Bento 2 by FileMaker Holiday Pack makes getting organized for the holidays fast, fun and free

<p><i>Never leave someone off of your holiday card list again!</i>.</p>
<p>FileMaker, Inc. today announced the Bento 2 Holiday Pack, a fast and easy way to get organized for the holidays that’s completely free! Download it now at www.filemaker.com.au/holidaypr . The Bento 2 Holiday Pack works exclusively with Bento 2, the latest version of the personal database that’s as easy to use as your Mac, and includes: a free 30-day trial of Bento 2, plus festive themes and templates that help you organize contacts, cards, gifts, and donations—all in one place.</p>
<p><b>Holiday Card Tracking is Solved</b></p>
<p>Do you agonize over whether you’re going to miss returning a holiday card to someone who sent you a card last year? Are you frustrated because your spouse has holiday card contacts stored on email at the office, and you’ve got some in your computer’s address book at home? People who love the time-honoured tradition of sending holiday cards via snail mail can now use easy-to-use database software technology to get organized. With the new Contacts &amp; Cards template in the Bento 2 Holiday Pack, you can easily check off who sent you what and when, track card recipients’ names, addresses, family members, pertinent notes, and even add images of the actual photos and cards you’ve received. The best part is that you will no longer find yourself speeding off to make that frenzied, last minute “holy cow I forgot about these people” mailing.</p>
<p><b>Keep Holiday Purchases Under Control and on Budget </b></p>
<p>Now that you’ve got your cards and contacts organized, how about your budget? Chances are, you’ve started thinking about holiday shopping, donations to make and how much to spend. And given the current economic environment, you may be thinking about keeping to a strict holiday budget. The Bento 2 Holiday Pack helps you track all of the information on your gifts, such as cost per recipient and a description of the gift. You can even add a photo of the gift. You can also make notations on tax-deductible items, so you have a record when tax time rolls around. Best of all, you can automatically tally your purchases and donations, so you can stick to your holiday budget with ease.</p>
<p>Now comes the really fun part: the Bento 2 Holiday Pack goes one step further by letting you apply chic holiday themes to your templates. You can choose from either a cheerful red and green motif or a beautiful blue theme with snowflakes, adding flair and style to the art of getting organized.</p>
<p>“The holidays can be a hectic time, with cards, parties, gifts and other details to organize and track,” said Steve McManus, Regional Manager, Asia Pacific. “With the free Bento 2 Holiday Pack, we’re offering a no-stress way to get all the details organized so you can breeze through the holidays — not to mention making them more festive and stylish.”</p>
<p>Bento 2 helps Mac users organize their work and personal lives. Designed specifically for Mac OS X Leopard, Bento 2 is an exceptionally easy way to organize contacts, calendars, projects, events and more, faster and easier than ever before.</p>
<p><b>What the world is saying about Bento by FileMaker</b></p>
<p>Since its original release, Bento has garnered numerous accolades from the press. Some of these highlights include:</p>
<p>* About.com says, “Bento may be one of the most user-friendly relational database applications I have ever encountered.”</p>
<p>* Real Simple notes, “Bento is beautiful in design and you really don’t need to understand database concepts or have any experience with databases to use it….With Bento, I’m actually getting organized in a simple and stylish way.”</p>
<p>* The Baltimore Sun calls Bento, “an exceptionally Mac-friendly, easy-to-use database program for regular folk, and just in the nick of time.”</p>
<p><b>How to download the free Bento 2 Holiday Pack</b></p>
<p>To download the free Bento Holiday Pack, visit www.filemaker.com.au/holidaypr and complete a simple form. The Bento 2 Holiday Pack works only on Macs running Mac OS X 10.5.4 or later. Customers have the option of using the free 30-day trial version or they may purchase the complete version of Bento 2, available for $79 (AUD)</p>
<p><b>About FileMaker, Inc.</b></p>
<p>FileMaker, Inc. develops award-winning database software. Its products include the legendary FileMaker Pro product line for Windows, Mac and the Web, and the new Bento personal database for Mac. FileMaker Pro won 49 awards, more than its next eight competitors combined, from 2003-2008 in the U.S., and a total of 130 awards worldwide during this time. Millions of customers, from individuals to large organizations, rely on FileMaker, Inc. software to manage, analyze and share information. FileMaker, Inc. is a subsidiary of Apple Inc.</p>
<p><b>Customer Contact</b></p>
<p>1800 028 316</p>
<p>www.filemaker.com.au</p>
<p><b>Media contact:</b></p>
<p>Kya de Rome</p>
<p>+61 2 9212 3848</p>
<p>kya@kinetics.com.au</p>

• Got more on this story? Email Computerworld
• Follow Computerworld on twitter