Home Alone, the blockbuster movie which became an instant Christmas classic, came out when I was in college. I remember loving the plot line. It was just so original. And the opening scene? It combined two of my loves: large family life and pizza! That hooked me from the very beginning. I remember laughing out loud with my husband at several scenes. Then when children came along and we showed it with him, it was so fun to see them laugh out loud too. Then too, as the children came along, and I became a mother of 5 boys, I related so much more to the mom and son dynamic. Then there’s the epic music, composed by John Williams. It really gets to my heart. I noticed as I got older that I liked the burglar traps less and less. My old age opened my eyes to how they border on sadism.

Anyway, for some reason yesterday when I was nursing a cold I got on a Home Alone jag and went down a rabbit hole of research. Here are some fun facts about the movie…

1. It’s been 35 years since the movie premiered 16 November 1990.

2. The movie joined the National Film Registry list in 2023. This means it is a movie of cultural and historical significance for the United States.

3. The movie was filmed in February to May of 1990.

4. The neighborhood where it was filmed didn’t really have snow, so the movie crew used white cotton batting and potato flakes to simulate it.

5. The home shown in the movie is a real home: 671 Lincoln Ave Winnetka Illinois. This is 16 miles north of downtown Chicago.

6. The only parts of the movie filmed inside the actual home were the foyer, the stairway, and the attic.

7. Most of the interior home shots were filmed on sets built inside an old high school gym, New Trier Township High School West Campus in Winnetka, to replicate the interior of the actual home.

8. The home has attracted tourists ever since the film debuted. The constant stream caused the owners to erect a fence to keep people off their property.

9. The treehouse in the movie behind the home was built especially for the movie and then taken down afterwards.

10. The original owners of the home John Abendshein and Cynthia Demps, sold the home in 2012. The listed price was over $1.5 million.

11. When the movie was being filmed the owners and residents of the home remained living inside. Their daughter, Lauren, describes the situation in the video below. She was 6 at the time of the filming.

12. During filming, the cast and crew caught wind that one of the elderly neighbors was celebrating a birthday so they came to her doorstep to wish her a happy birthday. This is just so incredibly sweet! This moment was captured by neighbors who lived across the street from the home. They captured a little bit of the filming every day on a home video camera. Watch below.

13. Sometime after it was sold in 2012, the home was made it into an Airbnb, where people could stay and relive moments from the movie.

14. As of this writing, it was last sold for over $5 million in January 2025, according to zillow.com.

15. At some point along the way it was remodeled to look “modern.” This is so sad! Currently, modern means sterile which borders on soul-less, I’m afraid. It’s utterly tragic! I’m not the only one who thinks so, watch the video below.

16. Happily, it is being restored to its original Home Alone movie beauty charm and splendor.

17. Macaulay Culkin, the star who played Kevin, lets his children watch the movie but hasn’t told them that he is the star. He’s waiting for the moment when they figure it out and ask him about it.

18. Macaulay received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame a few years ago. The woman who played his mom in the movie, Catherine O’Hara, got to speak at the ceremony. She said that Macaulay is what made the movie a success.

19. Some people have read Christian symbolism into the movie. I don’t know if the writer, John Hughes, and the producer, Chris Columbus, intended this symbolism or not. Watch the video below and read here to see some interpretations.

20. The movie has a huge cult following in Poland where it is always shown on national TV on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day

21. John Abendshein has written a memoir about his Home Alone home and its fame, called Home But Alone No More.

22. Daniel Stern, who played Marv, one of the Wet Bandits, has written a memoir called Home and Alone. He is now a sculptor who also runs a farm with his wife.

23. You can buy an official Lego Home Alone set in amazon here for almost $400 to reenact your favorite moments from the movie.

24. Home Alone is one of the few movies mentioned in a General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thomas S. Monson mentioned it in April 1991, in a talk entitled “Never Alone.” You can read it here or watch it below.

In the talk, after seeing the scene of reconciliation of the old man neighbor, Marley, and his son, President Monson describes his feelings of leaving the movie theater in his typical third-person style.

“One emerges from the theater with moist eyes. As the brightness of day envelops the silent throng, perhaps there are those whose thoughts turn to that man of miracles, that teacher of truth—even the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. I know my thoughts did.”

Knowing the love of Jesus Christ and acting on these feelings to reach out to others, I know that I will never be truly alone. I’m so grateful for this knowledge!

The movie remains popular because it represents the universal natural desire to be with family at Christmas so as not to be home alone. It also shows chaos and forgiveness in a family setting, which we can all relate to. We are all part of family in some form. All families have chaos at some level, and all families have need of forgiveness within because offenses in family inevitably arise. It’s just lovely how this movie shows reconciliation growing and glowing like the Bethlehem star within not just one, but two families. Not only that, but the symbolism of Old Man Marley as Christ, swooping in and rescuing Kevin from the bad guys after all of Kevin’s works failed…how did I miss that? I love that too! So if you haven’t seen the movie lately, it’s time for a rewatch, during this Twelve Days of Christmas season. Enjoy and please let it point you to the ultimate Christmas gift: Jesus Christ, whose love means we are never truly alone.