A jolly, appy celebration
Make this holiday season a little more festive with these themed apps.
CHRISTMAS is finally here! It is one of the most magical seasons of the year and it’s pretty difficult to not get into the festive feel, particularly on this day. Here we have apps that will hopefully keep you in good spirits throughout the day – from planning a quick Christmas meal to getting a call from Santa Claus, we have it all figured out.
All the trimmings
Didn’t have time to decorate your house in a festive mood for the celebration? Now here’s an app that helps you do just that virtually. Think about it – there’s no clean-up involved afterwards, so this has to be the best kind of decoration there is. (Not to mention environmentally friendly!)
Deck The Halls (free on iOS) uses augmented reality to place Christmas trees, candy canes, gingerbread cookies, presents and even snow in any photograph and transform any space into a Christmas wonderland.
You can save the photos and videos and share them with your family and friends. Just to be clear, the decorations look whimsical and you cannot pass them off as the real deal.
And while you’re at it, you can even get Santa Claus to pay you a visit with the Catch A Character (free on Android) app. Just position Santa where you want him, and snap a picture. It’s that easy.
Spread the cheer
Well, it is kind of too late to send seasonal greetings cards to your family and friends the ol’ skool way – you know, buy cards, sign, stamp and mail them? But that doesn’t mean that you cannot give them your best Christmas greetings altogether. If your texting game isn’t too strong, an app like Elf Yourself (free on Android and iOS, with in-app purchases) does the job perfectly. Upload your photos to the app, select a dance and generate a extensive Christmas music selection that lets you blast the songs to your heart’s content – or until someone begs you to stop.
There are other apps like Christmas Radio (on both Android and iOS) and Christmas Music Radio that stream festive songs and carols from various Internet radio stations around the world to keep you in the joyous spirit all day long. video featuring your face on dancing elves, that can be shared via Facebook, YouTube and email. It is quite hilarious actually, but if you prefer something less flashy, the Christmas Greetings app (free on Android) helps you create e-cards with meaningful quotes and messages, which you can modify to your preference and send to your loved ones.
Keep the kids busy
Children definitely add cheer to Christmas but they can get to be a handful in no time. So keep them occupied with various Christmas themed games like Xmas Piano (free on Android) or Tiny Piano (free on iOS). Players need to tap on the corresponding piano keys on screen to play Christmas classics like Jingle Bells and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. There is also the Doodle Jump Christmas Special (free on Android and iOS, with in-app purchases), Merry Snowballs (free on Android, with in-app purchases) and more, for the children to choose from.
For bookworms, Dr Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas comes to life with an interactive app (RM16.90 on iOS) where you can read the e-book filled with surprises, mini-games, puzzles and narration. You can also download the Portable North Pole (free on Android, with in-app purchases) where kids can get “phone calls and messages” from Santa himself.