The best tech gifts that make mom life a little easier

We’re sick of the kids ‘borrowing’ our chargers and then losing them all over the house. That’s why we’re all in for a charging station. This MagSafe quick charger from OtterBox can charge your iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch all in one. Ease is the name of the game here and this makes it easy to know where your chargers are, as well as where your devices are at all times.

There is nothing more helpful for mom than a product that keeps kids healthy! They may be bringing germs home, but we’ve got to keep them moisturized and humidified so that colds steer clear. This well priced cool mist humidifier has an auto mode which lets you keep humidity at your target level. It will cycle on and off to maintain your target level, even while nobody is home and while the kids are asleep. It has a large tank (easy to fill at the top) which lasts up to 40 hours and the best part is that, unlike other brands, the UV LED light in its base helps reduce growth of bacteria and mold in the water and on the surfaces of the water tray. There’s no filter required and you can fill it right from the tap!

If you are totally sick of your kids sitting in front of their screens, put them in front of the big screen (the TV) and get them moving! They can stop complaining of boredom with the compact Nex Playground game system which connects to your TV and turns screen time into active family together time with dance and sports inspired games. Five games are included and you can add a subscription for more like Fruit Ninja, Whack-a-Mole, and Go Keeper. The AI-powered camera & motion learning system works with simple, natural gestures— no extra sensors or clunky wearables required. We’ve had lots of laughs (and some sweating) with this game— toddler and teen approved. The best part is kids and parents are off of their screens, moving around and hanging together with family. Who thought it could happen in the 2020’s?

If you have been using your phone as your clock/alarm clock that means you’re sleeping next to your phone— the worst thing you can do to get a good night’s sleep. Enter the Loftie Smart Alarm Clock, a beautifully designed digital clock with a two phase alarm system. The relaxing sound machine can play the basics like white noise or nature sounds or you can jump into the Loftie+ premium content library for meditations, affirmations and even personalized bedtime stories. We love the night-light as well as the ‘blackout mode’ feature which lets you completely close down the clock light for a total lights out sleep experience. You can’t set an example for the kids (no phones at bedtime) unless you’re doing it for yourself. Here’s how.

There is nothing more annoying or intrusive than someone ringing the bell when you know you’re not expecting anyone. This is the thing: whether you’re mid-meeting and can’t answer the door, aren’t even home, or have left the kids in charge, you can use your Ring app to see exactly who’s there.  With Live View and Two-Way Talk you can greet droppers-by from near or far, and even be monitoring who is coming over while the kids are on their own ‘not answering the door’ as you’ve told them 4 million times.

At the hub of every home should live a Google Pixel Tablet. This tech hub, which offers the portability of an 11” tablet and the stability of a magnetic stand, does it all. Think of it as the personal assistant you need that fills your life with magical info while never talking back (unless you ask it a question). 

Some of our favorite family features:

• You can set up multiple profiles so each user on your tablet has a portal to their own apps and content, as well as an individual pin and fingerprint unlock. This includes age-appropriate accounts for your kids in Kids Space. You can also set boundaries and parental controls (e.g., screen time limits) with the Family Link app.
• The Charging Speaker Dock automatically charges your tablet when it’s docked, so it can be useful 24/7.
• Whether you’re looking to check in on your cameras around the house, control the temperature or broadcast a message through your speakers (time for dinner!!), there is easy access to what you need via the tablet. 
• Sometimes you have your hands full, figuratively and literally. With the Pixel Tablet you can use your voice to type with Assistant voice typing. It is nearly 3x faster than tapping out words on a screen. 
• You can set your screensaver like a digital photo frame to display your favorite family vacay pics from Google Photos. You can also customize your lock screen to show the time, the weather and so much more.
• You can control practically everything with your voice. Yell at the tablet to play music or a movie, use it to call grandma or set alarms for cooking or for kids’ activities.

If you’re an Amazon device lover, this hub, and its 8” screen, is the answer to keeping your home in order. Use it for Alexa’s hands-free assistance, advanced home security capabilities with Blink or Ring, and for your basic home- organizing  tools (i.e. reminders, timers, shopping lists, to-do lists, etc). In addition to the organization features, a helpful service for all moms is Alexa Emergency Assist, a subscription service available on all Echo devices. This personal and family safety service enables anyone in your home to get fast access to help, hands-free. In an emergency, just say, “Alexa, call for help” to get in contact with a trained Urgent Response agent for emergency services. Whether you’re a mom home alone, have kids who are alone, or elder parents at home, this can be a sigh of relief during a time of worry.

The little watch that does…it all! Want to track your run, your sleep or your stress? This does it, by pairing Fitbit’s best selling tracker with Google apps (Google Maps and Google Wallet to name a few).

Some of our favorite features:

• The Fitbit Charge 6 has 7 days of battery life, so no pressure about charging every single night before bed.
• If you are looking for a new wellness routine, but don’t have the energy (or creativity!) to think of a workout, let the Fitbit app be your coach. Charge 6 users can pick from more than 40 exercise modes, ranging from usual suspects like running, cycling and HIIT to more niche pursuits like kickboxing, canoeing and more. 
• If you aren’t the best at listening to your body, Fitbit’s Daily Readiness Score (for Premium subscribers) makes that inner voice hard to ignore by assigning a number ranging from 1 to 100 based on stress factors like amount of sleep, physical activity, and heart rate variability on a day-to-day basis. Charge 6 also has a few other features that can help you keep an eye out for other irregularities, such as an ECG app for taking a heart rhythm assessment, an oxygen saturation (SpO2) monitor and notifications for unusually high and low heart rate activity. 
• Wake up to your Sleep Score each morning to assess how well you slept based on the time you’re in different sleep stages, your heart rate while sleeping, how restless you were and more. 
• You can even keep an eye on your stress levels with an electrodermal activity (EDA) scan to measure your body’s physical responses in the moment and get actionable guidance on how to manage your stress. Check your Stress Management Score to see how well your body is handling stress and make a plan for the day.

Kindle Scribe is your one-stop shop to catch up on reading, make to-do lists, and even keep a journal. No more lugging around notepads, miscellaneous loose papers, or multiple books when on-the-go or doing bedtime reading. Kindle Scribe has all the features Kindle customers love, plus writing that feels just like paper. The Kindle Scribe features a 10.2-inch, glare-free display, and includes a pen that never needs charging, so you can read and write between the kids sporting events or while you’re waiting out their lessons of the day. And of course, as a Kindle, you can access thousands of books on one device!

Here’s the thing about desktops, we’ve all been going smaller these years, BUT, kids love the privacy of small devices a little more than we’re comfortable with. It’s time to outsmart the kids by giving them a big, beautiful screen that can be planted right in the middle of your living room. The win-win is that kids have screen access, but parents can ‘see’ what is on the screen (no more of that under the pillow situation). Plus, with an iMac, you are getting true beauty and function for the whole family to use. This beautifully designed 24” Retina Display is only 11.5mm thick and now includes the supercharged M3 chip. The fam may fight over which color to get (there are 7 choices) but will not be mad that you’re making them use a desktop when it looks this cool.