Nickelodeon: The 6 Best Nicktoon Christmas Specials

As all longtime Nickelodeon fans will know by now, 2021 marks the 30th anniversary of the Nicktoon franchise. Sooner or later, all great children's franchises produce specials set at Christmas, and the Nicktoons are no different. Over the thirty years of the Nicktoon brand existing, a number of beloved specials have been produced across the Nicktoon animated series.

To celebrate the festive season, let's look back on six of the best Nicktoon Christmas specials.

1. Rugrats: The Santa Experience

Rugrats aired 'The Santa Experience', the first of two Christmas specials, as part of its second season in 1992. The main plot focuses on Angelica. After an incident with a shopping Mall Santa results in her being gifted a box of toys from the store, Angelica plays a cruel prank in which she makes Phil and Lil each trade her their favourite toy in exchange for a gift for the other. However, when Grandpa Lou tells the children about Santa, Angelica fears that her actions will put her on Santa's naughty list. When the Rugrats and their families head to a mountain cabin for Christmas, Angelica desperately tries to fix her mistake before bedtime on Christmas Eve.

In the special's B-plot, Tommy and Chuckie plan to capture Santa Claus and prove to Chuckie that he isn't scary. Meanwhile, Chas and Drew plan to add to the magic of Christmas for their children by organising a visit from 'Santa'.

Airing as the fourteenth episode of season two, 'The Santa Experience' marked the first onscreen appearance of Angelica's workaholic Mother, Charlotte. A second Christmas special, 'Babies In Toyland', aired during Rugrats' ninth and final season

2. Hey Arnold!: Arnold's Christmas

'Arnold's Christmas' premiered on December 11, 1996, as the eleventh episode of Hey Arnold's first season. When he draws Mr. Huynh's name as part of the Boarding House's yearly Secret Santa, Arnold is left at a loss as to what gift to get him. After learning more about Mr. Huynh's past, Arnold comes up with a bold plan: To reunite Mr. Huynh with Mai, the daughter he gave up to an American aid worker during the Vietnam war.

Unfortunately, Arnold's plan proves more difficult than he expected. In the end, the day is saved when Helga, Arnold's secret admirer, trades her own Christmas present, a pair of highly sought after snow-boots, to a surly City Council worker in exchange for finding information on Mai. The episode's ending, which sees Huynh and Mai reunited while Helga watches from afar, is considered one of Nickelodeon's most heartwarming.

3. Fairly OddParents: Christmas Every Day

The Fairly OddParents Christmas special, 'Christmas Every Day!', aired as the final episode of the show's first season. Timmy Turner loves Christmas, because of the presents, fun, and the fact it is the one day a year he is absolutely certain not to be left with his horrible babysitter, Vicky. Cosmo and Wanda, Timmy's Fairy Godparents, reluctantly grant Timmy's wish that it be Christmas every day. At first Timmy is thrilled, but things soon go downhill. Each Christmas brings a little less fun, and everyone gets so sick of Christmas that the army makes plans to shoot down Santa's sleigh, while other holiday mascots such as the Easter Bunny, angered that their holidays can't come, make their own plans to get rid of Santa.

To make things even worse, Cosmo and Wanda cannot reverse the wish, as the world's fairies lend their magic to Santa to help him make his deliveries every Christmas. It is up to Timmy to, somehow, fix things on his own.

4. Doug's Christmas Story

'Doug's Christmas Story' fell near the end of the Nickelodeon run of Doug, before it was revived by Disney. Doug's beloved pet dog, Porkchop, is accused of attacking Beebe Bluff, and taken away to the City Pound. Worse, Beebe's Father, Bill Bluff, fights to have Porkchop put to death for the attack. Doug struggles to prove his dog's innocence, but thankfully, Porkchop is vindicated when it is revealed that he was only trying to stop Beebe from falling through a patch of thin ice.

Fans of the series adore the special. They believe Nickelodeon's Doug was its golden era, and that the show lost its heart once it moved to Disney. A second Christmas special, 'Doug's Secret Christmas', aired during the Disney run.

5. It's a SpongeBob Christmas!

2012 saw the first airing of 'It's A SpongeBob Christmas'. The special was made with stop-motion animation, in the style of Rankin-Bass's classic Christmas specials. To get himself off the Naughty List and receive his Christmas wish to get the Krusty Krab formula, Plankton feeds everyone in Bikini Bottom fruitcake laced with Jerktonium. This will make them all behave like jerks, and make Plankton seem good in comparison. It is up to SpongeBob, who is immune to the Jerktonium, to fix everything before Santa arrives.

Due to the success of 'It's A SpongeBob Christmas!', a Halloween themed stop-motion SpongeBob SquarePants special 'The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom', was made in 2017. It uses the same character models as the Christmas special.

6. As Told By Ginger: An 'Even Steven' Holiday Special

'An "Even Steven" Holiday Special' was the sixteenth produced episode of As Told By Ginger, though aired as the nineteenth in most countries. When Ginger Foutley discovers that she is one third Jewish, she is eager to explore her new heritage, especially since it is close to the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah. However, she inadvertently upsets her friend Dodie when she decides to skip her Christmas party. To make it up to her, Ginger plans her own 'Even Steven' holiday party, where both Christmas and Hanukkah can be celebrated equally.

Elsewhere, Ginger's younger brother, Carl, informs his friend Hoodsey that the reason he has never believed in Santa Claus is because his wish, that his Father would come home for Christmas, has never come true. Hoodsey, who still believes, and wants to help his friend do the same, makes a wish of his own to a street-corner Santa, not realising that it is actually Carl's estranged Father, Jonas.

As Told By Ginger was known for dealing with slightly more complicated topics than other cartoons of it's time, and 'An "Even Steven" Holiday Special was no different. It was often paired with the Invader ZIM special, 'The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever!' in Christmastime programming blocks on Nickelodeon. While this might seem like an odd choice on the surface, both shows were aimed at a slightly older audience than most Nicktoons.

With Christmas fast approaching, it's a great time to revisist some of these beloved specials.