10 Best Christmas Dinner Movie Scenes

Christmas dinner is a time for family, friends and, on occasion, plenty of drama. This is something the movie industry has taken to heart, using it as an opportunity for countless cinematic centerpieces over the years.

While most festive films will incorporate a dinner scene, sometimes the best aren’t even in a strictly Christmas movie. Whether it’s there as a heartwarming moment, or to set-up an explosive moment, these are the most iconic.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

This iconic instalment in the National Lampoon series follows the Griswold family as they try to host Christmas festivities at home with all their relatives. Of course, because it’s the Griswolds, everything goes wrong – with hilarious results.

Christmas dinner is the perfect example. First, when Aunt Bethany is called upon to say grace, she’s too old to understand fully and ends up giving the pledge of allegiance. Then the turkey is inedible, and Clark ends up electrocuting Bethany’s cat. In short, it’s a comedic disaster (which is what National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation does best).

A Bad Moms Christmas

In this festive sequel to the decidedly un-festive comedy Bad Moms, a trio of moms – Amy, Kiki, and Carla – try to deal with their own moms arriving for Christmas. They all have their own complex mother-daughter relationships, but want to get along well enough to enjoy the holidays.

After plenty of conflicts – including Kiki’s mom deciding to move next door and Amy banishing hers forever when she throws a party without her permission – all is well in time for Christmas dinner. There’s Chinese food and a shock announcement that their moms have decided to visit Vegas together. It’s unorthodox, but entirely accurate of the weird and wonderful things that happen with family at Christmas.

The Grinch

The Grinch is the third adaptation of Dr Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but still manages to find new joys in the tale. Ultimately, however, it tells the same story, following the Grinch and his pet dog Max as they try to ruin Whoville’s Christmas by stealing its gifts and decor.

Of course, he’s eventually redeemed with the help of Who, Cindy-Lou. The movie ends with him attending Christmas dinner at her house. Although awkward at first, he gives a speech and declares, “To kindness and love, the things we need most!” While very on the nose, this kind of sentiment is what Christmas is all about.

Instant Family

Instant Family follows Pete and Ellie after they adopt three siblings and try to forge a new family. While not a Christmas movie, it’s very much focused on love and trust – both of which are common Christmassy themes – and includes a classic festive-dinner-gone-wrong sequence.

Youngest child, Lita, insists that she wants chips for dinner, but is told no. She subsequently has a total meltdown, which triggers smashed glasses, flying chips, and a fire that Pete tries to put out with ketchup. The shot of Lita covered in ketchup and threateningly holding up a Spongebob knife is hilarious, if not a strong reminder that not everybody gets along at Christmas.

The Family Stone

Dysfunctional families are what The Family Stone is all about, so of course it’s set at Christmas. Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) arrives at her boyfriend Everett’s (Dermot Mulroney) home, where he plans on proposing. However, his family’s reaction is hostile – and Meredith finds herself drawn to their younger son, Ben (Luke Wilson).

It may just be a dinner at Christmas – not a Christmas dinner – but nothing encapsulates the tension better than this scene. When Everett’s other brother, Thad, and his partner Patrick express their plans to adopt a child, Meredith makes a major faux pas in her attempts to engage in the conversation. Painstakingly awkward, this is what everyone dreads when visiting someone else’s home for the holidays.

Mickey’s Christmas Carol

Starring Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchit and Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge (who else), Mickey’s Christmas Carol makes for a heartwarming festive watch. In this adaptation of Dickens’ timeless A Christmas Carol, Scrooge confronts his past mistakes. He tries to make amends to his employee Bob, having treated him poorly for too long.

One of the most memorable scenes sees Scrooge watch as Bob returns home for Christmas dinner. He’s horrified to see that they all must share one small bird and little else. Tiny Tim is overjoyed anyway, grateful for anything despite his poor lot in life. Just like the original novel, it sends a powerful message about inequality and what really matters in life.

Almost Christmas

The Meyers family come together for the holidays for the first time since their mother’s death in 2016’s Almost Christmas. They’re a dysfunctional bunch with countless issues – which all, of course, come to a head at Christmas dinner.

Not only do they discover that their father is selling their family home, but an extramarital affair is revealed and a slighted Cheryl (Kimberley Elise) confronts her cheating husband with a shotgun. Christmas doesn’t get much more eventful than this.

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

The Harry Potter movies have long been considered non-Christmas Christmas movies. In Order of the Phoenix, audiences get to see the Weasley clan (plus Harry, Hermione, and Sirius) sit down to celebrate not just Christmas, but Arthur’s miraculous recovery from a snake attack.

Any glimpse at how wizards do Christmas is always welcome, and considering this is one of the darkest entries in the franchise, the moment of levity feels well-earned. What really makes it powerful though is the knowledge that this is Harry’s first – and last – opportunity to celebrate Christmas with his godfather.

The Santa Clause

After Scott Calvin indirectly kills Santa, he unknowingly enters into the “Santa Clause” when he puts on the Santa suit. Legally, he has to take on the mantle – no matter how cynical or resistant he might be to the idea.

Because The Santa Clause is a Disney movie, he comes around in time for the following Christmas. However, the dinner scene early in the film really highlights what a struggle it is to reach that point. In his hopeless efforts to celebrate the season properly, Scott accidentally burns Christmas dinner and has to take his son Charlie to Denny’s instead. What’s more Christmassy than plans gone wrong?

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Combining The Muppets with Charles Dickens shouldn’t work – but it does. Every single scene of The Muppet Christmas Carol is a warm, cozy, festive delight. While Ebenezer Scrooge’s redemption takes center stage, a cast of Muppets fill in the other roles, with Rizzo stepping in to narrate the entire affair.

For its heartwarming finale, audiences see Scrooge invite the suffering Cratchits (played by Kermit and Miss Piggy) to a big turkey dinner. Every other Muppet soon joins in, singing a final rendition of “When Love Is Found”. What could easily be sickly sweet manages to be earnestly sentimental – a rarity in the festive genre.

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