9 Best Christmas GIF Websites
The holidays are right around the corner, and holiday greetings are finding their way to the top of your already busy to-do list. Sure, you probably plan to call your closest family and friends to wish them a Merry Christmas. But what about everyone else? If you have a business, how will you be wishing your teammates and customers a happy holiday? Well, we’ve got a great solution for you – a fun and memorable Christmas GIF.
There are two ways to find a perfect Christmas GIF, both are online and don’t require you to leave your home. You can either create your own Christmas GIF with a GIF editor, or find a ready-made one on a GIF website. The choice is yours! No matter which way you decide to go, you can have your unique Christmas greeting ready in a snap. However, before you get started, there are some things you may want to keep in mind while searching for that holiday GIF.
That’s why today, we are going to map out the top Christmas GIF websites to ensure you spread that holiday cheer exactly how you dreamed of! Who knows, maybe these sites will come in handy for Birthday GIFs, New Year’s and Valentine’s Day too!
Let’s get started.
What to Look for in a Christmas GIF Website
As you search the web for Christmas GIF websites, you’ll notice there are a plethora of attractive, fun-looking sites available. But a word of caution – don’t be blinded by the GIFs. There are plenty of sites you may spend hours on only to realize you’ve wasted your time.
Don’t worry, we’ve done the research for you, and put together 9 excellent GIF sites. If none of these sites have the perfect Christmas GIFs for your needs, you may decide you’d rather make your own! But more on that later…
We scored our top GIF websites with these parameters in mind:
Library Size
The first thing you’ll want to consider when it comes to GIF sites is their library size. After all, the whole point of these sites is to be able to scroll through a massive library until you find that holiday GIF that perfectly conveys the message you are trying to deliver. Many of the sites you’ll find listed below have thousands of search results for Christmas GIFs. Whether your vision is to reference a certain Christmas movie or find a GIF of a beautiful holiday scene, these sites will leave you with plenty of options.
Search Process
GIF sites should be easy to navigate. You should want the search feature to work effectively when you’d like to narrow down the options and move on with your project.
Up-to-Date Materials
A big part of GIF culture is referencing current events, movies, TV shows, music, and more. If you are using a GIF website that is behind the times and doesn’t offer anything relevant to the current landscape, you might struggle to pick out something good. The best resources are those that stay current and are constantly updated with new material.
GIF Image Quality
Blurry or pixelated GIFs are no fun. Some free GIF sites have old GIFs that were produced many years ago with lesser technology, and they offer poor quality images as a result. If you find a GIF that is along the right lines for your needs but is of low quality, you may want to create a new version using modern images and tools.
Easy to Download
Finding free GIFs to download shouldn’t be complicated. Any GIF site you use should have an easy process for saving those files to your destination of choice. If you have to hunt around the site for a way to download, or jump through hoops to complete the download, forget it and move on.
Customizable Options
When it comes to holiday GIFs, you are going to want your GIF to be as personal and customizable as possible. Some GIF websites allow you to add texts and emojis to ready-made GIFs, others enable you to create your GIF easily from scratch. Whatever your choice is, when it comes to Christmas GIFs, customization is a huge plus.
Custom-made GIFs
Before we get into the top ready-made Christmas GIF sites, we’d like to introduce you to an even more exciting concept. The possibility of creating your own Christmas GIF. While ready-made GIFs might a little more tempting due to your familiarity with them, there is nothing like wishing your colleagues and loved ones a Merry Christmas with a customized and personal Christmas GIF.
The wonderful thing about a custom-made Christmas GIF is that the person on the receiving end will know you took the time to create something special, something just for them. On your end, that task can be achieved in a matter on minutes.
Though it may be an intimidating thought, creating your own GIFs does not require advanced technical skills. It’s actually so easy, you won’t believe how you didn’t think of it earlier.
As long as you have an idea and some source material like a video, you can produce an entertaining GIF in a matter of moments by turning any part of a video into a GIF. Here are some things to consider when taking matters into your own hands and creating a custom GIF for the holidays.
Pros of creating a custom Christmas GIF
- Create a GIF that perfectly meets your needs. You can take your Christmas vision and turn it into a GIF reality. Can you think of anything better? Turn personal videos into GIFs, creating something that will resonate with your friends and family
- Have fun with the creative process!
- When used for business, you can add your branding or marketing messages to the GIF
Cons of making a custom Christmas GIF
- You may struggle to develop your unique ideas, especially at first. Luckily, you can easily get inspired by the GIF websites below, and Pinterest of course.
- The first GIF may take a bit longer to create, but once you are done – the rest will be a piece of cake.
Once you consider these factors, you can decide if you want to make your own GIF.
Best Ready-Made Christmas GIF Websites
If a ready-made Christmas GIF is what you are after, here are our top 10 sites for finding a great ready-made GIF. As you will quickly discover, each of these sites performs well in most or all of the categories we talked about above.
Take a few of these sites out for a test drive, and you’ll find at least one or two that have the free Christmas GIF downloads you need to spread smiles all holiday season long!
1. Giphy
If you simply want a funny Christmas GIF and you want to find it quickly, Giphy should be your first stop. This site meets many of our criteria, as it has a huge library, is easy to use, and it is updated regularly. Among the different GIF sites out there, this one is hard to top. The Christmas GIF selection alone just seems to go on and on, with nearly 25,000 results being returned for the term “Christmas”. Funny GIFs and those that relate to movies or TV shows are common here.
2. Reddit
While not a dedicated GIF library, Reddit does have a ton of Christmas GIFs to review. If you go into the /gifs subreddit, you’ll find plenty of options to check out, including funny Merry Christmas GIFs and New Year’s Eve GIFs. On the downside, searching for GIFs on Reddit is not as easy or streamlined as searching on sites that have been purpose-built for this task.
3. Tumblr
As with Reddit, Tumblr is about more than just GIFs, so you might have to work a little harder here to find what you need. If you’d like to just do a quick search, other GIF websites will probably be easier to use. With that said, you can find beautiful Christmas GIFs on this site. If you have some time to spend on this project and want to explore all of your options, it’s worth stopping by Tumblr to see what you can find.
4. IMGflip
Among the best GIF sites on the web, IMGflip is one to check out while looking for the right cute Merry Christmas GIF for your friends and family. There is a useful search function on this site, and you can also choose to create your own GIFs. It should be pointed out that there are plenty of memes on this site, so you’ll need to sort through a lot of results to get to some Christmas GIFs that you like.
5. Tenor
The simplicity of this interface is the feature that stands out when you first land on the home page. Whether you are looking for an emotional Christmas GIF or the best Happy New Year’s GIF, it will be easy to sort through your options when searching on Tenor. The large search bar at the top of the page helps you get going in the right direction. Type “Christmas” into that bar, and you’ll see a massive collection of funny GIFS.
6. Reaction GIFs
At Reaction GIFs, you’ll find plenty of options for the best Merry Christmas GIF, including some that you may not come across on other sites. For a free GIF website, this one is very easy to use and is less overwhelming than others. The results are nicely spaced out, and more information is provided with each GIF as opposed to many of the competing sites.
7. Imgur
You may already be familiar with this extremely popular site. Imgur is not dedicated to GIFs alone, although they are very popular and there is a significant selection. As you check out the various free GIF sites available for a beautiful Christmas GIF, be sure to have this on your list.
Pro tip: Be sure to add “GIF” to any search you perform on this site to get results that match what you are looking for.
8. Awesome GIFs
This is not the largest GIF library online, but there are some good ones here. It’s easier to sort through the site using the menus, but there is a small search icon in the upper-right corner of the screen if you are interested in exploring that method. If you are looking for a Christmas GIF and the other GIF sites have been letting you down, this site is worth a look.
9. Gfycat
For one of the best GIF websites focused specifically on viral GIFs, it’s hard to beat Gfycat. With a huge library, an easy-to-use search function, and plenty of options to sort your results, this is a great place to track down a funny Christmas GIF.
Making a GIF With Promo
A combination of easy-to-use video creation tools with the largest stock footage library, Promo is a one-stop-shop for any holiday greeting needs.
Our footage library features millions of videos that can be paired with our custom-designed text styles to create the perfect Christmas GIFs for any recipients. All you need to do is use our search bar to find the Christmas footage you want to use, upload your own. or merge the two Pair the footage with the matching text style of your choice, crop it, and you’ll have the perfect GIF in minutes. Our video to GIF tool is perfect for the holiday season, but it can be used just as often throughout the rest of the year, as well!
Christmas GIF Types
Now that you know where to look, we’d like to offer some advice on different Christmas GIF types. Once you start exploring the GIF sites on our list, you’ll see there are countless Christmas GIFs to pick from, and also unlimited options for creating one from scratch. You’ll want to narrow down the choices to the best of the best. The five categories below can help you do just that.
Sentimental
Appropriate for the season, it’s not hard to find sentimental Christmas GIFs that tug at the heartstrings. Looking for a sentimental Merry Christmas GIF in and of itself can make for a fun activity, as exploring GIF sites is sure to bring about many smiles. And, if you find something sentimental, like a GIF featuring traditional Christmas scenes, you’ll have something great to share with your friends. Want to take it one step further? Create your own sentimental GIF by using peronal footage from your library. Paired with the right text, it’s sure to tug at those holiday heartstrings.
Funny
The holidays are a great time for a laugh. With people in a good mood and excited to take some time away from work to have fun, a funny Christmas GIF is always welcomed. Of course, when you go for a funny GIF, make sure whoever you send it to is in on the joke. If it’s a pop culture reference that they won’t get, the joke may be a miss!
Impactful
While GIFs are often silly, they can sometimes be used to deliver a powerful message. GIF sites should have a good selection of impactful animations that you can use. If they don’t, now you know that you can easily create your own.
Religious
For some people, the religious side of Christmas is their primary focus during this season. You can find a beautiful Christmas GIF for these people in your life.
Movie Inspired
Perhaps the easiest category of all to search for Christmas GIFs is those that are inspired by movies. The best GIF websites are going to have hundreds – if not thousands – of options that come from popular Christmas movies. Explore your favorite free GIF website to find something that will resonate with your target audience.
The Perfect Merry Christmas GIF
To make a beautiful custom Christmas GIF, you have to think first about the tone you are trying to set with the animation. Are you trying to deliver a traditional Christmas message? Or are you looking for something lighthearted and even a bit comical? With the Christmas GIF maker at Promo.com, you can achieve anything from celebratory to silly, but it’s important to have your concept in mind before you start.
You may want to create a few different GIFs to send out to different groups of people. For example, you might create something different for your parents or grandparents than what you would make to send to your friends from college. Take some time to plan out your various GIFs and then lean on our GIF maker to get the job done with ease.
How to Use Christmas GIFs Effectively for Business
GIFs are typically associated with some casual fun with your friends or family, but they can also be put to use for business purposes. And Christmas is one of the best times of the year to promote your business. Rather than creating just one or two GIFs to be used for your business, consider creating a variety that can be used on different channels and purposes. With the GIF websites available to pick out the right tone for each use, this task will only take a few minutes.
With Your Team
You can use GIFs on the inside of your company to give everyone a laugh and build morale around the holiday season. This can be particularly effective for companies in the retail sector that are especially busy leading up to Christmas. With everyone a little bit burned out and on edge, a funny or silly GIF could lift spirits and help the team make it through to the finish line. The best GIF sites will have plenty of Christmas-related animations, so you’ll have little trouble finding something you’ll want to use.
With Your Followers
There’s nothing like boosting engagement during the holidays and letting your audience get to know you. To break down that barrier and give your brand a personality in the minds of your followers, look for some Holiday GIFs. Taking this approach will help you connect to the audience and should go a long way toward building a positive brand image. Pro tip: Include a CTA in your message to serve marketing and sales goals at the same time.
Social Media
GIFs are at home on social media, so this is an obvious opportunity. For example, as December draws to a close, you can look for a great Happy New Year’s GIF – or you can make an original one – to post on your channels. As a word of warning, don’t go overboard with posting GIFs, or you might lose some of your audience. Show restraint and use this form of content from time to time to bring some light and interest to your feed.
If you have an active email list that you use for marketing, including the occasional GIF in that channel is a useful tactic. Don’t overdo it – or you might see your unsubscribe rate skyrocket. Pick out the right time to include a funny Christmas GIF in your message and be sure to promote a sale or special offer that you have available at holiday time.
Website & Blog
With abundant GIF sites offering an endless stream of animations for you to use on your site, there’s no reason not to sneak one of these into your blog posts from time to time. The key here is to be relevant and stay on topic. Adding a GIF to break up the page doesn’t make sense unless it relates to the content and adds some humor to the post. With a little practice, you’ll get quite comfortable with choosing the right GIF for the content you place on your site.
