Ken Veeder of The Advocate positively responded to RuPaul's interpretations of the Christmas classic in "the gay way". Veeder pointed to "I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus" as his favorite track. E! News Joal Ryan noted that the album was one of the most boundary-pushing Christmas releases of the year. Billboard's Melinda Newman considered the album a novelty record, praising it as a more humorous example of the genre. Ho Ho Ho has also been the subject of praise from several retrospective reviews. During a 2015 interview with the Gay Times, RuPaul and Visage stated that Ho Ho Ho had become a "classic Christmas traditional album" alongside releases by American singers Johnny Mathis and Barbra Streisand. In a 2015 article, Idolator's Robbie Daw described it as a "yuletide classic". The same year, Darren Scott of the Gay Times praised it as one of his favorite Christmas albums of all time, and a writer from OutTV referred to it as a "collection of cheeky and cheerful tunes". On the other hand, in a 2017 article, Junkee's Bel Ryan felt the album had "for the most part, fallen into the mighty chasm of obscurity". In a 2016 retrospective review, Serene Dominic of Tucson Weekly jokingly included RuPaul as part of its list of artists who should not have released a Christmas album for Ho Ho Ho. The article was written as a parody of the alt-right and the "War on Christmas", Dominic joking that the album led to the creation of the bathroom bills. Some critics have negatively responded to RuPaul's use of humor in Ho Ho Ho. AllMusic's Thomas Erlewine criticized RuPaul's reliance on camp in the album, writing that it was "tired, predictable, and simply not funny" and that it was a "sad display from an entertainer who used to be hip, clever, and very funny". Newman questioned the effectiveness of the record's overall message, noting that RuPaul's message in the liner notes about "creating one's own family for the holidays" did not fit with the image of "Ru's Christmas panties around his ankles". While she responded positively to a majority of the songs, Newman viewed "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" as an unsuccessful cover. In an interview with Queerty, American drag queen Hedda Lettuce revealed that RuPaul's cover of "Hard Candy Christmas" was her least favorite Christmas song of all time; Lettuce said that the song "makes [him]