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Christmas

Funny Christmas wishes for your family: 10 to choose from

A funny Christmas message for your family lands best when the joke is about something only the two of you would recognize, and when one sincere line sits underneath it. Pure jokes get a laugh and get recycled. Below are 10 that keep both.

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The opening screen of a Christmas Quest, a lit snow globe on a midnight blue background

Christmas Quest

how it opens

A funny message has a shorter half-life than people expect. It gets the laugh in the room and then the card goes in the recycling with everything else.

A card to a whole household is read aloud, propped on a mantelpiece and seen by people it was not written for, which changes what belongs in it.

A message to a whole family has to work for several people at once, which is why most of them end up saying nothing in particular.

Christmas messages are written in bulk, and everybody knows it. The reader can tell within one line whether they are receiving a message or a distribution.

10 Christmas messages for your family

  1. Funny
    Merry Christmas to the only family where the argument about the board game has outlasted the board game.
  2. Funny
    Wishing you a Christmas with fewer arguments than last year. We both know this is optimistic.
  3. Funny
    Merry Christmas. Someone will cry, someone will burn something, and someone will say it was the best one yet.
  4. Funny
    To the family that has never agreed on when to open the presents: Merry Christmas.
  5. Funny
    Merry Christmas from our house to yours. Please send leftover help.
  6. Funny
    May your Christmas dinner be hot, your relatives be kind and your oven stay on until it should not.
  7. Funny
    Merry Christmas. The small children will be awake at 5am, and I wish you luck.
  8. Funny
    Merry Christmas to a family that can start a debate about the tree in under a minute.
  9. Funny
    Merry Christmas to everyone who will pretend they like the family quiz again this year.
  10. Funny
    Wishing your house a peaceful Christmas, or at least a very entertaining one.

What actually works in a Christmas message to your family

The fix is not to be less funny. It is to put one line underneath the joke that is not a joke, so there is something to keep once the laugh is over.

Listing every name and saying nothing is the standard failure. One observation about what this family is like as a unit does more.

One observation about the household beats a list of names.

Reference the year that has actually happened. A Christmas card that could have been sent in any of the last five years announces itself immediately.

Timing and etiquette for a Christmas message to your family

Cards to families should say something about the household rather than listing every name.

A Christmas Quest hub on a midnight blue screen titled 'A Winter Night for Maya', with lights waking one by one

A Winter Night for Maya

christmas · winter light trail

Details only you would know about your family

The thing this family does that no other family does is usually the fastest way in. Swap one general phrase in any message above for one of these and the borrowed line becomes yours - your family will recognize it immediately, which is the entire point.

  • The thing this family does that no other family does
  • How they handle a crisis as a unit
  • What their house is like when everyone is in it
  • A tradition they have kept going
  • Something they have got through together
  • How they treat visitors
  • The noise level, the food, the specific texture of the household
  • What the family has been like this particular year

What goes wrong when people write to families

  • Listing everyone by name and saying nothing

    A roll call is not a message. One observation about the whole is better than five empty clauses.

  • Ignoring what kind of year it has been

    Families notice when a message pretends a hard year did not happen.

  • Pure formality

    "Wishing you all the best" is a greeting, not a message.

Common questions

What is the best christmas message for your family?
Pick one real detail - the thing this family does that no other family does - and build two or three sentences around it. A message to a whole family has to work for several people at once, which is why most of them end up saying nothing in particular, which is why a message that could only have been written to your family outperforms a longer, more polished one that could go to anyone.
What should you not write to your family?
Avoid listing everyone by name and saying nothing. A roll call is not a message. One observation about the whole is better than five empty clauses.
How long should a christmas message be?
Two to four sentences, with at least one referring to something that actually happened this year. Seasonal wishes can close it, not carry it.
How do you write a funny christmas message without it falling flat?
Make the joke about something only the two of you would recognize rather than a generic gag about aging, and put one sincere line underneath it. A card that is entirely jokes gets a laugh and gets thrown away; the sincere sentence is the part that gets kept.
How do you make a christmas message sound personal rather than copied?
Change one detail to something only you would know. Take any message here and replace its general noun with how they handle a crisis as a unit. That single substitution is what separates a message that sounds borrowed from one that sounds like you wrote it.

When a Christmas message is not quite enough for your family

The best comic cards are affectionate underneath, and the recipient can always tell which ones were only jokes.

BloomQuest takes the same raw material this page has been asking you for - the thing this family does that no other family does, the thing you would never say out loud - and turns it into a small private world your family opens from one link. Your words, their memories, and a finale you write yourself.

If they have had a hard year, writing around it is more conspicuous than acknowledging it.

The Christmas world is built for exactly this. Free to build and preview; you only pay when you share it.

Other messages for your family

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All christmas messages · Everything for your family

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When a Christmas message is not quite enough for your family

The best comic cards are affectionate underneath, and the recipient can always tell which ones were only jokes.

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