How to Host a Christmas Movie Marathon & Cookie Swap

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Have you always wanted to dedicate a whole day to lounging in your pajamas and watching movies in true “movie marathon” fashion, especially during the holiday season? I know I have, but it never seems to happen. I mean, who has a whole day to do nothing?

Why a Christmas Movie Marathon?

What if I told you it can be done, it’s not wasting your day, and you should invite your friends? Add some festive food and cocktails and you’ve got yourself a party. Can you think of a better way to get in the holiday spirit than watching holiday movies with your friends all day? No? Me neither.

I’ve thought a lot about this and have gone around and around to come up with a schedule and I think I landed on the perfect mix of timing, movies, and what to serve. Let’s go!!!

Find a Schedule that Works for You

For this particular type of gathering, I suggest creating a schedule first. While I would love to watch 5 or 6 movies throughout the day, I found that three movies make the most sense. Obviously, you can’t assume your guests will be able to stay all day so I suggest making it a drop-in-style party. Schedule a little time between each movie and guests can drop in for what works for their schedule. Make sure to break for lunch so you have time for the cookie swap. Also, if guests can’t stay for a movie they can plan to just drop in for lunch and cookies!

Oh, and I created the invitation and schedule template for you in Canva so you can plug in your party deets and plan your movie day.

Decide on Your Guests

This type of gathering is a great way to include more people than you might for a dinner party because it is a drop-in and can be a revolving door of friends. Fun right? In this case, I would overestimate the number of guests. You know everyone will not be able to attend and guests will most likely spread out throughout the day. I would plan that the second and third movies would be the most attended. You could open up the first movie for your friends to bring their kiddos too if that is your stage of life!

Pick Your Favorite Movies

Now this is the fun part! Pick your favorite Christmas movies to show at each time slot. I chose a more kid-friendly movie for the early slot in case you have young kids or any guests who need to bring their kiddos. A family-friendly movie works perfectly for the middle slot and a rom-com for the final showing. It was so hard for me to choose, but I went with Home Alone, Elf, and ended with The Holiday (my all-time favorite holiday movie). It was hard not to include other movies like The Grinch Stole Christmas, Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story and so many others, but I’m happy with these three.

Create a Menu

Don’t overcomplicate the menu, just have a few simple and delicious snacks for each time slot. If you don’t want to make all the food yourself you can totally make it a potluck situation and have guests contribute.

Here is my sample menu:

1. First movie – Breakfast Casserole & Mimosas
2. Lunch – Ham & Cheese Sliders with Fruit Salad 
3. Cookie Swap – My Best Cookies Ever
4. Second movie – Gourmet Popcorn, Peppermint Bark & Cranberry Spritz
5. Third movie – Simple Charcuterie, Espresso Martinis & Hot Chocolate

Cookie Swap

Ask guests to bring a batch of their favorite holiday cookies to share. The amount of cookies to bring will be based on the number of guests attending the swap. I think it would be a good idea to ask them to bring several copies of their recipe printed out for everyone to take home. This is such a special time of the year and would be a sweet way for everyone to remember the day. 

Make it Festive

Don’t spend a lot of energy on holiday decorations, but put up a few Christmas lights and grab some candy canes, jingle bells, or bottle brush Christmas trees to use for decor and call it a day. Or do like I do and use your party as an excuse to clean up and get completely decorated for Christmas. Sometimes I need a little extra motivation, am I right? Also, make sure to set up your living room (i.e. move your coffee table out of the way) and have some comfy blankets and pillows for guests to use. 

Send the Text

Now, all you need to do is clear the day with your family and send the text! I promise this will be the perfect way to get into the Christmas spirit and I know your friends will have so much fun.  Don’t forget to grab the done-for-you Canva template so you can get your invitations out super fast!

Helpful Tips & Other Ideas

1. Play charades or a movie trivia game. 
2. If you don’t do a cookie swap you could pick a new cookie recipe and back together during the lunchtime hour. 
3. Have everyone share their favorite character from a Christmas movie. 
4. Make it a pajama party and have Santa hats for friends to wear.
5. If you prefer, make the third movie a movie for couples. Love Actually is such a great movie and would be good for couples or choose something like The Family Stone or Four Christmases.
6. Are you a die-hard Hallmark fan? Make it a Hallmark channel holiday movie marathon.
7. Most of these movies you can probably find free on streaming services but if not, I find the best way to rent them for a small price is on Amazon Prime Video.
8. Don’t want to host, adapt the movies, menu, and schedule to create the day for your whole family! You could even do this on Christmas Eve. I promise they will thank you later.

I can’t think of a better way to kick off the Christmas season than a festive movie marathon. It’s literally the perfect time! And hey, you may even start a new tradition. What would be the lineup of your favorite Christmas classics?

I hope you have a very merry movie night! If you decide to host one leave me a comment below. I’d love to know what you did! If you want more hosting ideas and to learn more about Food & Friends, join us on Substack!

Cheers!

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