WordPress Plugins To Prepare Your Site For Christmas
Editor’s note: This is a contributed post by Renée Klein, a designer and WordPress geek who loves dark chocolate (passionately), reading, shopping and tennis. Her latest website is weddingthemes101.com, a unique collection of wedding website themes and templates. Contact her on Google+ and Twitter.
We’re in the last month of the year, near a time when bells, snowflakes and Santa take center stage. To welcome the Christmas spirit into your online business, blog or website, I have here a list of 20 free WordPress plugins to help lift spirits and prepare your site for the Christmas atmosphere.
Some of these plugins let you display a countdown widget, others add Christmas-decor to your site, some snowfall effect, a Santa that runs around spreading cheer and you can even schedule holiday messages for your readers. Make your website look festive, let it snow, let it sparkle and let everyone have fun browsing through it with these friendly plugins.
Recommended Reading: Christmas Design Resources: Santa Claus
Skip ahead to the section you want:
- Christmas Advent Calendar Plugins
- Christmas Countdown
- Christmas Wishes
- Christmas Animation
- Schedule Styles/Themes
Christmas Advent Calendar Plugins
Christmas Advent Calendar. This plugin lets you get a random selection out of many different Christmas calendar designs, and you can place it on any page or post. The calendars get activated in December and it supports English, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. [Demo]
My Christmas Calendar. With a simple shortcode, you can display a beautiful calendar on any WordPress post. With the ability of adjusting width, height, border and border color, you can make the calendar fit your layout perfectly.
Christmas Countdown Plugins
Countdown Clock. You can display a lovely flash countdown clock customizable for any event including Christmas on your sidebar. A variety of designs, colors and sizes are available, and you will be able to set the text, date, time and time zone as you wish. [Demo]
Christmas Countdown Clock. This sassy plugin is going to let you display a countdown clock that counts down to Christmas Day. Several designs, sizes, animations and backgrounds are available and installation is super easy. [Demo]
Christmas Countdown Widget. With this widget, an adorable Santa is going to show on your sidebar, counting down to Christmas day and displaying a Merry Christmas greeting to your visitors. The background is transparent so it fits any theme perfectly. It also updates automatically each year so you can leave it there all year long if you want to. [Demo]
Christmas Wishes Plugins
Holiday Message. Holiday Message adds a pop-up message and a holiday graphic at the top or bottom of your website. You can choose the colors and graphics, add your own message and countdown (optional), or even add a cute snowfall effect. [Demo]
Artiss Timed Content. This amazing tool lets you set the content of a post or page to appear and disappear on a specific date, day and/or time. After installation, a simple shortcode can be placed on any possible post or page.
Ninja Announcements Lite. This plugin displays announcements on your website that can be scheduled for exact dates. You can setup a nice Christmas greeting and set it to appear from Dec 20-25. Your visitors will see it only between these dates and the best thing is you can add your own photos or even media from YouTube. [Demo]
Christmas Animation Plugins
Christmas Ball on Branch. This is a very simple plugin that adds an adorable "Christmas bauble on a branch" animated image to a corner of your website. [Demo]
Christmas Lights. With this tool pretty, colorful Christmas lights will be added to the top of your website, giving it the festive and joyful feel. [Demo]
Improved Let It Snow. If you want your website to look Christmas-sy this plugin will add a beautiful snowfall effect to your page. The plugin admin area is very easy to manage. [Demo]
Merry Christmas Everyone. You have to check out this one if you want your website to turn into a fun, joyful place everyone is going to love. Choose between two super cute Santa, and he will be falling, sliding, flying all over your page along with colorful balloons, following the cursors of your visitors and landing on random titles on your page. [Demo]
Snow, balloons and more. Do you want the effect of falling snowflakes in your blog? Apart from snowflakes, there are also leaves, and colorful balloons as alternatives. You can even add your own graphics and have them fall all over; it’s all up to you! [Demo]
Snow Storm. A nice, romantic snowstorm appears on your website and brings a cozy touch of the festive spirit to your page. [Demo]
WP Snowfall. Snow falling effects will be added to your website, creating an interesting effect. The setup is very fast and easy. [Demo]
Xmas Lights. These colorful, joyful Christmas lights at the top of your page are going to warm every visitor’s heart. You’ll get a wonderful effect with an easy installation. [Demo]
Xmas Snow. If you want to add snow to your website, but you don’t want it all over the page, this is the right plugin for you. It adds nice snowing effects to the top of your website only. [Demo]
Schedule Styles or Themes
WP Christmas Class. With this plugin you can easily add a custom class to your body tag and setup the date on which it will appear and disappear, changing your entire website’s look and feel during the Christmas season. [Demo]
WP Scheduled Styles. Awesome for setting a Christmas theme, this plugin lets you schedule an additional CSS file to display on your website during the holidays.
WP Scheduled Themes. If you want to schedule a different theme on your website to appear on Christmas day, this plugin will let you do it easily.
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