Fun Accessories for Valentines

by Lori Cunningham

Love is in the air!  Can you believe Valentines 2010 is already upon us?  My daughter finished addressing her Valentines for her 1st grade friends last week.  Thank goodness for kids – they’re great at creating excitement around holidays and making them last a little bit longer.

While at the Consumer Electronics Show, I stumbled upon a few fun accessories that I thought I’d share with you.  Gadgets are great, but sometimes you just need to dress them up a little and show off your personality. 

Hard Candy Cases

The folks over at Hard Candy Cases are great.  I loved meeting them and loved their enthusiasm for their products.  I also loved their product.  They snapped on a great bright pink Hard Candy Case on my netbook and o la la, my boring black netbook never looked so good.

The case fits on securely and snugly – there is no wiggle room, it’s on tight.  It is designed with open slots so the venting slots on the computer can breathe.  The cover not only looks cool but it is made out of a Polycarbonate shell that protects your netbook from bumps & scratches.  Hard Candy Cases are available for various Asus, Acer, 13″ Macbooks, HP netbooks.  Prices for Hard Candy Cases range from $29.99 to $49.99 with new designs on their way.  Hard Candy Cases can be purchased at http://hardcandycases.com.

Maxell Kids Safe Headphones & M&M’s Sweet Sounds Headphones

Love them!  Maxell makes several kid oriented headphones that are fun, colorful, and offer volume level protection.  Knowing I had young kids, Maxell sent me a set of headphones.  My four year old tried the Kids Safe Headphones and my daughter claimed the M&M’s Sweet Sounds headphones.

The Kids Safe Headphones come in black with gray.  However, they can be customized with either pink or blue disks to make the headphones more fun.  My son asked for the blue disks right away to match his own style. 

I’ll be the first to admit that I have never bought kid headphones before.  My poor kids just suffered with adult headphones.  Adult headphones were always slipping off because they were too big or too heavy.  Ear buds never worked well either.

My kids were delighted to have fun, brightly colored headphones that fit their heads well, were lightweight, and customizable.  For me, there was less work because I didn’t have to constantly readjust the headphones to their small little heads.  In addition, I had some peace of mind knowing that both sets of headphones had volume levels that are kid safe – meaning that if they can’t turn the volume up too high so that it would damage their ears.  If you haven’t purchased kid-sized headphones, they’re worth the money.  The M&M’s Sweet Sounds Headphones retail for $14.99.  The Maxell Kids Safe Headphones retail for $12.99 and  and can be purchased from Maxell.com.

Otter Box Cases for Your Phone

At last!  A phone accessory manufacturer that understands me.  Otterbox began making their boxes for people like me.  Their website states “Our cases are dedicated to all the klutzy, spontaneous, chaotic, graceless individuals who have broken a device or valuable due to their active lifestyle and like our customers, we’ve been there too!”  So profoundly said.  Sign me up!

Otterbox carries four series of defense for your phone: Impact, Tandem, Commuter, and Defender.  All four series offer protection and style — though it ranges from lighter materials all the way up to “practically indestructible.” 

I arranged with Otterbox to try out a couple of the cases.  I ordered the “slim and tough” Commuter series case in black for my husband and the “practically indestructible” rugged case for myself — in pink of course!

I have dropped every cell phone I have ever owned.  My first cell phone I had to actually smack it first in order to hear the caller – a result of dropping the phone a few too many times.  My current phone – who knows what I did.  It only works on speakerphone.  So if you wonder why a woman is annoyingly talking on her cell using her speakerphone, introduce yourself.  It’s probably me!

Could the Otterbox hold up to my relentless dropping and fumble-handedness?  Well, I think so.  I say that because I’m afraid to drop my phone on purpose.  It has to happen naturally.  But I will say that they case is the strongest I’ve ever used and I feel very confident it will hold up to the test…when that day comes (and it will!).

Otterbox cases start at $19.95 and can be purchased directly at Otterbox.com.