I hope this post makes your shopping as easy as possible, right from your home to someone else’s! I’m all about no-hassle gifts this year. One and done, click and presto! Off to the family I am buying for, wrapped and ready. Thank you internet!
Santa’s Quarantine:
So originally when I was planning this post, it was about minimalism for the holidays and donating a gift to the recipient’s choice of charity (which is still a great idea). However, this year has turned us all on our heads. The virus that must not be named because I’m tired of writing about it has certainly changed our lives. We are all still stuck at home, and just imaging a “minimalist” family that leaves a child with 3 toys to play with after remote schooling just, well-I feel sad thinking about it.
We aren’t having the holiday parties and family gatherings that we usually have. Perhaps you would feel like Santa with a jolly ol’ bag of gifts for everyone individually. That’s a lot of thought, especially when you are probably not going into a store for ideas. This post focuses on gifts for the family as a whole, or for the adults who need help managing their home.
Right now I so wish Rosey the Robot from the Jetson’s was part of my home. For now, I have Alexa to help out when she can.
What we need right now are things that make our lives easier so we don’t have to think.
Like how to remember to feed the dog when we are working full time, teaching our children, and making sure everyone is fed. Or how to intervene with the UPS guy so that holiday gifts don’t go into the wrong hands at our doorstep with everyone home.
Here are my top 10 Family gifts for the holidays to make life easier and home life more automated all under $200…
Top 10 Family Gifts under $200:
- Instant Pot Duo and must-have accessories: My friends are probably annoyed at how much I talk about this. At one point, I thought, “Who needs another kitchen gadget!,” but alas I kept hearing about it and bought my own. AND MY LIFE CHANGED! Seriously this model is amazing and it allowed me to get rid of 3 large counter appliances. It’s a crockpot, air fryer, rice cooker, vegetable steamer, soup maker…all in 1! It cooks things in minutes. Freezer meals take 8-10 minutes (Goodbye crockpot!), chicken nuggets-8 minutes. Steamed vegetables-1 minute. Get rid of appliances and get this for yourself or a gift to a family that needs time right now…especially one with kids.
Check out the connect links to my must-have accessories for the Instant Pot:
– Steamer basket for veggies, pasta, etc, and egg trays that can be used to make eggs several ways (like Forrest Gump here with the shrimp…boiled eggs, fried eggs, egg bites, lol).
–Silicon egg pan that you can use to make mini cakes, quiches to homemade baby food in minutes.
–Immersion Food Blender with Attachments that allows you to cook directly in the instant pot. I use this to bake, make soup in less than 5 minutes in the Instant Pot. This is just good to keep in the kitchen regardless.
2. Ninja Specialty Coffee Maker: I have 1 school-aged child and 2 newborns right now, so without coffee, I cannot survive! For those of you who know people working from home with kids, this is the gift for them. This specialty coffee maker has the ability to steam milk, make coffee for 6 different sizes including a single cup, travel mug, or a 50oz carafe for the family. Lattes, macchiatos, cappuccinos, all at your fingertips to stay safe from going out to the cafe. No pods are required, so it’s better for the environment too. Feeling like you’re at Starbucks in the comfort of your home sounds good to me.
3. Ring Video Doorbell: This doorbell allows you to see who’s at your door while you’re working from your counter. Snatch that holiday gift you got for your significant other from the door before they accidentally open it with motion-activated alerts. Check-in on your home while you are out or traveling. Connect to your Amazon Alexa. See and communicate with those at your door without even opening it.
4. PetSafe Smart Feed: Pets are being left out these days with the changes in our schedules. They jump in on our Zoom calls for attention and lick their crotches just when our boss joins the meeting. Don’t worry about feeding your pet for a while with this auto feeder that is wifi enabled. Great for when you begin to vacation again too.
5. Roomba 675: “Hey Alexa, start Roomba!” and presto your floor gets vacuumed! With more feet in our homes these days, having this little guy vacuum around you can make keeping your house cleaned a lot easier. Or put your cat on it and see what happens!
6. Wireless Karaoke Microphone: The Voice and other singing show fans, rejoice! Gift a family this wireless mic that connects to your phone via Bluetooth and have a family singing competition!
7. Echo Dot 4th Generation: “Alexa turn on the TV,” “Alexa, what’s the weather?,” “Alexa add milk to my shopping list,” “Alexa turn on the lights in my bedroom.” It seems everyone has one of these, but I just learned one of my good friends doesn’t have one, so I know what I’m getting him for the holidays! This plays music, controls your home, and connects to most of the wifi devices in this post. If you are a Sirius XM subscriber you can connect it to your account and other cloud subscriptions as well. My daughter loves telling Alexa what to do, mostly telling her to shut off lights and play Kidz Bop. Heck, it can even order gifts for you!
8. Amazon Prime Membership: 5% off Whole Foods (+ Amazon Fresh delivery in participating locations), FREE 1-2 delivery from Amazon, FREE books, Amazon Prime Video. If you know a family without prime, they need it. My life has been so much easier since Amazon came into my life years ago. With being stuck at home, it makes getting essentials and grocery shopping so much easier. Click this link for a FREE 30 day trial on me! I will be sending most of my gifts via Amazon this year right to my recipients’ homes, pretty cool.
9. Kindle Paperwhite: I love reading and although I am partial to the smell of a book in hand, the Kindle has changed my life. I can easily bookmark pages, highlight text to make notes, and easily access recipes like never before. Now I can’t live without this, especially when I’m traveling or looking for a new book. I just click and buy new books or use my Kindle Unlimited Membership Plan for $10 a month to read unlimited books.
10. KiwiCo: This one is for anyone in the family. Gift one time, a couple of months or a year. KiwiCo will keep everyone busy while we are stuck at home with fun activities for any age. Click the image below to check it out.
So there you have it, my top 10 family gifts to make life easier, give more time, and help bring more smiles to our every day!
I hope this post makes your holiday shopping a little easier this year.
