Christmas Gadgets for the Whole Family!

With a week left until Christmas, you may be at your wit’s end trying to figure out what to get everyone.  I know, I found myself browsing a couple of stores online last night, hoping for the right gift for my mother-in-law would jump out of the thousands of gifts but left empty-handed.

Over the past month, the Well Connected Mom has created a few gift guides showcasing various Christmas gadgets for the family.  Technology is typically a favorite among most family members as it either makes life more efficient, more fun, or both and it comes across as a high-value gift.

See out our Christmas Gadgets guides for 2018 for…

Moms

Dads  

Kids 

We’ll touch on a few of our favorite items here and you can check out the guides for more Christmas gadgets.

Christmas Gadgets for the Family

DAD

For Dad, if he has a later version Qi compatible phone, Apple (8 and up), Samsung Note 8 or Galaxy 9 (and up), or some later models from other mobile brands, he will appreciate the ease of the Ventev Wireless chargepad+. 

Once the chargepad+ is plugged in, Dad needs only to set his phone on the puck for a fast and instant charge.  He’ll hear an audible confirmation that it’s charging.  And it’s a super fast charge too!

The Ventev Wireless chargpad+ can be purchased from Amazon for $39 + free shipping.

See more Christmas gadgets for Dads.

MOM

For Mom, it’s time to get her a Google Home Assistant, if you haven’t already.  You can never give Mom enough help.  Mom can ask…

• What’s today’s weather? 
• What’s the 5-day forecast? 
• What is on her calendar for today?
• Play her favorite type of music from Spotify or Google Music
• Ask for replacements for sweetened condensed milk while cooking
• Set a timer for 10 minutes
• Ask for items to be added to her shopping list
• Set an alarm for the morning every day
• Ask to be reminded about a task that needs to get done

I use Google Home every day.  It’s so nice to ask Google Home to add eggs, almond milk, and protein powder to my list and it knows to separate these items into three line items. 

Reminders are helpful too.  For instance, I can ask Google Home to remind me to pick up my photo order the next time I go to Sam’s Club…and Google Assistant will through my phone.

I use Google Home interchangeably with my Google Assistant on my phone, the synergies between the two are very helpful.

Google Home sells for $99 (a $30 savings) and Google Home Mini sells for $29.99 (a $20 savings right now) at BestBuy.com. 

I also recommend getting the LOFT Portable Battery Base, which allows you to take Google Home into any room wirelessly with an 8-hour battery life.  It is on sale for $39.95 (usually $49.95) on the NINETY7 website.

See more Christmas gadgets for Moms.

KIDS

For kids, we sought out a lot of STEAM toys for different ages in this years Christmas Gadgets guide. 

One of our favorites was the JIMU AstroBot Series: Cosmos Kit, which gives kids all the pieces to build three different robots or customize one to their own liking.  

The AstroBot Series comes with over 380 snap-together parts, an infrared sensor, a Bluetooth speaker, 2 LED lights, 5 smooth motion robotic servo motors, and power adapter. 

Download the free iOS or Android app and kids can follow the step-by-step 3D, 360 degree animated building instructions.

Using block coding, kids can use blocks of codes to create programs and tricks.  Blocks of codes are pre-written code that makes it easier to program their robots, rather than learning actual code sentencing that can be more intensive.  Kids can even create new custom actions with the Pose, Record, Play function.