Christmas isn’t far off and you’re still carrying that smartphone around with you everywhere, so why not make the most of it and get into the Christmas Spirit!
I’ve trawled the App store to find a few things that might be useful, fun and entertaining.
Santa’s Bag – Lets you see how long till Christmas, set a budget, plan the gifts and check them off when done!
Really simple if you want, but also really complex if you wanted to dig right into it.
NORAD Tracker – Find out where Santa is in real-time. The kids will love this as Christmas really kicks off – but in the meantime there are games to play before Christmas, books to read and videos too.
XMAS Booth – Photo booth to add reindeer horns, red nose etc to photos you take. Think of it like Snapchat without having to actually use Snapchat – simple stuff, fun for sharing via messages.
Call from Santa – This is COOL – especially for the little ones. Enter your children into the app, age, name and interests, then schedule a phone call.
Santa will call, introduce himself and have a conversation with your kids.
Put them on the naughty list if things aren’t going well, or onto the nice list when it’s reward time. Great fun!
ELF Yourself – An oldie but a goodie. This one allows you to take photos or even use photos in your camera roll of people, and put their faces on Elf bodies.
Then set them off dancing!!
Christmas!! Countdown to Santa – This one is clearly an old app, but it works. Like many, it has some annoying ads, but that’s life huh!
Click the countdown, unlock jokes and things on an advent calendar. Nice and simple.
But let’s get serious. Be it prep for the big day, or just chilling out at work or on the weekend – add some festive cheer with music!
Check out Apple Music or Spotify. Both streaming music services have great Christmas Playlists so you don’t need to even think!
On the big-screen, consider Stan for some great TV shows and movies. They’ve got a whole section dedicated to Christmas – again, making it easy. That includes National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Blackadder’s Christmas Carol and all the Christmas special eps of your favourites like Seinfeld, Friends, Ab Fab, Community, The Office, Will & Grace etc.
For the kids, Stan also has Santa Claus: The Movie, A Flintstones Family Christmas, Bah Humduck! A Looney Christmas, Tom and Jerry: Santa’s Little Helper, The Cat in the Hat knows a lot about Christmas, Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas, Christmas Carol: The Movie, Dora’s Christmas Carol Adventure.
So, go forth and be festive.
And have a safe and Happy Christmas, from all of us here at EFTM!
Trev is a Technology Commentator, Dad, Speaker and Rev Head.
He produces and hosts two popular podcasts, EFTM and Two Blokes Talking Tech. He also appears on over 50 radio stations across Australia weekly, and is the resident Tech Expert on Channel 9’s Today Show each day and appears regularly on A Current Affair.
Father of three, he is often found down in his Man Cave.
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