15 Must-Have Apps for a Successful Holiday Season
Surviving the holiday season requires a little superpower, a little creativity and a lot of organization. While it wouldn’t hurt to have Martha Stewart’s number in your phone contacts, most of us are not that lucky. Instead, we have come up with 15 must have apps that will make your holiday more organized, more helpful and more fun. Check it out!
Elfster –If you are doing a Secret Santa gift exchange between friends, coworkers or family, this app is for you! Simply add your groups’ emails and it randomly chooses your exchange. It also includes wish lists so you know everyone’s preferences. This free app is available on IOS and Android.
The Christmas Card List – If holiday cards have become a chore, download them to The Christmas Card List app on IOS or Android. This app not only tracks the Christmas cards you send and receive, but it also allows you to print labels or addresses directly to the envelopes. You can also sync from your contact lists on other apps to save you time.
The Advent App – Available on iPhones, this app allows you to create personalized Advent calendars for family and friends for 99 cents and they can receive them for free. Every day they will receive a personalized photo, text or a gift selected by you.
Elf Yourself – Make silly dance videos of up to five people with images from your phone or Facebook. The app is free, but downloading and sharing the videos will cost 99 cents to $6.99.
Amazon Shopping – If you don’t already have this popular app on your phone, add it now. Not only is it great for online shopping, but it also serves as a price comparison while shopping locally. With a subscription to Amazon Prime, you can also get free shipping and free access to Prime Video and Music.
Allergy Eats – This is a great guide for checking how allergy-friendly restaurants are in your area. Simply type in the allergen and your location in the search. The results are ratings based on the actual experiences by other families. You have the option to leave comments, too.
Scout Elf Ideas – If you have an Elf on the Shelf, you know how hard it is to come up with new ideas every night (and every year). This app gives you new inspiration along with material lists and set up instructions. There is also a Santa safe kid’s area on the app with activities and videos.
Pinterest – This app has saved me so many times while shopping for holiday recipes when I left my list at home. Pinterest offers millions of ideas for recipes, crafts, games and so much more. Pins will take you directly to the recipe or directions so you will have everything you need while at the store.
Sign up Genius – It takes a village to get through holiday planning and Sign Up Genius is a great way to divide the tasks. Use it for bringing food to a potluck, driving the carpools or shift schedules at work.
Christmas Ringtones – Get into the spirit of the holidays by assigning Christmas ringtones to your frequent callers, texts and other alerts. There are several versions available for free on IOS and Android.
Catch Santa In My House – This is a great app for kids who are questioning Santa. Take a picture of a room in your house and add Santa (there are over 120 poses) to the picture to “prove” he exists. Free app available on IOS or Android.
Heads Up – This fun app will be the hit of your next party or even just a time killer while you wait in line. Hold the phone up on your forehead facing the other players. They give you hints as to what word or phrase is on the screen and you do your best to guess.
MyFitnessPal – Let’s face it. We overeat during the holiday season. This food journal is not a diet app, but rather one that tracks your eating habits allowing you to make better nutritional choices. You can set goals on nutrition, water, fitness and sleep. MyFitnessPal syncs with other health apps like Apple Health App and Fitbit.
Shutterfly – What do you do with all those photos you took during the holidays? Get them off your phone and store them on Shutterfly for free. In addition, get free 4 x 4 or 4 x 6 prints through the app version only.
Christmas Gift List Tracker – Keep track of your list as well as your spending with a budget app. Users can make a list with ideas, purchases and track their spending with charts. You can sync your list with all your devices, share your lists with others and refer to lists from previous years. There is even a built in countdown to keep you on schedule.
– Pam Molnar
