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, nothing to install, 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, made every puzzle play instantly in your browser, 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.