There is so much to do when you’re preparing for the holiday season. From decorating and baking to shopping and wrapping, it can all get overwhelming. Gift list apps help us spend less time buying presents and more time being present with our family, friends, and loved ones!
To ease that load of holiday tasks, check out these handy gift list apps for your iPhone. They let you quickly make your list, include helpful notes, and stay completely organized with all of your holiday shopping.
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Check out the app ratings and read the reviews!
We love using third-party apps to take care of our Christmas gifting organization. But it’s important to only install a trusted and reliable app that does what it says! That’s why we always recommend reading a few reviews and checking out the ratings before downloading ANY app.
Look for a user rating of 4+
Our rule of thumb is to always read the user reviews before you download and install any third-party app. Make sure that the app offers what it promises to others before you dive in!
1. Santa’s Bag (Free)
Santa’s Bag is a terrific gift list app with a host of features that you’re sure to find useful. Start by adding a year or list and budget so that you can track what you’re spending. Next, add your recipients which are grouped for you already by friends and family. Then, pop in your gifts and you’re on your way.
The app offers these helpful features:
- Enter recipients manually or import from your contacts.
- Add gift details including list, recipient, store, price, quantity, location, and tags. You can also mark if the gift is homemade or a stocking stuffer.
- Track gifts through the process by tapping whether it’s an idea planned to be bought, ordered, ready to wrap, wrapped, needs to be sent, or given.
- Use the Links section for gift ideas, tags, wish lists, and registries.
- Check out the Find Gifts area for gift ideas by category or merchant including stores like Amazon, Best Buy, Macy’s and many more.
Santa’s Bag is super easy to use, gives you a number of great features, and shows you a nice summary on the main screen of gifts planned and bought. As a bonus, you can also see a cool countdown to Christmas.
Santa’s Bag is free with an in-app purchase to remove the ads.
2. The Christmas Gift List Lite (Free)
The Christmas Gift List Lite is another good gift list app to try. You can jump right in and start adding your recipients and gifts, each in their own convenient sections. You can also adjust the settings to show cents, select a currency type, and use a passcode or Touch ID.
The app gives you these handy features:
- Enter recipients manually or add from your contacts.
- Include a budget for each recipient and see how much you’ve spent and have left for them.
- Add gift details such as a store, price, recipient, and a note.
- Track gifts through the process like the idea, need to buy, purchased, shipping, received, wrapped, and presented.
- Sort gifts and recipients by where their gifts are in the process.
The Christmas Gift List Lite has a festive interface and also includes a countdown to Christmas that you can change to New Year’s if you like. The progress screen gives you a nice overview of your budget and gift tracking by the person or present.
The Christmas Gift List Lite is free with an in-app purchase to remove the ads, sync across devices, and archive lists.
3. GiftPlanner (Free)
GiftPlanner is one more excellent gift list app to check out. What’s nice about this one is that you can add multiple lists or events. So, you can use the app at any time of the year. Add your event, including a budget, and then start planning those gifts.
The app offers these great features:
- Enter recipients manually or import from your contacts.
- Include recipient details like their birthday, anniversary, interests, favorite color, address, and more.
- Add gift information for the price, quantity, store, website, and notes. You can also add an order number, tracking number, and shipping company for those deliveries.
- Track gifts through the process like the idea, purchased, ordered, received, wrapped, and given.
- Set up a passcode with Touch ID to keep your gift lists private from prying eyes.
GiftPlanner lets you stay on track with your shopping with a nice overview of each event list and where the gifts are in the process. Plus, you can email an event report, so shopping with another family member is that much easier.
GiftPlanner is free with an in-app purchase for device syncing and extra event icons.
4. Christmas Gift List Tracker (Free)
If you don’t need a ton of extra features and just want a basic gift list app, take a look at Christmas Gift List Tracker. Add your recipients, enter their gifts, and that’s it!
The app gives you these cool features:
- Add each recipient with just their name.
- Tap to add a gift for a recipient that includes the price and whether or not it’s been purchased.
- See a running total of what you have planned and purchased for each recipient.
- Check out the easy-to-read graph of ideas and purchased gifts per person.
Christmas Gift List Tracker doesn’t have as many features as similar apps, but sometimes simple is the best way to go. So, if you want a basic gift list app with a clean interface, then give it a try.
5. The Christmas List App ($2.99 USD)
Our last recommended app is not available for free. But it is robust. So if you have a big family or a large crowd of folks to buy a present for, this app just might be for you!
The Christmas List helps you organize your Christmas lists and budget with just a few simple steps. You can even add photos for gifts and people from your photo library, clipboard, or camera. Plus, there’s an optional password protection feature to keep any prying eyes from snooping around.
The app gives you these helpful features:
- Track gifts by to-do, purchased, shipping, received, and wrapped
- Set a budget for each person (or not!)
- Easily share lists using AirDrop, email, iCloud Drive, or Messages
- Once you select a store for a gift, The Christmas List remembers that store and automatically builds a shopping list for the store to help make sure you get everything you need
- See a countdown to the number of shopping days until Christmas right in the app
- Print lists directly from the app
It’s a Wrap!
Anything that can lessen the amount you have to do for the holidays is a help. That’s why these handy dandy gift list apps are so useful. Track your budget, your recipients, your gifts, and stay organized this season.
Happy holidays!
Sandy worked for many years in the IT industry as a project manager, department manager, and PMO Lead. She then decided to follow her dream and now writes about technology full-time. Sandy holds a Bachelors of Science in Information Technology.
She loves technology– specifically – terrific games and apps for iOS, software that makes your life easier, and productivity tools that you can use every day, in both work and home environments.
Her articles have regularly been featured at MakeUseOf, iDownloadBlog and many other leading tech publications.
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