Christmas in July Is Here: Free Puzzles, Games & a Pack

Grab your sunscreen and your Santa hat, because Christmas in July is officially here — and we couldn't wait until December to give you something merry. Santa's trading his boots for flip-flops, the cocoa's on ice, and we've wrapped up a whole pile of festive puzzles just for you. Best part? Every last one of them is free.

We built a whole festive playground for the occasion. Head over to the Christmas in July hub and dive in — here's a peek at what's waiting.

Play 8 festive puzzle types, live and free

No download required, no sign-up, no catch. Pick a tab and solve a Christmas in July word search, then hop to a scramble, a code to crack, a crossword, and more. Every word list mixes the merry with the sunny — hunt for SANTA and SLEIGH right alongside SEASHELL and POPSICLE.

Prefer clues to a word bank? The festive crossword is stuffed with holiday-in-summer riddles — like "He swaps his winter coat for sunscreen this month" (five letters, rhymes with "manta"). Tap New puzzle any time for a fresh grid.

Altogether there are eight ways to play live: word search, word scramble, cryptogram, word fill-in, and crossword — all fully interactive on the page — plus a cool-down Sudoku, a picture Nonogram, and a logic-packed Star Battle, each a real timed game with its own leaderboard.

Download the free Christmas in July puzzle pack

Throwing a party, running a camp, or just want a stack of puzzles for a lazy afternoon in the hammock? The free 12-puzzle Beach-Sleigh Pack is one tidy PDF — four word searches (including a Christmas-tree-shaped grid!), three scrambles, two cryptograms, and three fill-ins, each with its answer key at the back. Print it in black and white and you're ready to go.

Wait — what is Christmas in July, exactly?

Christmas in July is a cheerful mid-summer celebration of everything we love about the holidays — the tree, the carols, the cocoa, the giving — enjoyed in the warm glow of July instead of the December cold. In the United States it's a favorite theme for summer sales, camp activities, and back-to-back holiday movies. In the Southern Hemisphere, where July is the middle of winter, some families throw a proper "midwinter Christmas," complete with a roast and a crackling fire — all the cozy trimmings the December heat usually denies them.

The phrase got a big boost from the 1940 comedy film Christmas in July, and one of the earliest celebrations is often traced to a summer camp in North Carolina back in 1933. However you mark it, it's an excuse for a little joy in the sunshine — which is exactly what these puzzles are for.

Why we're giving it all away

Here's the honest truth: making you smile is the whole job. We don't think you should have to wait for a holiday — or pay a dime — to get a great puzzle. So we made the entire Christmas in July collection free, put zero logins in your way, and packed in every festive puzzle we could dream up. Play a few, print a stack, and share the link with someone who'd get a kick out of a summer Santa.

Want even more to play year-round? Browse all our free printable puzzles or make your own with the free word search generator. And if you love a good festive word hunt, you'll want to bookmark this page — we'll be back with more merry-and-sunny surprises all July long.