The Gift Of Code — React Apps As Gifts
Web Apps as Gifts
Front-end Frameworks such as React make it easier than ever to build beautiful web applications. You can quickly create new digital worlds that have never existed before! We can use this idea to think of awesome gifts for people in our lives!
I’ve given a number of web apps as fun little gifts before and I plan to do it again. They’ve all been a ton of fun to make and everyone really enjoyed them.
Examples I’ve built…
Digital Birthday Card
I built a digital birthday card that consisted of 3d models, an MP3 player, a birthday message and a messaging function.
I created a fun playlist of music, added animations and even hid some easter eggs just for the heck of it. I loved making this and I was able to make it personal which added a lot to the final product.
Gaming Library
My little brother has always loved video games. For his 8th birthday I decided to create a library of online games that I’ve enjoyed. Complete with over 20 games, a custom MP3 player and a birthday message, it was a huge success with my little bro. He loved it and is still visiting it a year later.
Mini Minecraft Clone
My little brother loves Minecraft so I decided to make him his own version! It’s not nearly as complex but I used react-three-fiber to build a mini version of Minecraft with a mini message. This also included a personal MP3 player.
Gift Catalog
If you can’t decide what to buy a significant other, this is the perfect solution. I created a catalog of potential gifts and gave them $140 worth of credits to shop with. They could use their credits however they pleased. Items ranged from $5 — $100 and they can checkout once they’ve used all their credits.
Once they check out, the items they chose are automatically shipped to their house. This was a fun way to have them pick out of choices that I gave them.
Other Ideas
- Personal Countdowns for Holidays
- Secret Messaging App
- Personal Video Game with silly characters
- Virtual Reality world with personalized items
- Video Playlist
- Photo Collage of shared memories
Anything is Possible!
I built all of my apps using React but other frameworks such as Vue, Angular and Solid work as well. With the collection of tools provided through npm, you can build amazing apps in the matter of minutes. Get creative and build personalized apps that people will find useful or fun for them! I’m certain they will love it!
