10 Smart House Gifts for Mom

Candy and flowers are so old-school. Sure, your Mom will appreciate them, but what most Moms really want is more time to relax, unwind, and enjoy some well-deserved free time. What better way to help carve out that time for Mom than with a Mother’s Day gift that can simplify her day, or just make her feel more organized, rested, and productive. Here are 10 smart house technologies that promise to do just that.

Smart Door Lock

Latchkey kids are as common today as, well, working Moms. A smart lock can ease Mom’s anxiety over her kids’ safe return home from school. Instead of carrying a key, which can get lost or end up in the wrong hands, a child enters a special code into the smart lock. This not only unlocks the door but can text Mom an alert that “Bobby has arrived safely.”

Doorbell Camera

For even more assurance of safe arrivals, add a doorbell camera to Mom’s gift bag. In addition to receiving an alert from the door lock, she can access the doorbell camera from a smartphone app to see and speak with whoever is at the front door. It’s a great way to stay connected with the kids—even when she’s miles away at her office or on a business trip.

Smart Sensors

A full-fledged security system is always the best line of defense for protecting a home and family. However, if there’s something in particular that Mom worries about—like water in the basement– there are simple, affordable, and nice-looking sensors that can be easily added and communicate immediately to her smartphone the second something potentially harmful happens. These “somethings” could be water in the basement or motion near the liquor cabinet.

Personal, Smart Assistant

The above three gift ideas provide the most bang for the buck when Mom’s away. For those crazy, busy times when she’s home, a voice-controlled assistant can be a real lifesaver. In addition to requesting a traffic report or ordering pizza, a device like an Amazon Echo or Google Home can add items to a shopping list, send Mom a reminder to pick up the dry cleaning, and let her manage devices around the home like thermostats, light switches and more by just speaking a command.

Order one of these smart devices in a skin of her favorite color.

Finders Keepers

“Mom, I can’t find my shoes,” “Have you seen my car keys?” “Where’s my wallet?” In most households, Moms often function as the de facto finder of lost items. It’s not only frustrating, but a huge time suck. According to a survey conducted by Pixie Technology, Americans spend more than 2.5 days a year searching for lost items and spend $2.7 billion a year replacing valuables they can’t track down. Thank goodness there is technology that can identify the location of misplaced remotes, keys, phones, and more—check out Tile and Pixie.

 

 

 

Smart Coffeemaker

Let Mom sleep in and still have hot cup of Joe the second she strolls into the kitchen. A smart, Wi-Fi connected coffeemaker lets Mom start the brewing process right from an app on her smartphone. This same app lets her set up a weekly brewing schedule and be notified when the pot is ready.

Sleep-Inducing Light Bulb

Lighting has been proven to impact our natural sleep cycles, and who deserves a better night’s sleep than your Mom? GE’s intelligent Apple HomeKit-enabled Align LED light bulb, shines in a color to promote a more restful night’s sleep. In the morning, it produces a bright, bluer tone that suppresses the body’s production of melatonin, and in the evening it casts an amber-colored light that mimics candlelight and campfires.

Flower Power

So if you just can’t break the tradition of bestowing Mom with flowers on her special day, plant those pansies in a planter-style speaker. Your Mom will be able to enjoy the flowers and her favorite music on the patio.

Green Thumb

Once those flowers are planted, Mom will want to keep them looking their best. If her thumb isn’t exactly green, stick a soil sensor into the speaker planter. Wi-Fi enabled, the sensor will notify her when the plants need a drink or could use some fertilizer.

Keeping Fit

Gardening, jogging, swimming—Moms who like to stay active, healthy, and fit will love a scale that measures more than just their weight. Look for something like this scale from Yunmai that tracks fat, Body Mass Index, muscle, visceral fat, bone mass, water, basal metabolic rate, body age, and protein. Add an app that records the measurements and a pretty color like pink (also available in blue, gold, green, white, and yellow), and this scale is sure to be a hit.