The Holiday rush can be overwhelming as tasks pile up on your Christmas to-do list, from budgeting, searching for last-minute gifts and hunting for the best discounts.
Planning becomes even more stressful when Christmas errands collide with your day-to-day responsibilities. So how can you tick off everything in your list more efficiently? The solution: let Microsoft Copilot, your trusted everyday AI companion, do the heavy lifting. It can simplify holiday planning by offering useful suggestions, gift guides, recipes, and other creative ideas in just seconds.
Here’s how you can use Microsoft Copilot to manage holiday preparations without breaking a sweat:
Shopping for Christmas Gifts
During the Holiday scramble, finding the perfect gift can be a challenge. You need to give something practical while staying on budget. Feeling stuck? Give Copilot these prompts into Copilot to get started:
- Recommend shops to buy quality decor items for moms under P1,000.
- What are affordable hobby-related gifts that dads will love? He’s interested in cars and loves to bike.
- My friend is an Aquarius. He is assertive, analytical, and independent. What gifts would he like if I have only a budget of P1,000?
Stick to your shopping budget
Managing budgets requires realistic projections and discipline. But the reality is it’s never that simple—there’s always something else to buy, prices fluctuate and sometimes you may not have a real-time, big-picture view of how much money you have left.
Microsoft Copilot can help you track your finances. Try these prompts to optimize your spending:
- I will be hosting our family’s Christmas reunion, but my place needs repairs. Could you help me project how much it would cost to have those fixes done and have general cleaning done afterwards?
- I want to visit my family in the province without overspending. How should I budget for the trip and gifts for my inaanaks?
- This holiday, I want to pay off debts and allocate a portion of my bonus to insurance. How do I manage my finances effectively?
Designing personalized Christmas cards and invites
Sending online Christmas cards and invites isn’t mandatory, but it’s a relatively simple, yet intimate way to reach out and connect with your loved ones. Spending time personalizing your greeting shows you’ve put extra thought and effort into expressing your appreciation. Plus, it creates a strong impression and sets the tone if you’re hosting an event. Design and create your holiday greetings and invites with ease using Microsoft Designer. Describe the design you’d like to create and customize it according to your preference:
- Create a festive invitation for our family Christmas reunion, featuring images of Filipino Christmas lanterns (parols), lechon, and the traditional Noche Buena spread. Add a touch of gold and red to keep it classic and elegant.
- I want a heartfelt Christmas greeting card for my family members who are Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). Incorporate symbols like the Philippine flag, a parol, and a touching holiday message in Filipino.
- Design an invitation card for our community Christmas charity event. Illustrate images of a Christmas tree, local children, and symbols of giving like gift boxes and hearts. The background must be predominantly red and green.
Planning your holiday getaway
Planning a vacation should be fun, but putting together an itinerary can be time-consuming, especially if you don’t know where to begin. With Copilot, you can turn to AI to draw up a detailed plan for local or overseas destinations:
- From Manila, what is the most affordable country in Southeast Asia to visit? Estimate the cost for a one-week trip.
- Which is better—Boracay or Palawan? Compare flights, hotel costs, and activities. When is the best time to visit these destinations?
- I’m going backpacking across Luzon. Suggest the lightest items I will need for a two-week trip.
- Plan a three-day itinerary for Cebu. Include what historical sites to visit, local food hotspots to explore, and affordable beach resorts to stay.
Preparing for Noche Buena
Noche Buena is the highlight of Christmas celebrations in the Philippines, and the menu is often the star of the evening. Curating a festive Noche Buena and trying new recipes just got easier with Copilot:
- What are easy-to-make Filipino recipes for Noche Buena?
- How can I prepare traditional Noche Buena dishes on a budget?
- Recommend local stores that sell last-minute Noche Buena essentials.
- I need to prepare a Noche Buena dish with the ingredients I have: chicken, spaghetti noodles, tomato sauce, and canned pineapple. I want to spend as little as possible on additional ingredients. What dishes can I make with these, and what else do I need to buy?
A New Era of Personalized AI Assistance
Microsoft has recently rolled out exciting updates to Copilot, transforming it into a more personalized and interactive everyday AI companion. These enhancements focus on tailoring suggestions, tips, and information to match users’ unique preferences, making each interaction not only more engaging but also more relevant.
With the new Voice capability, you can communicate with Copilot as naturally as you would with a friend, and you can choose from four different voices for a more personalized experience. The latest updates also include Vision, which enables Copilot to “see” what you see while browsing a page. With this feature, you can ask questions about the text, images, and content you encounter, and Copilot will respond in a natural, conversational manner. In addition, Copilot Daily can now provide you with curated news and weather updates from Microsoft’s content sources.
With these new features, Microsoft is committed to building not just an AI assistant, but an essential AI companion for navigating everyday life.
