Christmas Gift List Tracker 12+

I’m on my third year of using this app and it’s honestly one of my favorites. I used to keep spreadsheets on my computer and it was so annoying to update them and also make sure that the file synced between my phone and laptop. I’d find myself just printing it out and manually adding to it, which defeated the purpose. This app has saved my sanity during the holidays. I have a big family, and I can keep track of all their current gifts and compare them to the archived lists so that I don’t get duplicates. Plus, it keeps track of my budget and I’ve actually spent less every year because I’m more conscious of what I spend. My husband is thrilled my this, haha.

Finally, because the app is always ready to go—as opposed to a spreadsheet that I’m sometimes too busy/lazy to find the file for and then update—I can add gift ideas all year. For example, it’s May and I’ve already begun my list for Christmas 2023 and I just update it when the gift arrives. So far I’ve purchased 4 gifts and have ideas listed for 13 recipients. As soon as I think of a good gift option, I add a website link to the list and now I’m assured that I won’t forget when it comes time to purchase it later this fall. This is truly wonderful. And I hope to beat last year’s budget once again!

Ever year I create a list or note in my phone and I always forget to add things and it’s hard to track and total. I LOVE how this app separates each recipient and totals how much you have spent on each as well as tracking how much you have spent altogether! I love that it allows you to enter ideas for gifts and then mark it off when it has been purchased, when it arrives, and when you have wrapped it. The interface is clean and simple and it’s so incredibly functional! This is the first year ever that I feel completely organized with my gift purchases! I love also that you can see a graph of your entire spending broken down by recipient showing you who you spent the most on and making it easier for parents to make sure each child gets a similar number of gifts. I would love to see another version of this app that would be an order tracking app so you can enter the date you ordered something, where you ordered it from and money spent and check it off from things you want to order, order placed, purchase received, kept or returned, return date and tracking and refund received!

It’s a clear leader, almost by default, but that’s to no detriment to the developers. It’s simple, but the UI feels almost counter-intuitive at times (having to press ‘X’ to get out of your list of adding recipients, for instance) and it feels a bit dated in its font and character limitations. I wish there were more integrations within the app—automatically sourcing product descriptions from links, adding a thumbnail of a picture of the product. I think you should be able to toggle the “total cost” feature—when I’m in the brainstorming stages, I’m trying to collect ideas before editing them, and seeing that I’m spending hundreds of dollars on each recipient just because I’m deciding between gifts can be stressful and takes up a whole line of space. I’d also like for more info to be available in the previews—an option to look at a gallery, maybe, if you’re comparing a few different shirts, etc. Also, an option to simply add a gift idea and then attach it to recipients after, or attach it to multiple recipients if you plan on giving the same thing to multiple people.

It honestly could be used year-round regardless of holiday, and with a little more time and consideration I think this could be a great app.