4 Apps for Streaming Movies During the Holidays

The holidays can be a busy time, but traditions with your family help you bond, and they are familiar comforts that bring a little calm to the chaos.

Maybe decorating the tree, going caroling or baking cookies are among your families’ favorite traditions, but watching a beloved holiday movie is also often a great way to spend some time together when you need to relax. Holiday movie streaming apps allow you to curl up on the couch — or anywhere your mobile device gets a signal — to enjoy seasonal classics.

Whether you’re ready to enjoy romantic Hallmark movies or an old Christmas favorite, apps make movie streaming easy. To get you started on a little holiday movie magic, here are four apps for your streaming pleasure:

1. Hallmark Movies Now

A classic guilty pleasure during the winter is romantic holiday movies, especially ones with quaint small-town life and inevitably happy endings. Hallmark offers a steady stream of these — plus their special countdown.

To stream these from your mobile device, you’ll need to download their free streaming app. Their memberships have unlimited, commercial-free streaming, and you’ll have access to hundreds of movies from the Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, and Hallmark Hall of Fame.

A few classic Hollywood movies come with the membership, too. You can sign in to your account and scroll through the selection to find your favorites.

Hallmark’s streaming app, Hallmark Movies Now, has a seasonal counterpart to keep up with your holiday favorites. It’s called Hallmark Movie Checklist, and it pairs with their seasonal Countdown to Christmas schedule. You can watch the heart-warming stories on Hallmark Movies Now and then swipe over to the checklist app to mark them off.

(Hallmark Movies Now is free to download for iOS and Android, and memberships start at $4.99 a month after a free seven-day trial.)

2. Netflix App

Netflix has been a mobile-friendly streaming option for some time, but it also caters to those in search of holiday films. The Netflix app has many holiday classics, like “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Love Actually” and “White Christmas.”

However, many apps have new releases this December, and Netflix hasn’t disappointed with their additions. The Netflix Originals Christmas selection is impressive and increasingly popular. Recently, they’ve released:

·     The Christmas Chronicles: This is a delightful, family-friendly story about a brother and sister working with Santa (Kurt Russell) to save Christmas after they accidentally crash his sleigh.

·     The Christmas Prince — The Royal Wedding: This movie is the sequel to last year’s hit original “The Christmas Prince.”

·     The Princess Switch: When a soon-to-be princess and a baker from Chicago discover they look alike, they decide to switch places. What follows is a fun and festive holiday romance.

You can watch on your laptop, TV, tablet or phone, and with some membership types, you can have more than one screen going at a time as well as HD capability. The first month of Netflix free as well — which is good news if you’re only watching for December to get your holiday fix.

(The Netflix app is free to download for iOS and Android, with memberships starting at $7.99.)

3. Amazon Prime Video App

Amazon Prime Video brings several movie options with holiday cheer to help your streaming search. For families with children, Amazon Prime includes:

·     A selection of Charlie Brown Christmas movies

·     Jack Frost

·     Home Alone

·     A Christmas Carol

Other Christmas movies can be rented or bought for streaming via Amazon Prime, like “The Santa Clause” and “The Holiday.”

Amazon Prime Video comes with an Amazon Prime membership. The app allows you to stream TV shows and movies from their library or download them for offline viewing. You can tap the app, sign in on the home screen and immediately begin watching the items on your Watch List.

(The app is free to download for iOS and Android, with Amazon Prime memberships starting at $59 a year for students or $119 a year for regular members.)

4. Hulu: Watch TV Shows and Movies App

Hulu is the go-to place to stream new episodes of ongoing TV shows, but you can cozy up with your device to stream holiday movies from the Hulu app, too. A few of the beloved classics you can stream on Hulu include:

·     Miracle on 34th Street

·     The Nightmare Before Christmas

·     The Heart of Christmas

The app allows you to personalize profiles for different family members and create a list of your favorite shows and movies. It does have brief commercials with the most basic membership, though. If you like live TV, you can subscribe through Hulu to live channels as well and enjoy real-time TV from the app.

(Hulu is free to download for iOS and Android, with memberships starting at $5.99 a month.)

Grab Your Mobile Device and Start Streaming

With last-minute Christmas planning and tons of holiday activities to do, you need a little time to slow down and enjoy the season. Streaming holiday movies from your TV or mobile device is an ideal way to do just that with your favorite Christmas films.