The holidays are approaching fast (wasn’t it just March?🍀) and can be stressful. Here are a few free apps and websites that help us stay productive and keep us connected with family and friends.
Looking to create holiday graphics? Invitations? Newsletters? Menus? Check out Microsoft Create with free templates (we just found a Thanksgiving party menu 🦃) or Canva. Check out Canva’s Christmas ideas! 🎄
Microsoft Teams gave out holiday cheer (originally in 2020, updated 12/22) with scene options for Together mode such as a holiday scene, coffee shop, even United Nations Space Command! (Halo, anyone?) Perfect for that virtual holiday gathering!
Not sure of what to do at that gathering? No problem. Create quiz games within Teams using Kahoot or Quizizz. Our virtual game nights often involve Jackbox.
Who can name all the items from the 12 Days of Christmas? or all Santa’s reindeer or who sings The Hanukkah song? Explore Christmas around the world. For more ideas, check out this holiday party guide shared by Stuart Ridout. (Thank you for permission to share!)
Microsoft also mentioned a way to continue that much-loved tradition of white elephant gifts thanks to White Elephant Online. (Um, thank you?) Thought you escaped it this year due to virtual parties, didn’t you? The corporate version is $99, but it is free to set it up for family and friends (up to 25 people).
In case you haven’t noticed a trend in our blogs, we LOVE ONENOTE! It is app-based, software, and web-based so it is with you wherever you go! If you don’t already have a Microsoft account, here’s a referral link which gives you some extra storage space in the free version, though the paid version has even more features. Best Twitter account to follow for updates? Definitely @mtholfsen! Also @MSOnenote or @OneNoteEdu.
Greg introduced Karyn to OneNote in 2012 when planning a vacation and she hasn’t looked back since! We posted a YouTube video to our channel that shows how Karyn uses OneNote, Office Lens, and CopyMeThat for organizing recipes, but OneNote can organize so much more! Add a checklist for things to do, gifts to purchase, cards to send, etc. Create a receipt section and use the Insert/Camera feature (or Lens, another free app from Microsoft: iOS and Android) to keep track of receipts and costs. (Tax season is coming!)
If you aren’t familiar with CopyMeThat, check out the video. It starts around the 3:55 mark. One click and those online recipes are put into your collection without all the distractions and extra information. It is like the reading view options in Edge and Safari browsers, but for recipes! Karyn used the free version until Greg convinced her to get the premium to 1) support the developer and 2) get the extra features. Well worth the $24.99 lifetime membership.
Want to collect family pictures? Create a shared OneNote notebook and let everyone add their memories, pictures, audio messages, and more with a section for each family or family member! Create a Sway including videos, pictures, audio files, etc. You can even insert the Sways directly into OneNote. Aren’t familiar with Sway? It’s a free app from Microsoft. Again, here’s a referral code if you don’t already have a FREE Microsoft account. (Using the code gets you and us a little extra OneDrive storage. Everyone wins!)
Once you have that FREE Microsoft account, you also will have access to Microsoft Whiteboard which is app and web-based (Apple, Android, and Windows) which works with personal Microsoft accounts and Office 365 accounts (work/school). Collaborate on boards to write messages, reminders, leave notes for yourself, etc. We use OneNote for holiday shopping lists, but you could also use Microsoft Whiteboard. Follow @ianmikutel on Twitter for helpful tips and updates.
If you prefer Google, then you can use Google Keep and Google Jamboard (NOTE: Jamboard is going away in 2024) rather than Microsoft OneNote and Microsoft Whiteboard.
To connect with family and friends, use Flip (formerly Flipgrid) to create video messages. Also good for entertaining children! Give them a prompt. Suggestions: favorite family memory, what makes you thankful, why is someone thankful for you, funniest memory from this year, etc. Karyn tweeted an idea to have kids describe how someone in their family makes their favorite dish during the holidays. When she taught preschool, her school did a similar project for Mother’s Day. A favorite? “My mom makes pizza!” “How does she make it?” “She picks up the phone and calls Pizza Hut!” It can also be used within Wakelet (Learn about Wakelet later in this post or read our full blogpost on Wakelet.)
An educator Lisa Moe (@MissMoeTeaches) tweeted about using Flip for Masked Reader. Imagine using it for your family version of Masked Singer? Holiday movie charades? So many possibilities!
Have trouble reading the small print on ingredients? Use Seeing AI (iOS) to have it read to you or scan the barcode to identify the object. Do you have a family member who struggles with remembering names and faces? Tap the 3 line icon in the top left to open Face Recognition. Take pictures of family members and label them with their relationship: Carl, your youngest son, or Violet, your granddaughter. When they use the Person feature with faces you’ve entered, it will tell them who is there. Plus, they have expanded the languages from just English to including Dutch, French, German, Japanese and Spanish
If on Android, you can use Google Lookout which is similar to Seeing AI. Check out Veronica Lewis‘ blogpost on Google Lookout and Google Lens (and then explore the rest of her blog site. It’s incredible!)
In February 2019, Karyn learned about Wakelet thanks to @kerszi (She’s a great resource for creative ideas). Similar to OneNote, you can use it for a variety of resources. One feature that makes it unique is the collaboration feature. Share a contributor link to allow others (even if they don’t have Wakelet accounts!) to add to a collection. Use it for YouTube videos, family pictures, important files organized by topic, or read our Wakelet blogpost for more incredible ways to use Wakelet, which is web-based, app-based, and FREE! Wakelet even has a columns option so each person or group could have a column.
Need more activities? Create a family secret code using Microsoft Font Maker. (Also good for creating your own holiday font!) Open Excel (or Google Sheets) and create pixel art family portraits or holiday images.
Eric Curts shared a blog of Googley Winter Activities, and, with his permission, Karyn converted most of them to Microsoft (and added a few more holiday activities) in this Wakelet collection.
🎁HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!
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