It’s that time of year; holiday cheer is overwhelming the App Store. Save some time rummaging through the holiday iPhone apps, and download these beauties first.
Lights, carols, affirmations and more!
The free Christmas ELF – The Electric Lights Finder app is a location-based holiday light-display tracker. Tag light displays and upvote for good displays and downvote bad displays. Displays are user-generated, so get out in your neighborhood, and start tagging those lights. On the map, green pins equal good, while red pins equal bad displays.
Hark back to your school choir days with the Christmas Carol Songbook app ($4.99) for iPhone and iPad. This holiday caroling app will have you singing classic tunes everywhere you go this season. The app ensures you hit all the right notes from your favorite classic Christmas carols such as Away in a Manger, Deck the Halls, We Three Kings of Orient Are and, of course, Jingle Bells.
Stay positive during the seven days of Kwanzaa with the free Kwanzaa app. This holiday app celebrates the principles of the Kwanzaa holiday through daily affirmations. Even if you don’t celebrate this particular holiday, you can benefit from the tips on staying calm and collected during this stressful time of year. It helps you remember the general spirit of the season just through the principles of Kwanzaa.
Fall asleep to your favorite sounds of the holidays with the iRelax Melodies Christmas Edition app (99 cents). This musical app is filled with Christmas and winter sounds that you can mix together to form your own custom holiday sleeping tunes or alarm sounds. Set the timer for automatic shutoff. My favorite is a mixture of falling snow and a crackling fireplace with a chorus of Oh Christmas Tree. Or, shake your iPhone for a random holiday sound selection.
iPhone games for good gals and guys
The free Dreidel Labyrinth app from the Game Center offers a twist on the classic Hanukkah game, dreidel. Navigate the ball to collect gelt, and use pinwheels to spin the dreidel. There are different levels for each letter on the dreidel to keep you busy for all eight days of Hanukkah.
Most iPhone owners love the Angry Birds app, and the new Angry Birds Seasons is a must-have Christmas-themed app. However, the new game releases levels on a timed basis. To pass the time between levels being released, I like Robot Unicorn Attack Christmas Edition (99 cents). Your robot unicorn, decked out in antlers, a red nose and ugly Christmas sweater, chases dreams of sugar plums through a winter wonderland, complete with floating elves. The object of the game is to blast giant snowflakes: much more in the holiday spirit than killing evil pigs!
In the Grinchmas app (99 cents), the Whos in Who-ville are making too much noise. You decide whether to play Mean Grinch and pelt the Whos with snowballs, or to play Merry Grinch and shower them with toys. Whichever you choose, you will enjoy the enchanting artwork and whimsical music this Dr. Seuss-themed app provides.
Now you can download the classic Christmas game, air hockey, on your iPhone. The Christmas Air Hockey app (99 cents) provides six different options for one-player mode, or play with two pucks for extra fun. Challenge a friend in two-player mode, or challenge yourself in tournament mode. The perfect game app to pass time during commercial breaks of The Christmas Story.
