Chicago has appeared in a surprising number of Christmas movies, but there is an important distinction: some films are genuinely set and filmed in Chicagoland, while others only use Chicago as the story setting and were actually shot somewhere else. This guide focuses on that difference.
Below you’ll find Christmas and holiday films connected to Chicago, along with where they are set, where they were actually filmed, and how strong the Chicago connection really is.
Chicago Christmas Movies at a Glance
| Movie | Year | Chicago setting? | Filmed in Chicagoland? |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation | 1989 | Yes, Chicago-area suburb | Mostly no |
| Home Alone | 1990 | Yes | Yes |
| While You Were Sleeping | 1995 | Yes | Yes |
| Christmas with the Kranks | 2004 | Yes, suburban Chicago | Mostly no |
| Surviving Christmas | 2004 | Yes, suburban Chicago | Mostly no |
| Fred Claus | 2007 | Yes | Partly |
| A Bad Moms Christmas | 2017 | Chicago-area setting/context | Mostly no |
| The Christmas Chronicles | 2018 | Yes | Mostly no |
| Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story | 2026 | Yes | Yes |
1989: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
Principal cast: Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Juliette Lewis, Johnny Galecki
Chicago connection: The Griswold family is presented as living in the Chicago area.
Actual filming: Largely California and Colorado.
Christmas Vacation remains one of the most recognizable suburban-Chicago holiday comedies even though much of what appears on screen was filmed far from Illinois. The movie is more Chicago in identity than geography, with the Griswolds’ suburban setting fitting naturally into the broader John Hughes Chicagoland universe.
1990: Home Alone
Director: Chris Columbus
Principal cast: Macaulay Culkin, Catherine O’Hara, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Candy
Chicago connection: Strong suburban Chicago setting.
Actual filming: Extensively filmed in Chicagoland.
If one movie defines the Chicago Christmas-film connection, it is Home Alone. The McCallister house is in Winnetka, and the production used multiple North Shore and Chicago-area locations. The movie’s suburban streets, winter setting and John Hughes sensibility make Chicagoland part of its identity rather than just a backdrop.
Recognizable locations associated with the film include the Winnetka house, Hubbard Woods Park and Trinity United Methodist Church in Wilmette. Some airport material was also filmed at O’Hare International Airport, helping preserve the Chicago connection even as the plot sends the family toward Europe.
1995: While You Were Sleeping
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Principal cast: Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher
Chicago connection: Central to the story.
Actual filming: Chicago and surrounding suburbs.
While You Were Sleeping is one of the strongest genuinely Chicago holiday films on the list. Sandra Bullock plays a CTA employee, and the movie uses the city’s transit system, downtown streets and recognizable Chicago architecture as part of the story.
Chicago and nearby La Grange both feature in the film, giving it a much more authentic local feel than movies that simply establish a Chicago setting and then shoot elsewhere.
2004: Christmas with the Kranks
Director: Joe Roth
Principal cast: Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dan Aykroyd
Chicago connection: Set in suburban Chicago.
Actual filming: Primarily California.
Based on John Grisham’s Skipping Christmas, the movie follows a suburban couple who decide to skip Christmas until a last-minute change forces them to recreate the holiday in a hurry. The story is tied to the Chicago suburbs, but the on-screen neighborhood was largely created outside Illinois.
That makes it a useful example of the distinction this guide is built around: unmistakably Chicago-area in story, much less so in actual production geography.
2004: Surviving Christmas
Director: Mike Mitchell
Principal cast: Ben Affleck, James Gandolfini, Catherine O’Hara, Christina Applegate
Chicago connection: Suburban Chicago setting.
Actual filming: Primarily outside Chicago.
Ben Affleck plays a wealthy executive who returns to his childhood home and pays the family now living there to recreate the Christmas experience he remembers. The suburban-Chicago setting is important to the story, but the movie is another case where the geography on screen does not closely match the geography in the script.
The strongest reason to revisit it is the cast, especially James Gandolfini and Catherine O’Hara, rather than Chicago location spotting.
2007: Fred Claus
Director: David Dobkin
Principal cast: Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Rachel Weisz, Kathy Bates
Chicago connection: Chicago is part of the story and location work.
Actual filming: Includes Chicago-area material.
Fred Claus gives Chicago more visual presence than several other holiday movies on this list. Vince Vaughn plays Santa’s less-than-saintly brother, and the film includes recognizable downtown Chicago imagery, including Michigan Avenue.
For viewers who care as much about seeing Chicago as they do about the Christmas plot, this is one of the more rewarding entries.
2017: A Bad Moms Christmas
Director: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
Principal cast: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Susan Sarandon
Chicago connection: Chicago-area setting and character continuity from Bad Moms.
Actual filming: Primarily the Atlanta area.
This sequel is unquestionably a Christmas movie, but its Chicago connection is more narrative than visual. The story continues the Chicago-area world of the original film while production took place largely in Georgia.
It belongs on the list, but it is better understood as a Chicago-set holiday comedy than a Chicago-location movie.
2018: The Christmas Chronicles
Director: Clay Kaytis
Principal cast: Kurt Russell, Darby Camp, Judah Lewis, Goldie Hawn
Chicago connection: The story includes Chicago and Lake Shore Drive.
Actual filming: Primarily Canada.
Kurt Russell’s Santa crashes his sleigh in Chicago, sending the story into a race to recover the lost presents and save Christmas. Chicago landmarks and street geography are part of the movie’s identity, but much of the production itself took place in Canada.
The Chicago setting is fun, but viewers hoping to recognize a long list of authentic Chicago locations may find less than they expect.
2026: Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story
Network: Hallmark Channel (premiered Oct. 17, 2026; streams on Hallmark+)
Principal cast: Robert Buckley, Lyndsy Fonseca, Marsha Mason
Chicago connection: A love story built around Bears fandom and a Chicago Christmas.
Actual filming: Chicago, in July 2026.
Few holiday movies on this list can match the location work here. Hallmark shot at Soldier Field, at Halas Hall in Lake Forest, at a scaled-down Christkindlmarket staged downtown and at a Logan Square brownstone dressed for a Christmas dinner party, with fake snow standing in for December during a summer shoot.
Bears legends Mike Singletary, Charles “Peanut” Tillman and Dan Hampton turn up, along with coach Ben Johnson and tight ends Cole Kmet and Colston Loveland. It is a Hallmark movie through and through, but for Chicago viewers the fun is spotting real places rather than a Canadian stand-in.
Chicago Movies With Memorable Christmas Scenes
Mean Girls (2004)
Mean Girls is not really a Christmas movie, so it works better here than in the primary list. It is set in suburban Illinois and contains the famous school talent-show performance of “Jingle Bell Rock,” giving it one of the most recognizable Christmas scenes in a Chicago-suburb movie. The film itself was shot primarily in Canada.
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
The McCallisters are still a Chicago-area family, and the trip begins from that context, but most of the movie’s identity belongs to New York. It is best treated as a related Chicago holiday film rather than a core Chicago-set entry.
Chicago Holiday Movies That Aren’t Christmas Movies
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
John Hughes’ Thanksgiving classic is not a Christmas film, but it belongs in the larger conversation about Chicago holiday movies. The entire journey is built around getting home to Chicago for Thanksgiving, and its combination of travel chaos, winter weather and Chicago destination makes it one of the city’s most enduring holiday-season films.
Which Christmas Movies Were Actually Filmed in Chicago?
Home Alone and While You Were Sleeping have the strongest authentic Chicagoland filming connections among the core movies above. Fred Claus also includes meaningful Chicago material, and Hallmark’s Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story was shot around the city at Soldier Field, Halas Hall and Logan Square. Other titles, including Christmas Vacation, Christmas with the Kranks, Surviving Christmas, A Bad Moms Christmas and The Christmas Chronicles, use Chicago or its suburbs more as a story setting than as their primary filming location.
Set in Chicago but Filmed Elsewhere
Chicago frequently gets recreated on screen because the city’s suburban neighborhoods, downtown streets and winter atmosphere are instantly recognizable to audiences. That means a movie can feel very Chicago even when most of the production happened in California, Georgia or Canada. For location-minded viewers, that difference is worth knowing before watching.
The John Hughes Effect
Chicago’s reputation as a holiday-movie setting owes a great deal to John Hughes. Home Alone and Christmas Vacation are the clearest Christmas examples, while Planes, Trains and Automobiles helped establish the broader idea of Chicagoland as a natural backdrop for stories about family, travel, suburban life and holiday stress.
Hughes’ films made the North Shore and Chicago suburbs feel familiar even to viewers who had never visited Illinois, and that visual identity continues to influence how Chicago holiday movies are perceived.
Chicago Christmas Movies FAQ
Was Home Alone filmed in Chicago?
Yes. Home Alone was filmed extensively in the Chicago area, particularly on the North Shore. The McCallister house is in Winnetka, and several other recognizable locations are in nearby communities.
Was Christmas Vacation filmed in Chicago?
The story is set in the Chicago area, but most filming took place outside Illinois, particularly in California and Colorado.
What Christmas movies are set in Chicago?
Notable examples include Home Alone, While You Were Sleeping, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Christmas with the Kranks, Surviving Christmas, Fred Claus and The Christmas Chronicles.
Which Chicago Christmas movies were actually filmed here?
Home Alone and While You Were Sleeping are among the strongest examples of Christmas or holiday movies that both use Chicago as a setting and feature substantial real Chicagoland filming. Fred Claus also includes recognizable Chicago location work.