(Pocket-lint) – Considering the amazing bargains on Amazon Echo devices over the last month or so, you may well have treated yourself or a loved one to an Alexa-enabled device.
Or you might be hoping to find one under the tree on Christmas Day itself. Either way, you’ll be keen to try out phrases the voice assistant will understand and respond to.
Amazon itself is helping, with a great list of Christmas commands you can try out. You can even get Alexa to read out an entire Christmas classic novel for free.
Here then are some of the festive fun phrases you can try out with your new (or existing) Alexa-enabled device:
“Alexa, do you believe in Santa Claus?”
There are a few of these different commands which open up hidden treats from Alexa, including getting to talk to Santa himself.
“Alexa, who’s on the naughty list?”
Asking this one gets your running through an interactive game where Santa asks you some questions to suss out how naughty or nice you’ve been.
“Alexa, sing Auld Lang Syne.”
This one is pretty self-explanatory, if you’ve ever wanted to hear Alexa sing then now you can finally find out what that’s like.
“Alexa, what do you want for Christmas?”
As if there aren’t enough people to buy for at Christmas, you can always ask Alexa what she wants as well.
“Alexa, what are you doing for New Year?”
Wondering how your favorite voice assistant is planning to celebrate the New Year? You can always ask. Though without any legs to leave the house, you can imagine her plans aren’t as exciting as yours.
“Alexa, open the advent calendar.”
Another interactive thing to ask Alexa, but this time it’s something you can do daily. Quirks here include a daily joke, about the same quality that you’d expect from Christmas crackers, but it’s still some mild entertainment.
“Alexa, how ugly is your Christmas jumper?”
If you’ve not got a Christmas jumper are you even in the Christmas spirit? If you’re feeling a bit self-conscious about your jumper choice you can always ask Alexa about hers.
“Alexa, sing your new Christmas song.”
Do you love cringy Christmas songs? Then you’re in luck as you can ask Alexa to sing you some. You don’t even need to load up your favorite Xmas playlist.
“Alexa, sing a Christmas Carol.”
Ask Alexa to sing you a song this Christmas and enjoy all the hilarity that brings. At least Alexa has multiple talents.
“Alexa, sing Jingle Bells.”
Honestly, we don’t think much of Alexa’s ability to sing, but if you really can’t get enough of Christmas songs then you can ask her to sing Jingle Bells.
Alternatively, you can always just connect one of the music streaming services and play a Christmas playlist instead.
“Alexa, read ‘Twas the night before Christmas’.”
Use this request to get Alexa to read the classic Christmas poem. Of course, if you have an Audible account you can always use Alexa to play full audiobooks too.
“Alexa, how many sleeps until Christmas?”
If the small children in your household are constantly asking how many sleeps there are until Christmas there’s no need to worry as you can just send them to ask Alexa.
“Alexa, where’s Santa?”
This request not only activates “Santa Tracker” but also various other interactive things you can do. Talk to Santa and see what he’s up to or just bathe in the Christmas fun.
“Alexa, tell me a Christmas story.”
Ask Alexa for a Christmas story and you’ll get a story from Santa directly. A nice short story for the kids to enjoy and certainly a fun one to build the Christmas excitement.
“Alexa, I wish it could be Christmas every day.”
Sometimes you can just share how you feel about Christmas and Alexa will tell you how she feels too.
“Alexa, Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?”
Many will argue about whether Die Hard is actually a Christmas movie or not. Now if you’re not sure you can ask Alexa too.
“Alexa, what’s the best Christmas movie?”
We’ve written about what we think are the best Christmas movies around, but if our list doesn’t tickle your fancy then you can always ask Alexa.
“Alexa, what’s the worst Christmas movie?”
Everyone has an opinion on the best Christmas film, but also on the worst ones. If you’re arguing about that then Alexa may chime in with an opinion on the matter.
“Alexa, can you name Santa’s Reindeer.”
This one is challenging for all but the most hardened Christmas enthusiast. If you don’t know the names of all Santa’s Reindeer you can always ask your trusty voice assistant.
“Alexa, how many calories are in a Christmas pudding?”
Sometimes ignorance is bliss and it’s better not to ask the question in the first place. But if you want to know Alexa can help.
“Alexa, play family-friendly Christmas music.”
If you’ve got Amazon Music or Spotify connected to Alexa then you can easily get some music for your Christmas party.
Other fun things to ask Alexa this Christmas
Alexa, play a trivia game.”
There are also some other phrases and questions you can ask, some cheeky:
“Alexa, I’m feeling curious.” – Alexa will tell you all manner of interesting facts about snakes, computer science, biology and much more.
“Alexa, where’s my stuff?”
“Alexa, what’s your favorite sport?”
“Alexa, what are you reading?”
“Alexa, what are your top skills?”
“Alexa, how long is the River Thames?”
“Alexa, when did The Beatles break up?”
“Alexa, I am your father!”
Writing by Rik Henderson. Editing by Adrian Willings.