I'm a sucker for all kinds of Christmas-themed items. I always buy Christmas print paper towels and paper napkins, and I love putting up Christmas dishtowels in the kitchen and Christmas soap in the bathrooms. So it isn't a surprise that I love Christmas iPhone apps.
I downloaded a lot of free apps that I ended up deleting; these are the best of the ones that I've found. Email me if you've found any other good ones.
SnowBalls
In this beautiful free arcade-style game, you lob snowballs at various targets that pop up in the landscape such as snowmen and candy canes. By Federico Musante.
iTunes link (Free)
Winter Snow Globe
Pretty simple. Shake your iphone and snow falls onto the snowman, just like a real snow globe. Music plays, too, with no way to turn it off, so if you don't want the music, be sure to mute your iPhone first. Developed by YetToBeNamed Enterprises.
iTunes link (Free)
Grinchmas
In the game Grinchmas, you get to choose whether you're an evil Grinch or a merry Grinch, which determines what kind of ammunition you have. If you choose Evil Grinch, you're throwing snowballs at the little houses, if you're the Merry Grinch, you're throwing gifts. Each time you make a hit, you get a point. From Oceanhouse Media, this game is currently on sale for $.99.
iTunes link ($.99)
Dr. Seuss Camera, the Grinch Edition
I wrote about Dr. Seuss Cam the other day. Basically, you choose from a variety of Dr. Seuss-inspired Christmas themes, then take a picture of someone, fitting their face inside the frame. Right now you can only take a photo, you can't use a photo from your library, but they are adding that in a future release. From Oceanhouse Media.
iTunes link ($2.99)
Elf Command
In Elf Command (free), the little robotic elves (they resemble Lego characters) are working on an assembly line. They have to grab the gifts, Christmas trees and candies that come rolling down the line and throw them into the proper boxes. Developed by RetroDreamer.
iTunes link (Free)
Elf Jumpers
In this free game, Santa's sleigh flies overhead and you are tasked with guiding the elves into the chimneys of the houses below by swiping to make the wind blow, and avoiding obstacles such as thunder clouds and birds. Developed by Playscreen.com.
iTunes link (Free)
Gaia Xmas
There is a "regular" version of Gaia also, this is the Christmas version. Various Christmas-themed "blocks" fall from the top of the screen to form groups. The larger the group, the more points you get. There is some strategy involved to build large blocks -- you can turn the phone so that the blocks fall in a certain way. One of the interesting things about Gaia is that there is no language involved at all, there are only universally-understood graphics, which is kind of cool. From Quicksand Interactive. Regular Gaia is $2.99 and there is a free lite version. The Christmas version is $1.99 at the app store.
iTunes link ($1.99)
Slacker Holiday Radio
This is the free Christmas version of Slacker Radio from Slacker.com. There are 11 different Christmas stations, including Country, Contemporary, R&B, etc.
Implode!
Implode is a game where you place dynamite and other various types of explosives, and see how well you can destroy a structure. This is the Christmas edition, and there are supposed to be some Christmas items to blow up, but I haven't reached that level yet, apparently. From IUGO Mobile Entertainment.
iTunes link ($.99)
iRelax Melodies - Christmas Edition
This $.99 app is the Christmas version of iRelax Melodies by ILBSoft. You choose from 22 Christmas sounds such as snow falling, children playing, fire crackling, etc., and create your own soundscapes, which you can save to play later. You can also shake the iPhone for a random selection.
Season's Greetings Cards
This $.99 app from Japanese developer Appliya, creates holiday cards from your photos, utilizing various holiday frames and resizable stamps.
iTunes link ($.99)
ChristmasRadio
Christmas Radio is a free app from Pepper.pk, with several all-Christmas stations to choose from.
iTunes link (Free)
Christmas Radio
This is another Christmas radio app, this one from BlueMedia Lab. As you can tell, I can't get enough of holiday music!
iTunes link (Free)
Christmas Lifecards
For $.99, Christmas Lifecards from Vivid Apps gives you a large variety of Christmas card templates to choose from. Once you've chosen one and added your own photo, you can further customize your card by adding text, and even applying effects such as grayscale and sepia, and filters such as sharpening, to the photo, then save and email the card to your friends. You can also save a card for editing later if you need to stop.
Christmas Snowman
Christmas Snowman, from , EnsenaSoft, is a game similar to hangman, but with a variety of snowmen. The words are all peripherally relevant to Christmas or winter; each time a wrong letter is selected, the snowman loses a body part.
iTunes link (Free)
The Christmas Tarot
This one isn't really an app, it's a web URL that I created a desktop icon for. I've looked for a Christmas tarot deck for a long time, and someone finally made one, although it's only the Major Arcana. The link goes to a site where you can purchase digital high resolution cards and a PDF guidebook, created by Corrine Kenner, a noted tarot reader and author.
Link ($2.09)
[cross-posted at willa.com, beautifuliphoneapps.com and propaganda3.wordpress.com]