With so much smart home tech at our fingertips these days, getting ready for Christmas has never been easier.
Here are some great ways to hack Christmas with a host of smart home gadgets that promise to serve you well year-round.
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Turn up the heat
If there’s one appliance you can be confident you’ll get use out of once the decorations are packed away, it’s a thermostat. After all, a smart thermostat is for life, not just for Christmas.
December is the perfect time to invest in this smart home appliance. Not only will it help you stay cosy through the chilly nights, but you could potentially save yourself quite a bit of cash on energy bills. Christmas can be an expensive time of year, so anything that minimises that pain on our wallets is a good pick in our books.
Related: Best smart thermostats
Get out the festive lighting
Smart lighting systems are basically Christmas decorations you can use year-round, and investing in a set can seriously cut down on your Christmas prep every year.
One of the most obvious brands in Philips Hue. Philips’ smart lighting comprise 16 millions colours including outdoor spotlights, Christmas tree smart plugs, colourful light strips and portable lamps.
Order gifts on-the-go
Plenty of high-street stores and online retailers have apps these days, making it possible to tick off your entire Christmas list without ever braving the hustle and bustle of your local department store.
That said, there are ways you could do the Christmas shop even faster. With Alexa-compatible smart speakers you can order gifts on Amazon using just your voice. Just ensure you enable Purchase by Voice and 1-Click payments on your Alexa device and Amazon account.
Related: Which Amazon Echo speaker should you buy?
And watch Santa deliver them (sort of)
Okay, this hack might require you to get a little more creative than the others on this list, but hear us out.
You could – potentially – use your smart video doorbell to film Santa breaking into your house to deliver gifts and show your kids the visitor you caught on your phone, tablet or smart display.
Or, you could use your video doorbell to track gift deliveries and Christmas party guests like it’s designed for.
Among the growing number of video doorbell brands out there, Nest and Ring are probably the most common household names.
Learn to cook Christmas dinner
While most smart home devices on the market come with voice assistants these days, some answers are a challenge to follow by sound alone.
Smart displays are perfect for cooking because you can ask your assistant to pull up a recipe and then follow it on-screen to ensure every step goes according to plan. You can even set a timer and blast some Christmas tunes to get in the festive mood.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
