Have yourself an app-y little Christmas

Finland's Santa Claus Office has been declared bankrupt over unpaid taxes after a sharp drop in visits from recession-hit Russians, once the centre's best customers.

Finland's Santa Claus Office has been declared bankrupt over unpaid taxes after a sharp drop in visits from recession-hit Russians, once the centre's best customers.

Published Dec 22, 2012

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Cape Town - With Christmas nearly here, cellphone vendors have released a series of fun and useful applications to help get you into the festive mood.

And these are some of the top apps for the season:

Christmas Greet 1.0(Blackberry):

Ditch the postman and move into the 21st century by designing and sending your own unique Christmas greeting cards to friends and family.

Christmas Greet lets you design your own greetings cards for e-mail or text.

Choose from hundreds of decorations like mistletoe and Christmas lights. And add personal photos and messages.

If you’re not into design, choose from the application’s 15 preloaded greetings cards.

Quick and simple, Christmas Greet is the perfect Christmas card delivery system.

Talking Santa(Android/Samsung):

Saint Nick will be at your beck and call to deliver Christmas messages to all your friends and family.

Simply record your message into the speaker and watch Santa repeat it, and create an amusing holiday message ready for that long e-mail list.

Be nice and feed Santa milk and cookies, poke or tickle him to hear his jolly signature “ho ho ho” laugh. If you’re feeling naughty you can swipe at Santa or send a snowball his way.

You can also click on Santa’s bag to see whether you’re on his naughty or nice list.

Good Food Festive Season Recipes(iPhone):

The BBC brings you a feast of simple and easy-to-make festive season recipes. Fruit cake will, of course, be on the menu.

The app features more than 180 triple-tested recipes, with instructions and a step-by-step picture guide to help even a kitchen novice create the dish.

The recipes include ideas for everything from desserts and drinks, to vegetarian choices, from truffles to the perfect Christmas turkey.

Choose your recipes based on your ingredients by typing them into the search list.

Christmas Live Wallpapers(Samsung/Android):

Customise your mobile devices with hundreds of wallpapers to get you into that festive mood, or have hours of fun creating your own.

Use the app to create and decorate your own Christmas wallpapers. Design a tree with sparkling lights and trimmings, or add family photographs over the stockings.

Chose from six tree designs and a flurry of festive season lights and decorations to make your wallpaper original.

Watch as the tree changes its appearance between day and night settings as your clock counts down to the big day.

Santa’s Christmas Village(iPhone):

Enjoy 17 mini-games like Sudoku and Solitaire, with a Christmas theme.

Play checkers with Christmas cookies or tic tac toe with Santa or his elves.

Take over Santa’s sleigh as he gets prepared for the big occasion in the Night before Christmas mini-game.

Once on his way Santa needs to count on his helpers to remember the order of the continents, to make sure the gifts get delivered on time to all the good boys and girls.

Play your favourite games to 25 classic Christmas tunes.

Xmas Carol series(Blackberry):

Belt out favourite carols in karaoke style on your mobile.

Follow the words as they bounce across the screen.

Choose from 10 different songs available on this app.

Christmas Trivia(Blackberry):

How well do you know Christmas facts? Take the test and see just how well you know trivia from music, films, stories and, of course, Santa.

Learn from hundreds of years of Christmas history and practices from around the globe, including the origins of Frosty the snowman and Santa’s reindeer sleigh team.

Hundreds of questions will keep you occupied for hours on those long family trips.

Master the game and impress your friends and family by sharing your new-found Christmas knowledge, or take them on in a trivia challenge.

Hungry Santa(Android):

Oh no! Santa has lost his jolly festive season stomach and it’s up to you to get him back to his fighting weight before the big day.

Have some fun feeding Santa meat, cookies and milk while avoiding those weight-reducing vegetables. Power up Santa with red and white candy canes to get megachomp and crazy chomp bonuses.

The hilarious animations will keep you in stitches as you attempt to save Christmas by plumping up the jolly red man.

Christmas Tree Decoration(Android):

Perfect for kids, this app lets you pick your favourite ornaments to design the perfect Christmas tree.

Choose your decorations or create your own, before placing them on the tree and watching it slowly take shape.

Christmas Tree Decoration is aimed at children between three and seven, and helps develop motor skills and colour co-ordination.

Once your creations are done, post them on Facebook or e-mail them to friends.

Christmas Gift List Planner(Android):

Organise, plan and keep track of your budget for your festive season shopping.

Make sure you don’t overdo it, by following the Christmas Gift List Planner, and keep track of gift ideas for your loved ones, making sure you don’t forget anyone.

It features a bar code scanner to save you time when buying gifts or tracking them down at your store of choice.

The app helps you pick out gifts by typing in information such as age and preferences, before offering suggestions.

The planner is a great way to avoid the Christmas rush. - Weekend Argus

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