friend of the group's leader, Marci, Holly sets out to create her own musical group, The Mistle-Tones. After challenging their rivals to a sing-off on Christmas Eve, Holly finds herself on a journey to the real meaning of Christmas with some new friends and a new love thrown in for good measure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 on Windmill Way (2023)
Mia Meijer gets ready for the Christmas Market Dutch Bake-Off and suspects that her grandmother, Ann, will walk away with the cherished Golden Rolling Pin thanks to her Kerststol, a traditional Dutch fruited Christmas bread. But Mia's world is rocked when she learns that Ann was having financial troubles and had to sell the land deed to the Windmill Way property in her family for generations. Making matters worse, the buyer is Mia's former boyfriend, property developer Brady Schaltz, who must let Mia and Ann know the Meijer family-owned heritage Dutch sawmill, renowned for the past 90 years for its fine millwork and beautiful wooden furniture, will be torn down to put up a luxurious resort.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisKristin's Christmas Past (2013)
Kristin, a cynical 34-year-old, drinks a mysterious champagne on Christmas Eve and wakes up seventeen years in the past, sharing a room with her 17-year-old self. Given the chance to change the worst Christmas of her life, she attempts to fix past mistakes, only to discover surprising truths about her family that may help her mend her present-day relationships.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisLast Chance for Christmas (2015)
When Prancer injures his hoof Santa’s stable hand, John, must find a fill in to ensure Christmas deliveries go off without a hitch. His mission gets complicated when he discovers that Frankie, the perfect substitute reindeer, belongs to a precocious 8-year-old girl and her mother Annie. As he races to get Frankie up to the North Pole, he realizes that he’s actually falling in love with Annie and has to find a way to win her over and save Christmas at the same time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)
Fred is cast as Ebenezer Scrooge in a stage adaption of the classic Christmas story, but is acting a bit stingy in real life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEXmas (2023)
When Graham decides to surprise his family by traveling home for Christmas, he is shocked to discover them already celebrating with an unexpected guest of honor, his ex-fiancée, Ali. The two exes battle it out to see who the family will pick to stay through Christmas Day and who must go.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 12 Days of Christmas Eve (2022)
When Brian Conway, a successful businessman whose family relationships have suffered, gets in a car accident on Christmas Eve, Santa gives him twelve chances to redo the day and repair the relationships in his life, including with his daughter Michelle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSharing Christmas (2017)
A real estate developer is given the opportunity of his career to transform an old shopping complex into a prime location. Unfortunately, there is one tenant who is holding out—the Christmas shop owner he met by happenstance just days ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrashing Through the Snow (2021)
Maggie and Sam are crashing Christmas. When he proposes they team up against his sister's perfect Christmas, neither of them are prepared for the blended family challenges that lie ahead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & family
Look Who's Talking Now! (1993)
When high-powered executive Samantha LeBon hatches a scheme to spend a romantic Christmas with her new employee – the unsuspecting, blithesome James – his wife, their kids and their two dogs, Rocks and Daphne, must rescue him before he makes a terrible mistake.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisAlvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein (1999)
The Chipmunks work in an amusement park attraction. After Alvin drives a crazy tour group, they miss their next performance and are locked in the park after closing time. Little do they know that the real Dr. Frankenstein has been hired in a new attraction called, "Frankenstein's Castle"; figuring that the castle isn't scary enough, the mad scientist recreates the real Monster.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Women Want (2000)
Advertising executive Nick Marshall is as cocky as they come, but what happens to a chauvinistic guy when he can suddenly hear what women are thinking? Nick gets passed over for a promotion, but after an accident enables him to hear women's thoughts, he puts his newfound talent to work against Darcy, his new boss, who seems to be infatuated with him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJust Friends (2005)
While visiting his hometown during Christmas, a man comes face-to-face with his old high school crush whom he was best friends with – a woman whose rejection of him turned him into a ferocious womanizer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeck the Halls (2006)
Determined to unseat Steve Finch's reign as the town's holiday season king, Buddy Hall plasters his house with so many decorative lights that it'll be visible from space! When their wives bond, and their kids follow suit, the two men only escalate their rivalry - and their decorating.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisWings of Christmas (2013)
The film's protagonists get an opportunity to make a wish. Consequently, their lives take the path they themselves ordained. Several "coincidences" bring them everything they wanted and they have the chance to experience their wishes. We are not only responsible in our lives for everything that we do, but also for everything we say, we think and desire.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
The Polar Express 2 (TBA)
In development. Plot TBA.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family
The Holdovers (2023)
A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSanta Claus vs. Cupid (1915)
A desperate man and two romantic rivals encounter one another at a Christmas party.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Like Christmas by Candlelight and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Christmas by Candlelight?
The closest matches to Christmas by Candlelight are 12 Gifts of Christmas (2015), A Christmas Miracle for Daisy (2021) and Holiday in Handcuffs (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Christmas by Candlelight?
Start with 12 Gifts of Christmas (2015), the closest match to Christmas by Candlelight.
What is the highest-rated movie like Christmas by Candlelight?
The Holdovers (2023), rated 7.6/10 by 2,777 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Christmas by Candlelight?
Christmas on Windmill Way (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Christmas by Candlelight?
Yes: 12 Gifts of Christmas (2015), A Christmas Miracle for Daisy (2021) and Holiday in Handcuffs (2007).
How are movies similar to Christmas by Candlelight chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Christmas by Candlelight, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.