Looking for some holi-gay Christmas movies to watch while the rain comes down?
It’s Christmas time in the city! Santa and the reindeer will be traveling through some heavy rains, so it might be time to snuggle up and watch a fun, “holi-gay” Christmas flick with a friend or two.
According to Rainbow Moods, an online YouTube channel with almost 30,000 subscribers, these are the top 10 Gay Christmas movies of all time.
1. The Holiday Sitter (2022)
Sam Dalton is ready to check out for the holidays, a solo trip to Hawaii, no family chaos, no awkward small talk. Then his sister calls with an emergency favor, he needs to stay home and babysit his young nephew instead.
Sam isn’t exactly “kid person,” so it’s a rocky start. But next door is Jason, warm, capable, and way better at this than Sam is. What starts as a neighbor lending a hand turns into Sam slowly settling into the moment, figuring out how to show up for his family, and realizing he might actually want someone to share the season with.
2. The Christmas to Treasure (2022)
Austin, goes back to his hometown for the holidays after the death of Ms. Marley, a beloved figure who shaped a lot of the town’s kids, including him. What starts as a quick visit turns into something more when he’s pulled into a Christmas-themed treasure hunt Ms. Marley set up before she died, meant to reunite a tight group of old friends.
As the clues push everyone back through familiar places and half-forgotten memories, Austin reconnects with Everett, his childhood best friend, and the person he never really got over. The search turns into a second chance, not just to honor Ms. Marley, but to figure out what Austin actually wants, and whether the life he built away from home is the one he’s supposed to keep choosing.
3. Shared Rooms (2016)
Is a Christmas-set ensemble comedy that follows a few connected stories unfolding over the same holiday week.
One thread centers on a married couple who unexpectedly become a lifeline for a gay teen after he’s kicked out at home, forcing them to confront what “family” really means when it shows up on your doorstep. Another follows two roommates stuck in an awkward living situation when circumstances leave them sharing a bed for a week, and the forced closeness starts to blur lines they’d been pretending were clear. The third tracks two single guys bouncing between parties and apps, chasing a holiday hookup, and running into the usual mix of hope, ego, and loneliness that comes with it.
By the end, it’s less about perfect Christmas moments and more about messy, real connections, who takes care of who, who’s willing to be honest, and who ends up spending the holiday alone.
4. The Christmas Setup (2020)
Hugo Spencer is a busy Manhattan lawyer who heads back to his hometown for Christmas and quickly falls back into old routines, family traditions, and time with his best friend, Madeline. Hugo’s mom, Kate (Fran Drescher), is basically running the town’s holiday festival, and she’s not subtle about wanting her son to have more of a life back home.
While he’s in town, Hugo runs into Patrick, his high school crush, now grown up and still easy to be around. As they help with festival stuff and spend time together, the old feelings come back, but so do the questions Hugo thought he’d already answered, like whether he really wants to keep building his life in New York, or if the version of himself he left behind still fits.
5. Dashing in December (2020)
Wyatt Burwell is a gay man who returns to his hometown to see his beloved mother (Andie McDowell). His goal is to sell the family Colorado ranch because he feels he can take care of his mother in the city. Unexpectedly, he meets Heath Ramos, his mother’s employee.
6. Single All The Way (2021)
Peter (Michael Urie) is tired of going home for Christmas and getting the same question from his family: who are you dating now? To shut it down for once, he convinces his best friend and roommate Nick (Philemon Chambers) to come with him and pretend they’re a couple.
Then Peter’s mom, Carole (Kathy Najimy), throws a wrench into the plan by setting him up on a blind date with James (Luke Macfarlane), who is genuinely great on paper and in person. So now Peter is stuck juggling a fake boyfriend, a real potential boyfriend, and the part he doesn’t want to admit out loud, that the person who knows him best might be the one he actually wants.
Meanwhile, Aunt Sandy (Jennifer Coolidge) is running the family’s Christmas chaos at full volume, and the whole house is basically rooting for the same ending.
7. The Christmas House (2021)
Centers on the Mitchell family as they gather at home for the holidays, the kind of visit that brings up everything you’ve been avoiding all year. Two brothers are in very different places, but both are dealing with big life decisions.
Brandon (Jonathan Bennett) and his husband, Jake, are in limbo while they wait to find out if their adoption will go through, and the uncertainty hangs over the whole trip. Meanwhile, Mike, a TV star who’s used to controlling his image, comes home and runs into his old school crush, Andi, which stirs up feelings he never really dealt with. As the family leans into their traditions, the week becomes less about perfect Christmas moments and more about figuring out what comes next, and who they want beside them when it does.
8. The Holiday Exchange (2024)
Is a two-track Christmas romance built around a last-minute house swap.
Fresh off selling his company and still smarting from a breakup, Wilde (Taylor Frey) decides he can’t do the holidays in Los Angeles, so he swaps homes through an LGBTQ dating app with Oliver (Rick Cosnett), who’s based in a snowy, postcard-perfect town called Brilfax. Wilde heads into the small-town winter vibe, Oliver takes over Wilde’s sunny L.A. place, and both of them stumble into unexpected connections in their “new” settings.
Back home, Wilde’s mom, Lola (Kyle Richards), is very involved and very opinionated, which adds to the chaos, but also keeps pushing Wilde to stop retreating from love. The movie bounces between the two locations as both men figure out what they actually want, and whether this weird holiday reset might be exactly the thing that gets them unstuck.
9. The Family Tree (2020)
Family Tree follows Victor Gardel, a gay man who works as an animal rescuer at a local shelter. He’s good at caring for everyone else, not so good at letting people close, so the holidays tend to hit him harder than he admits, even though he loves the year-end festivities.
This year, a shift in his routine pushes him into new conversations and new connections. The story stays small and personal, Victor starts to see how much he’s been doing life alone, and how different it feels when friendship, family, and the possibility of love aren’t just ideas, but something he actually lets himself step into.
10. Make the Yuletide Gay (2009)
This oldie but goodie follows Olaf “Gunn” Gunderson (Keith Jordan), a college student who’s out and comfortable at school, but slips back into the closet the minute he gets home for Christmas. His parents still think he’s straight, the neighbors are all up in his business, and everyone keeps nudging him toward his old high school girlfriend like that chapter never ended.
Then Gunn’s boyfriend, Nathan (Adamo Ruggiero), shows up at the house unexpectedly after his own holiday plans fall apart. Gunn panics and tries to pass Nathan off as “just a friend” while juggling family traditions, small-town scrutiny, and the pressure of keeping up the act. The tension keeps building until Gunn has to decide whether he’s going to keep performing for everyone, or finally tell the truth and deal with whatever comes next.
That’s the list. We’ve checked it twice, some are naughty, but all are nice! Whatever you’re in the mood for, one of these well received and Happy Holigay flicks should do the trick!
