Christmas Wishes for Friends and Family: 36 Messages for Cards, Texts and Video

What are the best Christmas wishes for friends and family?

Good Christmas messages for friends and family sound like you on a good day. They're short enough to read in one breath and specific enough that nobody else could have sent them. The people on your list matter more than the words: in a 2023 Pew Research Center survey, 61% of U.S. adults put close friends near the top of what makes a fulfilling life, well ahead of marriage or children.

1. Short Christmas wishes for friends and family

For texts, gift tags and the six square inches left on the card after the kids sign it.

• Merry Christmas to my favorite people. You know who you are, and so does the group chat.
• Wishing you a December with more cookies than emails.
• Merry Christmas. Thanks for being the best part of this year.
• Peace, joy and a nap on the 26th. Merry Christmas.
• May your lights all work on the first try.
• Merry Christmas from my couch to yours.

Best for: Anyone, when you have a pen and ten seconds.

Why it works: A short wish with one concrete image reads as personal, even when you write it 40 times.

2. Merry Christmas family and friends wishes for group posts

These are the Christmas greetings for Facebook family and friends see in their feed, or the message you drop in the cousins' chat.

• Merry Christmas to all our family and friends. Thank you for every dinner, ride and "how did it go?" this year.
• To everyone who showed up for us this year: merry Christmas. The tree is up, the door is open.
• Merry Christmas family and friends. We're counting you among this year's gifts.
• From our noisy house to yours, merry Christmas. May your oven timer be kinder than ours.
• Merry Christmas to all my family and friends, near and far. Pass the love along with the leftovers.

Best for: Holiday posts, the family group chat and email signatures in December.

Why it works: A group message lands when it thanks people for something they did, not only for existing.

3. Say it on video, together (a Tribute group video)

This one is ours: we make Tribute, the group video maker.

Some wishes sound best when 20 people say them at once. Start a Tribute, send the link to your circle, and ask each person to record a Christmas wish for one friend or one family. Tribute is a group video maker that turns messages from friends and family into one surprise video. It works by inviting everyone to record a short clip from their phone; Tribute compiles the clips, music and photos into a finished video you share or play together.

Picture your college roommate on Christmas morning, watching her whole old floor wish her merry Christmas one face at a time, including the guy who still owes her $20. Unlike a card everyone signs, a Tribute has everyone's voice and face. Over 8 million videos have been sent on Tribute, and it holds 4.9 stars from 7,000+ reviews.

• Time needed: 10 minutes to set up; open it 2 to 3 weeks before Christmas so everyone has time to record
• Cost: Free to start a draft; you pay from $35 when you publish and start collecting videos

Best for: A friend or family member who lives far away, or a group that can't all be in one room.

Why it works: People record when it suits them, so nobody has to be online at the same time, and the wishes play back as one gift.

👉 Start your holiday Tribute

4. Christmas wishes for close friends

Your closest friends have heard all your stories. These Christmas card messages to friends and family lean on shared history.

• Merry Christmas to the friend who answers on the first ring. Every year you prove that's a rare skill.
• You made this year funnier, and you made the bad week shorter. Merry Christmas.
• Twenty years, three apartments, one terrible couch. Merry Christmas, old friend.
• If friends were ornaments, you'd be the one we hang first.
• Merry Christmas to my emergency contact and my best audience.

Best for: Best friends, old roommates and anyone in your phone's favorites.

Why it works: A specific detail, like the couch, tells them you remember the story too.

What should you write to family at Christmas?

Family wishes carry more history, so they can run warmer and longer. Holidays still bring people home: in a 2013 Pew Research Center survey, 86% of U.S. adults said they planned to gather with family and friends on Christmas.

5. Christmas greetings for family

• Merry Christmas to the people who taught me how to set a table and how to forgive.
• Mom's recipe, Dad's playlist, my sister's opinions. Merry Christmas to everything that makes us us.
• Wishing our whole crew a Christmas as loud and kind as the one at Grandma's.
• Thank you for always saving me the end piece. Merry Christmas, family.
• To my cousins: may this be the year somebody beats Uncle Ray at cards.

Best for: Parents, siblings, cousins and the family card.

Why it works: Naming a family ritual, like the end piece, says "I noticed" without a speech.

6. Christmas blessings to friends and family

For friends who share your faith, a merry Christmas family and friends religious message can name the reason for the season in plain words. Pick a Christmas quote for family and friends from scripture, or write a blessing of your own.

• May the peace of the manger fill your home this Christmas.
• "For unto you is born this day" (Luke 2:11). Praying that good news meets you where you are.
• Wishing you the hope of Advent, the joy of Christmas morning and the light that stays after.
• May Christ's love be the warmest thing in your house this December.

Best for: Church friends, godparents and family who pray together.

Why it works: A blessing offers something to the reader instead of asking them to feel something.

Which Christmas messages for friends and family make people laugh?

Some friends would rather be roasted than toasted. Compared to a sweet card, a funny one gets read aloud at the table, which is its own kind of gift.

7. Funny Christmas wishes

• Merry Christmas. I got you the gift of not mentioning what happened at the office party.
• May your relatives ask about your job and not your love life.
• Merry Christmas to the only friend who returns my containers.
• Santa checked the list twice. You're on it. I didn't ask which side.

Best for: Friends with a long history of inside jokes.

Why it works: A joke only they get is the most personal message there is.

What do you write to a friend who is far away or having a hard year?

Say less, mean all of it, and leave out "at least."

8. Wishes for friends far away

• Different time zones, same Christmas lights. Merry Christmas from here.
• I set a place for you in my head at every dinner this month.
• Merry Christmas. The next visit is on me, and so are the tacos.

Best for: Friends who moved, family overseas and anyone in the military.

Why it works: A promise of a next time turns distance into a plan.

9. Wishes for a friend after a hard year

• This year asked a lot of you. I hope Christmas asks for nothing.
• No need to be merry. I'm here, with soup, whenever you want it.
• You got through this year, and that counts. Thinking of you this Christmas.
• Wishing you a quiet, easy Christmas and a gentler January.

Best for: A friend dealing with loss, illness, a breakup or a job change.

Why it works: It gives permission to skip the cheer and offers something real.

How do you write your own Christmas wish in four steps?

When none of the lines above fit, build your own. Start with one memory, add a quality you admire, thank them for something, and end with a wish for next year. Researchers Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley found that people who wrote gratitude letters underestimated how happy and surprised the recipients would feel and overestimated how awkward it would be, so the risk is lower than it feels.

1. Recall a moment: "That road trip where the GPS sent us to a cornfield…"
2. Use an inside joke: "…and you still blame me."
3. Say thank you: "Thanks for driving the whole way back."
4. Name what you admire: "Nobody stays calm like you. Merry Christmas."

Stuck on step one? Try "This year you taught me…", "I laughed hardest when…" or "Next year, let's…"

How should you send your Christmas wishes?

A handwritten card goes on the fridge, a text gets a reply in seconds, and a video lets them hear your voice. For the cards, our holiday card messages for family and friends cover Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's too, and our guide to the Christmas letter helps when one line isn't enough.

Pairing the wish with a present? See our Christmas gifts for friends and our holiday season guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good short Christmas wish for friends and family?

"Merry Christmas to my favorite people" and "Wishing you a December with more cookies than emails" both fit a text or a tag. Short wishes work best with one concrete image, so the reader can picture what you mean.

How do you say merry Christmas to family and friends on Facebook?

Write one post that thanks your circle for something specific, such as "Thank you for every dinner, ride and 'how did it go?' this year." Add a family photo or a short video.

What should I write in a Christmas card to a friend?

Name one memory from the year, thank them for something they did, and end with a wish for the year ahead. Three sentences are enough. An inside joke makes it sound like you.

What is a religious Christmas blessing for friends and family?

"May the peace of the manger fill your home this Christmas" works for most Christian friends. You can also quote Luke 2:11 and add one line of your own about their year.

How can a whole group send Christmas wishes to one person?

Start a group video and share the link with everyone who wants to take part. Each person records a short wish from their phone, and the clips play back as one video on Christmas morning. Open it 2 to 3 weeks ahead so everyone has time.

👉 Start a Tribute and send this year's Christmas wishes in everyone's own voice.