‘Mean Girls’ Christmas Scenes Mean More Than You Think

The Big Picture

• The Christmas scenes in Mean Girls are pivotal for the movie, marking a turning point in the main characters’ storylines and containing many iconic lines such as “You Go Glenn Coco!”
• The contrast of turning Christmas into a time for scheming and bringing down enemies adds depth to the film and becomes its soul, condensing the bully versus bullied dilemma.
• The Christmas scenes have left a lasting legacy, with references and homages appearing in pop culture, music videos, and even a Walmart Black Friday ad featuring the original cast. The cultural impact of Mean Girls is undeniable.

In the regular world, Christmas is a time of sharing and caring with your friends and family. In girl world, it might be about that, but it’s also about some good ol’ scheming and treachery. After all, aren’t the holidays a time for ecstasy (in whichever way it comes)? Mean Girls – the high school movie that’s still relevant 20 years on – spans a whole school year in which every season and festivity has its own time to shine. But while the Halloween party scene is considered one of the film’s most memorable moments, it’s the Christmas season that ends up shining like a star on top of the tree.

Set just in the middle of the school year, the Christmas season in Mean Girls is full of turmoil and drama. Tina Fey’s screenplay packs a bunch of scenes together that collectively take less than ten minutes of the film, but are pivotal for the movie nonetheless. Narratively, it marks a turning point in the main characters’ storylines. Iconically, it holds practically half of the most memorable lines of the film – “You Go Glenn Coco!” Subsequently, Mean Girls’ Christmas sequence elevated the film’s legacy, with many of its elements still echoing in the present day. Though not a holiday movie per se, Mean Girls’ Christmas scenes make it worth rewatching during the festive season.

The Christmas Scenes in ‘Mean Girls’ Are Peak High School Cinema

Mean Girls is about underdogs defying the status quo set by the popular girls, a.k.a. the Plastics. Underdogs Cady (Lindsay Lohan), Janis (Lizzy Caplan), and Damian (Daniel Franzese) concoct a plan to dethrone Plastic leader Regina (Rachel McAdams). After a month of work amounts to nothing, a simple idea from Cady ends up snowballing into Plastic minion Gretchen (Lacey Chabert) spilling all of Regina’s secrets. Cady secretly buying candy canes in Regina’s name for everyone except Gretchen is what cracks her. Using candy canes as a weapon of social clique war is something only Mean Girls could manage. Plus, they are the base of the tensions that lead Gretchen to her betrayal. Something very relatable if you ever were a struggling high-schooler.

In between the candy cane drama and Gretchen cracking up, stands an iconic set of performances known as “The Winter Talent Show.” In true high school fashion, a wide variety of surprises confirms the show’s lineup, starting with Damian singing Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful,” moving on to Kevin Gnapoor’s (Rajiv Surendra) inappropriately original rap song, and ending on a high note with a variant of the Plastics’ traditional “Jingle Bell Rock” performance. With Cady slowly fitting into/infiltrating the Plastics, she shines after their CD player is violently launched into the audience and she continues singing acapella to save the performance. That’s how Cady saves Christmas, Regina is the Grinch who rejects “fetch,” and Gretchen cracks, marking the end of a turbulent Christmas season.

‘Mean Girls’ Wouldn’t Be the Same Without Its Christmas Scenes

The contrast of taking Christmas – a season of peace, unity, and joy – and turning it into a time to bring down your enemies is a feat perfectly crafted and executed by Mean Girls and inadvertently becomes the soul of the film. It’s the precise moment where the movie pivots and tensions arise. The tides start to turn and the way is paved for Cady to take over Regina’s spot as queen bee. It condenses how the movie perfectly balances the bully versus bullied dilemma.

The film is full of iconic quotes that have stuck with us for the past 20 years, but the lines spoken during the Christmas scenes are the most remarkable of all. The season is inaugurated with the candy cane scheming that brings “Say crack again” and hard hitter “Why are you so obsessed with me?” along with “That’s the ugliest effin’ skirt I’ve ever seen.” The candy cane rounds show Damian mastering being a sneaky Santa and uttering the classic “Four for you Glenn Coco! You go Glenn Coco!” while salting poor Gretchen’s wound with “And none for Gretchen Wieners, bye!” Finally, the season closes with the quintessential “Stop trying to make fetch happen, it’s not gonna happen!” courtesy of Regina and Gretchen’s subsequent snap with “We should totally just stab Caesar!” Quotes like these have guaranteed the film’s longevity, with it streaming for free on TikTok on this year’s October 3rd.

‘Mean Girls’ Legacy Through Its Christmas Scenes

Undeniably, Mean Girls as a whole has a legacy that most high school movies can only dream of. Still, many references go back to the Christmas scenes of the film. The music video for Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next” features an homage to the iconic Plastic Christmas dance. A big kudos to the Mean Girls costume department, who took a seemingly ordinary sexy Santa outfit and made it the film’s most iconic clothing combination. And, while in the film Amy Poehler channeled her inner Kris Jenner before the latter’s rise to fame, Jenner herself appears in the video taking Poehler’s place – a true causality event.

More recently, a reunion of sorts happened in the Walmart Black Friday ads that bring together Lohan, Chabert, Franzese, and Surendra with co-star Amanda Seyfried. A reenactment of several of the film’s scenes happens and, naturally, the Christmas scenes take the spotlight. The Winter Talent Show happens now with Gretchen’s daughter and her minions, while a Cyber Monday encore shows another Santa handing out Walmart deals – with Glenn Coco taking four again and none for Amber Wieners. Relying on the world remembering these particular aspects of the movie to make a successful ad campaign shows once again the cultural reset Mean Girls meant for a whole generation.

As seen in the film, girl world is a savage jungle in which you need to tread carefully. Clearly and thankfully, this wasn’t the case for its protagonists, for it gave us the most memorable scenes and quotes of high school cinema. Every rewatch of Mean Girls confirms the film wouldn’t be the same without its holiday bit. And it makes us wish there were a Mean Girls Christmas Special to watch every year in December as well. A more recent iteration of Mean Girls (with Fey and Tim Meadows reprising their roles) is headed our way, with the film adaptation of the Broadway musical making its way to cinemas on January 12, 2024.

Mean Girls is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.

Watch on Paramount+