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Digital Christmas gifts
For the people you won't see this year, and the ones you will: a gift that opens on Christmas morning wherever they are, with no shipping deadline to miss. Shake your photos into the snow in Snow Globe, or leave a letter by the fire in Fireside.
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Premium12 digital Christmas gift ideas
A snow globe that tells the year in four shakes
Set it to four shakes and the snow settles four times: a line, a photo, a line, a photo. That's a short story of the year: “January: we said this would be the year”, the photo from the spring, “It was, mostly”, then this month's. The brass plaque at the end takes 44 characters: “Next Christmas: Lisbon, the two of us”.
Make this giftA letter by candlelight, with their drink on the sill
Set the window to snow and put their real drink on the sill by the candle: cocoa, tea or coffee. The tag tied to the candle says “for Sam” unless you change it, and it takes 24 characters, enough for something only they'd get: “for after the dishes”. Then write what you'd say to them once everyone else has gone to bed.
Make this giftA Christmas letter that isn't a family newsletter
The free one, and the opposite of the round-up letter some families send: no promotions, no exam results, just them. Change the greeting from “Dear Sam,” to what you actually call them, press your initial into the wax, and leave the year's highlights to the group chat. Write about one evening from this year, start to finish, and why it's the one you'd keep.
Make this giftThe year's front page, with them as the story
A newspaper with their name on the masthead and room for a headline, a weather box, a horoscope and up to eight classified ads. It works best when it's petty: “LOCAL LEGEND STILL HASN'T PUT UP THE SHELF”, weather “Mild, with a chance of leftovers”, and in the classifieds, “FOUND: the end of the tape. Owner may collect.” A good one for a parent.
Make this giftThe recipe for whoever cooks Christmas dinner
A recipe card about them, poured in one ingredient at a time as they tilt the phone. Write every ingredient yourself, because the ones it starts with are written for a mother, and write them the way this person cooks: “one kitchen, taken over from 7 a.m.”, “a timer nobody else may touch”, “gravy, made twice, the first one doesn't count”. Then replace “Makes one of her” under the title with “Makes one whole family, every year.”
Make this giftThe trip, unwrapped on a departures board
If the present is a trip, don't just tell them. The suitcase takes five clues, one luggage tag at a time, so tease: “thermal socks”, “your passport”, “the big coat, not the nice one”. Then the board clatters through the letters to the city, and the ticket shows the date and the number of nights. It can be a train or a road trip too.
Make this giftNews under the foil
For the Christmas you have something to announce. Every card hides a photo and a line, so build up to it: a photo of the old kitchen, “last Christmas here”, a photo of a set of keys, and on the final card, in big letters, “We got the house”. It works for a baby, a puppy or a yes. Be in the room when they scratch.
Make this giftA countdown that goes off at midnight
Point it at midnight on Christmas Eve, or at the stroke of New Year. Send the link whenever you like: until then it shows the clock running down, and at zero the fireworks go off and the gift opens. The headline sits over the timer (“Until it's officially Christmas”), and the line with the fireworks is yours: “It's Christmas. Go back to sleep. I love you.” Set the time zone to theirs.
Make this giftIf you're apart this Christmas
A postcard map with your homes on two islands and the real distance between them in big numbers, which they close by blowing into the phone. Halfway along, a line of yours pops up: “Halfway there. Leave the porch light on.” Add the places you've met in between as stops: they're stamped on the postcard and counted in the total.
Make this giftTwelve reasons for the twelve days of Christmas
Twelve folded notes in a jar, and one rule: they shake out one a day, from Christmas Day to the fifth of January, no shaking ahead. Make each note a moment rather than a compliment: “The way you said ‘oh no’ when the tree fell over, then laughed for ten minutes.”
Make this giftThe year as a road, month by month
Every photo gets a label of up to 40 characters, and a month with a note says more than a date: “March: no heating, all month”, “July: the wedding we nearly missed”. The road draws itself as they scroll and ends on a countdown, so point it at the next thing you've planned together.
Make this giftA parcel for the one who's there every Christmas
An evergreen stays green all winter, which suits the person who turns up every year. It comes wrapped in old newspaper and twine with their name on the tag, and it really unwraps: the paper falls open and butterflies fly out over your photos. The words across the record and the newsprint are yours, 22 characters: swap “my evergreen” for “year after year”, or for the name only you call them.
Make this gift
How to make one
A Christmas gift that can't get lost in the post
For the people you won't see this year and the ones you will. Nothing to ship, no deadline to miss: it opens on Christmas morning wherever they are, with your photos, a song for the day and the message you'd say if you were in the room.
What to write
The year in three lines: what you'll remember about it, what they did for you in it, and what you want for them in the next one. Say the thing you'd say after dinner, once the table has gone quiet. Fireside unfolds your letter by candlelight; Snow Globe shakes your photos into the snow.
What to add
The photos from this year, and one old Christmas photo for the ones who'll recognise it — twenty fit, but eight good ones beat twenty. End on the real song, thirty seconds of it a tap away, and if you're apart, add a voice message: the closest you'll get to being there.
When to send it
Schedule it for Christmas morning in their time zone — it unlocks by itself. If you'll be together, print the QR card and hang it on the tree or leave it in the stocking; it opens with the phone camera. For a whole family, make one gift and send the same link to everyone.
Questions people ask
Can one gift go to several people?
Yes. A gift is a link, and the link can be opened by anyone you send it to. For a family, address it to all of them and send it once.
Will it open on an older phone?
It runs in the phone's browser, with nothing to install, on any iPhone or Android from the last several years. On a slow connection it takes a moment longer to load.
Can it open by itself on Christmas morning?
On a premium template, yes: schedule it and it unlocks by itself at the time you pick, in their time zone. On a free template, send the link at the moment you want them to open it, or tell them to wait for the morning.
Is it too late if it's already Christmas Eve?
No. It arrives the moment you press send: publish it, copy the link and put it in WhatsApp, iMessage, an email or a card. There is nothing to ship and no last posting date to miss.
What can I give a long-distance partner for Christmas?
Something that closes the distance for a minute. Halfway shows the real distance between you and lets them fly a paper plane home, Passport draws the route from your city to theirs, and on any premium template a voice message is the nearest thing to being in the room.
Does it cost anything?
Two templates are free, with up to ten photos, our music library and a real song they tap to hear, and they publish with a small “Made with Ethos” footer. Premium templates are a one-time payment for that template, forever — no subscription — and add video, voice messages, twenty photos, scheduling and a password.
Will it still be there next year?
Yes. Links are meant to be permanent, so it can be opened again on the next one and the one after. If you spot a typo after sending, edit it and the change goes live at the same link.