In a 2022 interview, Tommy Wirkola spoke about referencing Mi pobre angelito (1990): "Obviously when I was a kid I loved Mi pobre angelito (1990), but as you get older you think, 'Oh they would DIE if you did those things to them', so that was basically the approach to the scene. All right, let's just do traps very similar to Mi pobre angelito (1990) and let's just see what it does to a human being, and I think what makes it so funny as well is that the little girl, she doesn't realize she's hurting them. She just thinks she's doing like the movie, 'Ah, this is fun and games!'
Morgan Steel (Cam Gigandet) is based on Mark Wahlberg. Like Wahlberg, Steel stars in several films about the military, and he says he could've stopped the hijackers on 9/11 had he been aboard the plane, a claim Wahlberg made (and apologized for) in 2012.
The logo on the catering company van is called "Farkus and Dill" after the bullies in A Christmas Story (1983).
Scrooge asks Santa Claus "All right, who the hell are you really, huh? Some security guard who's watched too many action flicks?", which echoes Hans Gruber's question to John McClane in Duro de matar (1988): "You know my name but who are you? Just another American who saw too many movies as a child?"
When checking on Trudy Lightstone, Santa finds her on the Nice list. Her list includes: Kept room clean, listens to parents, kind to animals, sweet to everyone, and invited weird kid to party.