How to Play Hallmark Holiday Bingo
Print your card or keep it digital. Every time one of these clichés appears, mark it off. First to five in a row wins... probably nothing, but you can pretend it’s a snow-globe trophy. You can customize your own card, stick with the samples squares below, keep score among friends or just sip and smugly nod every time you spot another recycled plot twist.
B — Big City, Small Town, Same Story
- Big-city career woman returns home “just for a few days” to seal the big deal.
- Childhood crush now runs a small-town shop and looks like a Hallmark casting call.
- The annual Christmas festival is somehow the town’s entire economy.
- Every coat comes with a coordinated scarf, perfect hair and zero frostbite.
- They collide at a Christmas market...cue spilled cocoa, shared eye contact and instant destiny.
I — Icing, Inns & Inexplicable Coincidences
- Baking montage complete with flour fight and cookie decorating before things get spicier.
- They’re forced to share a room because it’s the last one left at the inn.
- Wise older woman gives cryptic advice, then vanishes like festive Yoda.
- A child or dog orchestrates the entire love story.
- They pretend to be a couple for a family event and accidentally become one.
N — Nearly Magical Moments
- “You’ve just forgotten what Christmas is really about,” says someone who should mind their own cocoa.
- Someone’s secretly a royal, an angel or benefactor.
- Tree decorating turns into flirting, followed by a perfectly timed fall off the ladder into conveniently waiting arms.
- Snowstorm means hitching a ride with the annoying, good-looking stranger you just met at the airport.
- A child’s wish upon a star somehow rearranges adult relationships and airline schedules.
G — Guilt Trips & Grand Gestures
- Misunderstanding at the 1-hour mark threatens everything.
- Heartfelt speech given in front of an inexplicably large crowd.
- Crowd cheers or claps for no reason whatsoever.
- Someone dramatically cancels a flight, meeting or wedding at the last second.
- Last-minute airport dash, because apparently no one’s heard of text messaging.
O — Obligatory Happy Ending
- The small business, inn or tree farm is saved thanks to the whole town pulling together.
- They turn the "open" sign to announce their new shared business, complete with matching aprons.
- They finally get that promotion but choose love and gingerbread instead (because money is apparently optional).
- The once-grumpy boss shows up smiling in a Santa hat or with a check in hand.
- Closing scene: kiss, fade out, snow, happiness forever and no one mentions taxes ever again.
