Pi projects are represented by a great variety nowadays. Thus, this great diversity of things to do with Raspberry Pi scales up during such days as Christmas holidays. This happens not only due to the amount of free time that avid makers usually have during the Christmas holidays. Also because of a surge in demand for automation solutions and smart IoT products that actually comprises the best uses for Raspberry Pi technology.

To inspire thousands of our daily visitors we’ve made a chart of the best Raspberry Pi projects for Christmas. Read up to the end to learn the most proficient ones.

A RetroPie Retro Gaming Bundle

What can be a better Christmas gift than an all-in-one all-times gaming console, allowing you to play almost any console game ever created? Only the one with extended functionality, allowing you to play retro PC games on the same device! And we’ve done that! Learn all the details in our Retropie Retro Gaming console on Raspberry Picomplete tutorial.

To prepare such a marvelous Christmas present you will need:

  • Raspberry Pi 3 or 2
  • Micro SD card (8Gb minimum)
  • Micro SD card for Retropie gaming machine
  • USB Controllers of your choice (almost any USB-controllers are compatible, even XBox360 and Wii)
  • USB Controllers for Retropie gaming machine
  • A mouse and a keyboard (for the first-time setup)
  • Mouse and a keyboard for Retropie gaming machine
  • A TV or a monitor (with HDMI and/or AV cables)
  • A monitor for Retropie gaming machine
  • Additional PC (Windows, Linux or Mac) for initial SD card installation and ROMs transferring

Santa Detector

If you are a kid reading this now, for you we must say – Yes, this is a real Santa detection device. As soon as it beeps, open your eyes wide and catch this benevolent old man!

For our adult readers – this is a kind of a programmable toy-device for imitating the detection of a motion of a special person under tracking. The device is generally based on Raspberry Pi infrared sensors which activate an alarm signal as soon as someone is detected.

For this project you will need:

  • Raspberry Pi 2 or 3
  • 1 x passive infrared sensor
  • 3 x female-to-female jumper leads
  • A small screwdriver
  • Speakers or headphones
  • Scratch 2 with GPIO support

The details have been kindly represented on the Raspberry Pi Foundation special website section – read here.

LED candles for Advent

Some Christmas advents are held annually and this always starts different dates. The good decision not to miss even a minute of your beloved Christmas action is to set up the automatic LED advent candles. They are going to switch an automatically as soon as the start of advent is announced.

For Such project you will need:

  • Raspberry Pi model B and 8GB SD Card with NOOBS preinstalled
  • Basic USB optical mouse
  • Basic USB keyboard
  • DS1307 I2C real-time clock on breakout board
  • Jumper wires for use on breadboard
  • Breakout and expansion board for Raspberry Pi
  • Small breadboard sized to fit Pi Plate
  • Clear acrylic enclosure for Raspberry Pi
  • 100V 150mA silicon diodes
  • 100 ohm, 250mW carbon film resistor
  • Small SPST tactile switch with through hole connections
  • 4.75mm 4:1 shrink ratio PTFE heat shrink tubing
  • 20AWG solid copper hook-up wire – red
  • 20AWG solid copper hook-up wire – white
  • 4000 mAh Li-Ion battery pack with USB outputs and included cables
  • Pink and purple battery operated LED candles

The Author of the project is Drew Fustini. Full description is here.

For those of you who love video demonstrations, watch below.

Christmas Photo Booth

Memorable moments must be shot on the camera. All of them. But what would you do if you drown or destroy your smartphone somehow in the middle of the Christmas party? Always keep this indispensable photo booth made on Raspberry Pi around! you’ll have to prepare some 3D printed components in advance. Also, constructing a unique background for your photo booth will make this even more attractive for your guests.

Basically, to realise your own Christmas Photo Booth you’ll need:

  • Raspberry Pi 3 single-board computer...
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