Just in time for the holidays, we’ve found 15 fun Amazon Echo skills that can help you stay organized, add a little more fun to your family time, and even put some magic into the holidays for your kids. If you and Alexa are in a rut, just remember: she can do a whole lot more than play holiday music.
Photo by Tj Holowaychuk on Unsplash
Related: 15 ways Alexa can make your life easier this holiday season
Play Christmas music. So, yeah, all you have to do is ask Alexa to play Christmas music, and she’ll pull up a festive radio station. You can even ask her to narrow it down to a genre you like, maybe 80s Christmas or religious Christmas songs.
Figure out which snack to leave for Santa. The Santa Snacks skill will ask you a series of questions about yourself to help you figure out the very best snack you can leave out for Santa. She recommended we leave brownies. Good idea.
Track Santa. Enable the NORAD skill and Alexa will let you know Santa’s exact whereabouts.
Find out when Santa is coming. With the Santa Countdown skill, you can ask when Santa will be here and Alexa will tell you.
See what’s happening on your front porch. This is the season for porch pirates who love to snag the latest package delivery, but also for guests coming over and neighbors dropping by baked goods. If you have a Ring doorbell and an Echo with a screen, you can enable the Ring skill to ask Alexa, “Show me the front door,” or even “Turn on the porch light.” If you do have an unwelcome visitor to your front door, enable the Guard Dog skill to bark really loudly and scare them away.
Related: 4 clever ways to track Santa on Christmas Eve
Get the best deals. Did you know Echo users get their own exclusive Amazon discounts? Ask, “Alexa, what are your deals?” to get some great savings on gifts for everyone on your list.
Get answers to your tricky Santa questions. Do your kids have some hard questions — like, How does Santa deliver packages to kids with out a chimney? You’re off the hook, because the Ask Santa skill will answer them for you.
Listen to your favorite Christmas story. Do you have a favorite Christmas story you read every year? Alexa can read it to you while you trim your tree or wrap packages together. Just ask her to read any book from your audio book library on Amazon or Audible.
Find out weird Christmas facts. Enable the Interesting Christmas skill, and Alexa will tell you everything from weird Christmas laws to when people started decorating Christmas trees.
Geek out on your Christmas Vacation movie trivia. Christmas Vacation Trivia skill will quiz you on all things Griswold.
Related: 5 apps that prove Santa is real
Find out where your packages are. If you’ve ordered from Amazon, you can ask Alexa to track your packages so you know exactly when they’ll arrive.
Never forget a brilliant Christmas gift idea. We love the Any.do skill for adding items to our to-do list, including those brilliant in-the-moment gift ideas you don’t want to forget.
Play board games together. When we’re pulling out a great board game for a big family gathering, it never fails that we’re missing the dice. No worries: Alexa can roll the dice for you, and there’s even a 20-sided dice version for your geekier family board games. Or, you can ask Alexa to help you play Trivial Pursuit, Name that Tune or Would You Rather? together too. It’s actually really fun.
Get a cocktail recipe, when you want it. Need help mixing up a Moscow Mule or an Old Fashioned for your holiday party? The Cocktail Recipes skill will walk you through it.
Stay grounded. If the holidays are totally stressing you out, you can ask, “Alexa, talk me down,” and she’ll give you a supportive message of courage to help you avoid turning to negative habits instead.
Want to use Alexa to get organized? We did an entire Alexa organization series that might help!
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