Holiday Fun in a Recession

It’s the holidays. Everyone is either merry and rosy cheeked or bahumbugging everyone and swearing off Christmas music till the day they die. The holiday season is one of many sentiments: cozy, happy, loving, annoyed, tired, spent, full, and stressed out. It doesn’t have to be so difficult. With the economy in its current state of indigestion, it’s important to find things that make you happy and less stressed out, so you can enjoy the time you have with friends and family. Really.

Gift-giving is always way more stressful than it needs be. In fact, some sources say the best way to a stress-free holiday season is to go without the gifting. While this would certainly ease stress on the wallet, I don’t think it’s a method for everyone. As commercial is it may be, giving gifts is a huge part of  ”the season.”  Some people (myself included) enjoy shopping for other people and it always helps if you like what you’re giving.

One thing that’s guaranteed to be hot this year is mobile phones, and if you’re signing up for a new contract you can get some solid deals on some pretty cool phones. The crop of phones this holiday season can only be summed up in one word: awesome. While the iPhone is still king, there are plenty of other great choices on the market. Motorola’s new Droid phone has been getting rave reviews, as has the Samsung Instinct HD. And, there’s never a bad day to use a Blackberry. While these phones are all awesome on their own, we like to think we can enhance them with some of our cool products. If you think you might get a cool new Flip or Kodak video camera for Christmas, be sure to put all of your favorite home movies right on your phone with RealPlayer SP.

What about music? Everyone loves new music and Rhapsody’s got everything from Abba to Zebrahead. Rhapsody also just released their “best of the decade” series, a comprehensive guide outlining the best 25 albums in each major genre in the last 10 years. Giving the gift of Rhapsody has never been easier. We’ve got an online store that allows you to purchase different tiers of subscriptions or gift certificates to our MP3 store. If you’re planning to give someone an iPod Touch, iPhone or Android (when it’s available), they’ll even be able to use the Rhapsody application on the go. It’s a pretty sweet marriage of music and technology.

If you’re a fan of games, there are a ton of awesome new video games on the market. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is going to be a huge seller this year, as will anything Wii Fit. But, in keeping with our theme of mobile entertainment in a tight economy, let’s talk about awesome mobile games. GameSpot has a great selection of the most popular mobile games on their blog. While all of these are fun, inexpensive ways to entertain your self, or to give to a friend, we’ve also released some great games this past year. Our most recent mobile game,  Scene It? (r) Twilight (TM) was released back in October. This game works across carriers, on lots of different handsets, and will be sure to make any fan squeal in delight- regardless of weather you’re on Team Edward or Team Jacob. We also have our FunPass memberships that work with our GameHouse games and gift coupons so you can give the gift of gaming on PCs or Macs. Games are an inexpensive way to have hours and hours and hours of fun.

Whatever you celebrate this time of year, be sure to do it with the people you love most. Because no matter what physical gift you give, nothing beats the gift of great company.

Happy holidays from your friends at Real.