In theory, Christmas should be a relaxing time—one spent with family and friends, being away from work, and relaxing as you binge-watching movies. Unfortunately, the pressure to buy gifts for everyone can be stressful, as you try to decide what to buy and ensure you don't go over budget.
However, present buying doesn't have to be overwhelming. There are plenty of free Android apps that can help you plan your Christmas shopping. Here, we've rounded up some of the best to help you track gift ideas, stay on budget, and keep your Christmas shopping organized.
1. Christmas Gift List [by engApps]
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The suitably named Christmas Gift List app is simple, but gets the job done with its clean design and easy interface. You can create endless gift lists for everyone you need to buy for, with the ability to upload a picture against each gift, and you can set a custom budget for each person.
Once you add gifts to a list, you can mark them as bought and wrapped—because a present isn't complete without some fancy gift tags! A handy stats page shows you how many days left until Christmas, how much you've spent against your budget, and how many gifts you have left to buy.
Handily, when so much Christmas shopping is done online these days, there's also a tab where you can tap a single button to find that present on Amazon; head into the app settings to change which country Amazon you use.
Download: Christmas Gift List for Android [Free]
2. Christmas Gift List [by Medialoha]
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Don't be confused—this app has the same name as the one before it, but it's not the same thing. With Christmas Gift List, you can create multiple gift lists for different people. One great feature is that you can add gifts and ideas separately, which is ideal for when you haven't quite decided what to buy someone.
You can also assign a status to the gift, like whether it's bought, ordered, or wrapped. You can see the status of everything across all the lists from the handy overview page, which makes it a breeze to keep track of your Christmas shopping.
Some other nice features include the ability to set a budget per person, quickly search for a gift through Google Shopping, and print a physical copy of the list for when you need to take the shopping offline.
There is a paid version of the app that offers additional features like password protection and the ability to change the currency. If you need those features, try another app on this list, since many offer them for free.
Download: Christmas Gift List for Android [Free, premium version available]
3. Christmas Gifts and Budget
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If staying on budget at Christmas is important to you, this app is great because it puts that information front and center. At the top of the app you set your budget and it automatically calculates how much you have left to spend based upon the gift lists you create.
One of the great benefits about this app is that you can speedily add items to someone's list. You don't need to enter different menus or screens; you can handle it all from the homepage. Though that means you do lack some features from other apps, like the ability to add a photo or link out to Amazon, the benefit is efficiency.
If you have kids, there's a great feature that lets you set a password or PIN to lock the app, which means they can't snoop and find out what Santa is bringing them this Christmas.
Download: Christmas Gifts and Budget for Android [Free]
4. Gift Tracker
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Gift Tracker can help you keep track of everyone you need to buy for. You can set an overall budget for Christmas, and individual budgets for each person. As you add new items to the list, Gift Tracker will calculate how close to the budget that purchase would take you.
It's really handy that you can see all the gifts left to buy at an individual and overall level. You can also set a gift as an idea, bought, or wrapped, and the budget will update accordingly. Plus, there's a convenient one-tap button to find the gift on Amazon.
Gift Tracker isn't specifically a Christmas app. The app prompts you to create an event, so you will need to manually set up Christmas, but you can put it as recurring, so it's only a one-time thing. Besides, it means you can use the app all year round for any gift buying.
Download: Gift Tracker for Android [Free]
5. Xmas Gifts List
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If you can overlook Xmas Gift List's garishly festive design, this is a great app that will help you plan and budget your Christmas gift shopping with ease. You can add the names of the people you need to buy gifts for; a nice feature is that you can import from your contacts, which saves the hassle of manually adding.
Once you have added everyone, you can then assign budgets and gift ideas. If you end up buying something, you can mark it as such, with a different status available for when you deliver it to the recipient. All of this is easily sortable, so you can see at a glance what you have left to buy.
Finally, you can keep your gift list secure by setting a password to unlock the app. It means that anyone snooping on your phone won't accidentally spoil their Christmas surprise.
Download: Xmas Gifts List for Android [Free]
Make Time for Secret Santa at Christmas
Don't leave your Christmas shopping too late. You don't want to be the person rushing around the shops, buying gifts without rhyme or reason. Use these apps to help plan everything out in advance and keep your Christmas on budget.
Plus, once you have that all out the way, you can make time to organize and participate in Secret Santa gift exchanges—you need to receive some presents too!