Image via Wikipedia

Wow! What a competition for Best Holiday Browser Theme of 2011. While all five finalists had merit and style, two quickly emerged as contenders for first place: Christmas Ornament and Perfect Christmas Eve. Voting was fast and furious at the end, with the lead changing several times. As in any competition, however, there can only be one winner and for this year, it turned out to be…

 And the Winner is…

Christmas Ornament(:

The winner of Apple’s iPad 2 and first prize in Brand Thunder’s Best Holiday Browser Theme of 2011 is Christmas Ornament(:  In the end, user’s seemed to favor the abstract and contemporary feel captured in this holiday browser theme.

The Runner’s Up are…

Perfect Christmas Eve

Despite the idyllic snowy winter’s night, as we discovered in the movie “Elf,” Christmas spirit is running a little low for Santa. Hopefully, this doesn’t affect what appears under our Christmas tree in a couple days.

Xanapus` Lair Christmas Theme

Holiday Snow

A Year to Celebrate

Thanks to all who participated in the holiday theme contest. It was a ton of fun for us and we hope you enjoyed it as well. And while these themes are great and can bring you months of joy to your daily Internet use, don’t forget to visit the Brand Thunder Theme Gallery the next time you want a fresh look for your browser. There’s a world-class selection of Chrome themes, Firefox themes and Internet Explorer themes with new ones being added all the time.

The judges have cast their ballots and here are the top five from the Best Holiday Browser Theme Contest. Each is a winner in its own right, but now it’s up to you, the browser-theme community, to choose the ultimate winner. Over the next week, we’re gathering your votes to determine first prize.

Each of these browser themes were built using BT:Engage, the first do-it-yourself browser theme creator. You can drag & drop images, toolbar buttons and more into the browser theme using a gallery of images or any images you upload yourself. Click Finish and you instantly create a browser theme for both Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer. You can share with family and friends, or post immediately to Brand Thunder’s Browser Theme Gallery. So, after enjoying one of these winning themes for the holiday season, come back to Brand Thunder and try one of our themes for Chrome, Firefox or IE.

Vote Daily

Every day vote for your favorite holiday browser theme. The theme with the most votes on Friday, December 23 (voting closes Dec. 22), is declared the Best Holiday Browser Theme of 2011 and its creator wins an iPad 2. All other finalists take home a $25 Amazon gift card.

1. Xanapus` Lair Christmas Theme

An edgier look at the holiday season, Xanapus` Lair offers a contemporary look at Christmas in this holiday browser theme.

2. Perfect Christmas Eve

Perfect Christmas Eve captures an idyllic view of the night flight of Santa and his reindeer in this browser theme.

3. Christmas Ornament(:

A hint of abstract art embodies the holiday browser theme of Christmas Ornament(:

4. A Year to Celebrate

An exquisite view of the holidays and this season of celebration in A Year to Celebrate browser theme.

5. Holiday Snow

Whether you want a White Christmas or just to Let is Snow, Holiday Snow browser theme delivers.

Most Votes Wins First Prize

View This Poll

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

The Christmas Holiday themes are rolling in for Brand Thunder’s Best Holiday Browser Theme of 2011 Contest. It’s one of the easiest ways to win an iPad 2. Just design your browser theme with the world’s only DIY browser theme creator for Firefox and IE.

Here are examples of early entries. You still have plenty of time before the December 15 deadline. So, enter your holiday browser theme today! Feel free to also sit back and enjoy by downloading one of these or any of the Christmas or Holiday themes in our browser theme Gallery.

Pictures of Christmas

It’s the time of year spent looking for Christmas wallpapers and holiday wrapping paper. Since many of us spend hours looking at the computer, Brand Thunder thought it’d bring a little incentive to adding Holiday joy to your desktop. It’s as easy as capturing your own picture of Christmas and transporting it into your browser with BT:Engage.

If you don’t have your own Christmas photos to use, there’s a special selection of Holiday images for you to use. It takes less than 5 minutes to build your own holiday browser theme. You just double-click or drag and drop the images in the theme creator. The longest part will be finding your own Christmas pictures or holiday images that you want to upload into BT:Engage.

Christmas Lights and Christmas Tree

Your time on the Internet has never felt so Merry and Bright.

Spirit of Christmas and New Years

With this theme titled “A Year to Celebrate” you get the feeling of the season and it won’t run out by New Years.

Kinkade Kind of Christmas

It’s like it was inspired by the painter of light. These bucolic scenes of small town Christmas.

Silent and Holy Night

This holiday imagery captures the magic of the season.

Enter with Your Picture of the Holidays

Whatever your vision of the holiday season is, you can capture it in a browser theme and enter the contest for your chance to win an iPad 2. Build the theme with BT:Engage and send us an email. It’s definitely worth the few minutes of time it takes to build a theme. Find all the details at our Best Holiday Browser Theme of 2011 Contest blog post.

Good luck with your entries!

Related articles

• Best Holiday Browser Theme of 2011 Contest – Win an iPad 2 (brandthunder.com)
• Christmas Wallpapers and Your Browser Theme (brandthunder.com)

Chrome, Firefox and IE Christmas Themes:

Traditional Christmas Browser Theme with Wallpaper Option

Snowman Christmas Holiday Browser Theme with Wallpaper Option

Our latest Christmas theme features Santa Claus and his Reindeer

Available for Firefox and Chrome.

Christmas Wallpapers

One of the secrets of Brand Thunder’s browser themes is how easy it is to turn our “new tab” image in Firefox into a desktop wallpaper on your computer. After you install one of our Christmas holiday themes above, open a new tab. Move your cursor over the picture and Right Click then select View Background Image. That will load a new page showing just the image, Right Click on that image and select Set As Desktop Background… You’ll immediately have that image as your Christmas holiday wallpaper on your desktop.

Your Personal Christmas Holiday Theme

If you’re like a lot of us that tend to handcraft our own holiday experiences, whether it’s baking family recipes or your own holiday decorating traditions – here’s your chance to build your own Christmas holiday browser theme. Brand Thunder has a selection of holiday background images and logos in BT:Engage, where you can build your own browser theme., including images for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Once you’re Finished building your holiday theme, you can easily share with friends and family through Facebook, Twitter, Email and more. Start a new holiday tradition!

Don’t forget you can always add your own images to make the best holiday theme for you and your family.

Examples of the free holiday themes you can create

Family Theme

Family & Fun Theme

Religious Theme

Santa Claus Theme

Free to build, share and use.

1. Go to BT:Engage and click the Get Started button
2. On the Background and Logo tabs, click the Holiday link to see the special image options
3. Double Click or Drag & Drop those images to add them to the theme. Use the green arrows in the Properties box to move images to the front or back.
4. Widgets are buttons and feeds you can Drag & Drop into your theme. You’ll need to select where to point them, like your online gift wishlist, Facebook page or Flickr photo album.
5. Add your own photos under the My Images tab. They can be uploaded as Backgrounds or Logos
6. Find links to videos tutorials at the BT:Engage FAQs.

Holiday Theme Contest

If you really want to show case your browser theme talents, be sure to enter our Holiday Browser Theme Contest. First prize is a new iPad 2 and gift certificates for the runner’s up. All the details are found in the contest blog.

Image via CrunchBase

Win an iPad 2 in less than 5 minutes

You can win an iPad in less than 5 minutes. Sound easy? It is.

There is no purchase necessary to enter or win.

Just create your own Christmas or holiday browser theme using BT:Engage and share it with us – you’ll be entered to win. It only takes a few minutes. A panel of judges will select 5 finalists, then the public will vote on the winning entry. Enter by 12/15/11, finalists will be announced on 12/17/11 and winners announced on 12/23/11. First prize gets a new iPad 2, the other finalists will each receive a $25 Amazon gift card.

All the details for participating are below. Enter early and often, and have fun!

Holiday Theme Your Way

BT:Engage makes it easy to create your own browser themes for Firefox and Internet Explorer. For a completely custom look, upload your own images then drag & drop to the browser theme. In a few minutes, you’ll have a new Internet experience that’s personal and fun.

The Rules for Winning

1. You must create your holiday browser theme with BT:Engage. It’s 100% free.
2. Tweet: I entered @brandthunder’s holiday browser theme contest (http://ow.ly/7pFcY). See my theme: PASTE YOUR THEME URL
3. Email info@brandthunder.com with the URL to your theme’s download page by 11:59PM EST on 12/15/11.

***NOTE: If you don’t use Twitter or have a Twitter handle, simply indicate this in your email submission and you won’t have to Tweet it to win.

Finalists will be promoted in our blog. You can send your fans to that post to vote up your theme!

How BT:Engage Works

Here’s a short preview of how the BT:Engage product works. You can always find more help and links to “How to” videos at http://bt-engage.com/faqs.

Free to build, share and use.

1. Go to BT:Engage and click the Get Started button
2. On the Background and Logo tabs, click the Holiday link to see the special image options
3. Double Click or Drag & Drop those images to add them to the theme. Use the green arrows in the Properties box to move images to the front or back.
4. Widgets are buttons and feeds you can Drag & Drop into your theme. You’ll need to select where to point them, like your online gift wishlist, Facebook page or Flickr photo album.
5. Add your own photos under the My Images tab. They can be uploaded as Backgrounds or Logos
6. Find links to videos tutorials at the BT:Engage FAQs.

Eligibility

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. THE CONTEST IS VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

Contest is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws. Open only to permanent, legal U.S. residents who are physically residing in one (1) of the forty eight (48) contiguous United States or the District of Columbia (excluding Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other United States territories), and who are eighteen (18) years of age or older and of the age of majority in their state of residence as of the start of the Contest Period.

The Contest is governed by U.S. law and subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. By entering the Contest, participants agree to accept and be bound by all terms of these Official Rules and Regulations.

Valentine’s is another holiday just waiting for things to go wrong.  There’s a lot of hype and expectation, maybe even more than the holiday season we just went through.  You see Thanksgiving and Christmas are big family days, so there’s friendly fire and collateral damage all around you.  You’re not likely to take a direct hit from misery.

Now Valentine’s Day, on the other hand, is just you and your loved one, and you’re walking through a relationship mine field.  Don’t worry.  We’re here to make sure luck is on your side.

Not only does Brand Thunder offer a great Valentine’s Day browser theme – but our latest contest is now running until February 13.  You’ll have a chance to win a gift card from Amazon.com, which will help you add a little bonus to this day of romance.  Just get the browser theme, click the Contest button then enter your name and an email address.  It’s that easy.

Even if you don’t win the contest, we’ve got you covered.  You’ll have everything you need to make it a very special day regardless of your budget.  Click “Dine In” to help plan that special meal which is sure to please, or if you prefer to tax your wallet and not your kitchen click “Dine Out” for recommendations straight from Zagat.

Polish your plans with creative ideas for activities and more, as well as the perfect gift.  You can see that the Valentine’s Day browser theme is going to make this day a winner, whether you take home the contest prize or not.  What better way to make sure you’re getting lucky?

Deadline is midnight tonight, so wait no longer!  Download either the Firefox version of our Christmas browser theme, or the Firefox version our Classic Christmas browser theme.  You’ll see a “Contest” button in the browser toolbar. When you click it, the sidebar will open with the details. All you have to enter is your Name and Email. It’s that easy.

We’ll email you if you won on Dec 18th.  Respond to us right away so we can order and get it on its way to you!

Good luck!

Brand Thunder recently rolled out the ability to run spontaneous contests in our Firefox browsers themes (sorry, IE users).  The current contest is running in our Christmas themes and it’s your chance to win an Apple TV.  All you do to enter is click the “Contest” button in the browser toolbar.  The sidebar will open with the details.  Enter your Name and Email. It’s that easy.

Get the Christmas browser theme, or our Classic Christmas browser theme for some holiday spirit and a chance to make it even brighter.

We’re doing the drawing on Dec 18th in hopes to get the prize to you before Christmas.  So, if we email you that you’ve won, respond to us quickly!

Sometimes the best answers are the most obvious.  When you’re sitting around wondering, “what could be better than a Christmas browser theme?” and the simple brilliance of it hits you… “TWO Christmas browser themes.”  It’s like finding an amp that goes to 11.  One might suggest since we have both a Firefox and Internet Explorer version of the browser themes, we technically have four.  To that I say, “yes, one might suggest that” and then promptly change the subject.

Christmas

The Christmas browser theme, Brand Thunder’s first and still most popular, is reminiscent of a scene from Frosty, with a happy snowman amongst snow covered hills. During the day, you’ll enjoy falling now. At night, the sky darkens and the twinkling lights in the Christmas trees can be seen.

Classic Christmas

If you prefer a Christmas theme that feels a little more like home, try out the Classic Christmas browser theme. You’ll enjoy the images of presents under the tree and the twinkling tree lights amongst the ornaments.

Holiday Cheer

The browser themes alone will help to keep your spirits bright. The interactive components of these two themes include:

• Top selections from the Holiday Radio channels found on AccuRadio.com, one of the most outstanding Internet radio providers we’ve found.
• A sidebar of fun holiday videos from YouTube and special gift options from Amazon.
• Links for holiday history, Christmas recipes, activities and more

Either one you choose, you’re sure to enjoy.  They are nice little additions to the holiday season and a great way to start your Season’s Greetings.

Less than a year ago we launched our first Christmas theme and kicked off a year long cycle of building a theme for many of the major holidays. It was something purely fun and it went over big. The latest can be found at www.brandthunder.com/christmas.

So in the list of family, friends and coworkers, one of the things I’m thankful for is the little idea that went big. We had a steady pace of new products and users outside our core business. An added benefit to promising the holiday themes was the built-in deadline. Despite the non-client nature of these browser themes, dates needed to be hit to coincide with spikes in searches and consumer interest.

If there’s a bigger lesson here, it’s probably to keep the side projects alive and give at least some of them the runway they need to get a true market test. It’s certainly been helpful to us.