Christmas might not be as cool as Halloween, but so what? In an industry like ours, we make it cool - from your Hallmark holiday movies to those technically-a-Christmas-film pictures, there’s a killer tattoo artist ready to turn your favourite festive flick into an epic tattoo!

Don’t be a cotton-headed ninnymuggins, have a look through our collection of best Christmas tattoos and don’t forget to share with us your own Christmas movie tattoos!

Sandra Daukshta & Anrijs Straume - Batman Returns

If you thought we’d miss an opportunity to talk about one of the darkest, most gothic movies ever to be set at Christmas time, you’d be dead wrong. Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman was incredible - “Beauty and the Beast in one luscious Christmas package” - which Sandra Daukshta shows here in spectacular colour realism. Danny Devito’s The Penguin on the other hand, was pure Beast, and this dark trash realism piece by Anrijs Straume really plays on the Burton-esque spirit of this monster.

Samanta Annie & Keely Glitters - The Grinch

The slightly more traditional among you might be thinking “that’s not very Christmassy” - well here’s one for you. While there have been other versions of the Grinch, Jim Carrey’s take on the character in How the Grinch Stole Christmas is probably the most iconic. Samanta Annie’s colour realism version incorporates his phrase “Hate, hate, double hate!”, while Keely Glitters’ more neo-traditional approach shows the young Grinch on the worst day of his life.

Fiefurie & Yaiza Rubio - The Nightmare Before Christmas

Come on now, you knew it was coming - this is one of the most tattooed films of all time, and it manages to be Christmassy while keeping a dark edge. Frankly we could have discussed nothing but The Nightmare Before Christmas tattoos, but for now, we just have these two. Fiefurie’s blackwork piece shows Jack and Sally in a loving embrace, inked in her signature gothic style. Yaiza Rubio goes for a more traditional interpretation of Jack the Pumpkin King, copying the texture of claymation perfectly and framing the figure in a creepy ornate frame.

Kyle “Egg” Williams & Christos Galiropoulos - Edward Scissorhands

We promise, this is the last Tim Burton film on this list! Several important plot points of Edward Scissorhands take place around Christmas, most notably with Edward being the one to create snow. Kyle “Egg” Williams created this soulful black and grey piece with a snowflake cutout over poor Edward’s heart, while Christos Galiropoulos took a profile view of the young man with his mournful face reflected in the blades that are his fingers.

Matt Daniels & Kirsten Pettitt - Gremlins

In this classic black comedy horror set at Christmas, made by the joint geniuses of Chris Columbus and Steven Spielberg, the super cute Mogwai spawns when wet and turns into a horrifying Gremlin when fed after midnight. Here we’ve got two versions of the creature - on the left, Matt Daniels used his neo-traditional skills to create this happy Gizmo hiding inside a helmet, while Kirsten Pettitt took the colour realism approach for Stripe, leader and antagonist of the First Batch of Gremlins!

Michael Taguet & Chris Jones - Home Alone II & National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

While the sleeve on the left is more of a dedication to 90s movies, we’re using it just for that sweet Home Alone II section showing Macauley Caulkin as Kevin McCallister lost in New York. Michael Taguet did a great job with this sleeve, working in mostly black and grey with colour used occasionally to make the image pop! And if we go back just a few years, you might recognise this colour realism tattoo from Chris Jones as the movie poster image for National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, showing Chevy Chase smirking in a Santa hat.

Sissy_Ink & Joanne Baker - Rise of the Guardians & The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe surely counts as a Christmas movie - after all, Father Christmas makes an appearance, bringing the gift of weaponry to the good boys and girls. Joanne Baker’s wintery watercolour piece shows Lucy and Mr Tumnus walking by the iconic lamppost in Narnia, and manages to evoke the feeling of reading a book by the fire while snow falls outside. Sissy_Ink tattooed this colour portrait of Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians, a film in which a heavily tattooed and sword-wielding Santa (or Nicholas St North) trusts the young upstart Guardian to save the world!

David Corden Alex Wright - Elf & Die Hard

At complete opposite ends of the Christmas spectrum, we have these two colour realism portraits. Firstly, David Corden’s incredible portrait style is utilised to perfection on Buddy the Elf - Corden captures the childlike innocence on Will Ferrell’s face as he exclaims “Santa! I know him!” Alex Wright on the other hand encapsulates a difference kind of feeling with this VHS cover of Bruce Willis in Die Hard, working in the film’s tagline - and yes, it’s a Christmas film, no, it’s not up for debate.

Well that’s a wrap on our Christmas tattoo collection! We hope you’ve enjoyed all of these festive pieces big and small, and don’t forget to tell us about your favourite Christmas movie themed tattoo over on our Instagram and Facebook pages!