Mother’s Day is tomorrow and word on the street is that spending is up this year…bigger than ever. The National Retail Federation estimated that consumers will spend 23.6 billion dollars on Mom this year in 2017, so who says people aren’t shelling out their wallets for Mom. If you are counting that is an average of $186.39 per consumer which is an 6% increase from 2016. Moms work hard and they are entitled to a show of appreciation on their special day. Most consumers will acknowledge that appreciation with a greeting card (77.9%%), though it appears her loved ones will also look for special gifts. Two-thirds (68.5%) of those celebrating will buy mom her favorite flowers, spending a total of $2.6 billion, and 37% percent will look for spring sweaters and blouses, spending a total of $2.1 billion on apparel and accessory items. Mom’s loved ones will also buy 2 billion dollars of consumer electronics this year, so you should completely bypass the Whitman’s sample and Jean Nate cologne and check out my five great ideas for technology gadgets on Mother’s Day.
- Polaroid Snap – ($99 amazon.com) A mashup between a small-format instant printer and a digital camera, the Snap works pretty much like an old-school Polaroid camera. Pop up the viewfinder, take a shot and out comes a 2×3-inch print to share with friends and family. Unlike the instant cameras of yore, though, it also stores a digital version of your photos on a microSD card. This is a double win with both digital and hard prints for Mom.
- Tile – ($25 single, 4 pack for $70 bestbuy.com) Tired of losing items including your keys and wallet and not remembering where you put them. Tile is a slick little piece of technology that can slip into your wallet, on your key chain, or into Mom’s favorite little purse. It works on a Bluetooth technology where you can ring lost items from your phone if you are within a 100 mile radius of your tile. How about this? If you lost your phone, you can double click your tile and it will ring your phone even if your phone is on silent! Tile will even remember the last place you had your item as it tracks the item all the time.
- Jackery – ($70 jackery.com) If you don’t have the money to buy Mom one of those glitzy connected bags, Jackery might just be the idea for you. They have a small and sleek model that can charge up to three separate items at one time and can refill the entire battery for an i phone 6 three times before needing to be recharged again. Here’s a good tip…it can also double as a flashlight.
- Amazon Echo Dot – ($49 amazon.com) The Amazon Echo Dot is a much more cost affordable version of the Amazon Echo. Most Moms could use an extra sidekick to take care of things here and there, so the Amazon echo is a voice-controlled device that can take care of many small things for mom. The device can give her updates on news, stream music, turn off lights, and even order a pizza in a hurry. It is a pretty functional device and is still within reach for the budgets of most families.
- Apple’s Air Pods – ($159 apple.com) This is the most expensive item on my list, but since I started using the Air Pods I will never go back to something that has a cord. You would imagine the first time you put the Air Pods in your ears that the noise in the background and around you might make them inoperable. However, exactly the opposite has been my experience. This is a great gift for Mom’s that they can use in the car, at the grocery store, or even in a meeting room where everyone is talking around them. Bad news- tough to get in stock and might have to wait six weeks to get them.
There is always time to buy the traditional gifts – flowers, candy, clothes, etc. But in a modern day society, a good easy to use gadget can go a long way to Mom. Happy Mother’s Day to all Mom’s across America and most especially to my wife Genna!
