Best Smart Home Gifts : The Ultimate Guide

If you are looking for the best smart home gifts of 2019 and beyond we have the shopping list that you’ve been looking for. Welcome to our complete smart home gift buying guide!

It goes without saying that gift buying can be tedious sometimes. Especially when you are tired of trying to buy gifts for people that end up not using what you bought.

Whether we are talking about Christmas gifts or Birthday gifts. I could tell you stories about seeing some “as seen on TV” thing that I bought as a gift thrown either in a yard sale or even worse in the trash.

Well, with smart home gifts you almost always win. The reason I say that is because in 2019 people have a natural curiosity about this new smart technology and how it can not only make their lives easier but is also fun and inventive.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw how effectively the Roomba cleaned our floors or the first time I saw my father in law’s jaw drop when I set up his TV to work with Alexa!

Smart home technology is a great way to give a gift that is actually going to be used and it can be pretty fun to watch the person getting the gift.

There are several different types of people that you might be buying for, so I have broken this down into different categories so that you can figure out exactly which smart home gift will work best for the person you are buying for.

Practical Smart Home Gifts

In our family, we always try to keep gifts as practical as we can. But hey! maybe that’s just us. (I think we’ve seen too many returns).

If you are aiming for practical then you really have it made with smart home gifts! There are so many options.

Smart Thermostats

Smart Thermostats are a great practical gift for anyone who doesn’t already have one. They allow you to control your thermostat when you aren’t home (as long as it’s connected to wifi). They also save the user money by allowing more control of the heat in each room.

Personally, I have 4 Ecobee thermostats in my house and love them. Ecobee has excellent customer service as well. I talked in detail about my experience with them in this article. They have saved me hundreds on my heating bill. Typically you can find these over on Amazon for a pretty good price in my opinion. Here is a link if you want to check them out on Amazon for yourself. Totally worth the money because of how much money it saves in the long run.

Smart Lighting

There is no way better way to make someone who is practical happy than to help them save money. Smart lighting definitely does that.
It also can create a relatively easy way to control the lights throughout your home even when you aren’t in the room.

You can either set them up to work with Alexa or Google Home so that you can control them with your voice, or you can just control them with your smartphone.

Philips Hue makes a large assortment of lights now. If you are buying a gift for someone who doesn’t already have smart lights in place, then you will want to take a look at the Philips Hue Starter Kit. Which can be found over on Amazon. You can check the current price over here.

Fun Smart Home Gifts

Fun and smart home definitely do go hand in hand in my opinion. There is nothing more fun than watching someone turn on their TV or change the channel with their voice.

There are really two things that are needed to accomplish this. You will need a Logitech Harmony Hub and either an Amazon Echo product or a Google Home product.

Personally, I have set up the Logitech Harmony Hub with both Amazon Echo and Google Home. If the person you are buying for does not already have one or the other, I would suggest buying them an Amazon Echo as I found it is easier to set up with Logitech’s Harmony Hub.

The Harmony Hub will typically be found over on Amazon. They do also have a combo deal where you can buy both for a little bit less. You can check out the reviews, current price and much more over here on Amazon.

Cheap Smart Home Gifts

So you’re cheap huh?

Just kidding!

Lucky for you there are a few smart home gifts that you can buy for under $50!

Echo Dot

Starting with the Amazon Echo Dot! What a great way to get someone into smart home technology at a reasonable price! Obviously, you could consider a Google Home mini as well, but I personally prefer the connectibility and compatibility of the Amazon Echo devices.

Kasa TP-Link Light Switches

Also practical, you can purchase these light switches fairly inexpensively over here on Amazon and they do everything that you would expect and more. You can control them with your voice via Alexa or Google Home, but you can also control them with the app on your smartphone and set schedules for them to turn off and on automatically! They even have a simple guided install taking the guesswork out of it.

Gosund Smart Wifi Plugs

These are selling on Amazon for cheap money. It doesn’t get any cheaper really. The great thing about smart plugs is that you can turn off or on any lamp or single item with your smartphone through this smart wall plug. Again, very easy to install with the app and a great gift in general!

Gosund recently sent over some of these plugs for me and my team to try out. I was very impressed with how quickly they interact with your voice via Google Home or Amazon Echo devices and found them very easy to set up. This is just a great stocking stuffer or any day kind of gift due to their incredibly low price and overall bang for the buck!

You can check out the current price and other reviews over here on Amazon.

Smart Home Gifts For Dad

Dad is easy to buy a gift for when it comes to smart home devices. Dad’s like to tinker, they like to play with things. After all, we are all big kids at heart!

As I mentioned before, my father in law was literally shocked that he could turn his tv on and change the channels with the sound of his voice using Alexa and the Harmony Hub.

But there are a couple of other smart gifts that you should consider when buying for your dad on Father’s Day, Birthday or Christmas.

Walabot

Walabot is this amazing little tool that lets you see inside the walls that you are working on. It works great to find studs, pipes, and wires inside the wall. That way dad knows what he’s getting into before mounting that new smart TV for you! Heck, this thing even tracks pesky rodents inside a wall! I don’t know any dad that wouldn’t like that!

The only downside with Walabot is that it does not work with iPhone. So just make sure your dad is using an android device and he’s good to go!

Typically you can find this on Amazon fairly inexpensively. You can check out the current price on Amazon over here.

Smart Garage Door Openers

Recently I wrote an article about how to make your existing garage door smart. There are two different situations that I discuss there in detail.

The first is if you already have a garage door opener and you want to make it smart. In that case, you’ll be looking to pick up a MyQ Smart Garage Door Opener, made by Chamberlain.

The second is if you are looking to buy the giftee a new smart garage door opener. If that’s the case then Chamberlain has a couple of different options depending on how big the garage door is.

You can find all of the different options for making your garage door smart over here on Amazon.

Smart Home Gifts For Mom

When I think of smart home gifts for mom, I have to think outside of the box a little bit, because after all, I’m a guy! Mother’s day gifts can be a tough one too. Because you don’t want to seem unoriginal!

Tile

One of the best smart home devices you can buy for her is a tile!

YES! I said a Tile.

Not the one that you are thinking of. This nifty little smart home gadget is something that every busy mom can use.

My wife is great! But she is constantly leaving things behind because she is so busy. In particular her keys!

If you can relate, then this is probably one of the most inexpensive, but useful gifts that you will ever buy her!

The tile works on Bluetooth technology and can track down anything that it’s attached to, such as keys, shoes, a wallet…..you name it!

If you lose something you can just use your phone to locate it. This is an absolute must-have for every busy mom. You can get a 4 pack of these things over on Amazon fairly inexpensively! Not a bad deal!

SEEKONE Soil Sensors

If your wife or mother are known to have any kind of green thumb then they will appreciate this!

SEEKONE soil sensors work for 365 days without having to recharge them and will tell you all kinds of things about the soil you are planting in, whether it’s inside or out.

It can monitor light, temperature, moisture and much more. You can pick them up on Amazon and for any avid gardener, they are well worth the price. Here’s the link if you want to check them out!

Smart Essential Oil Diffuser

This has been of my wife’s personal favorite gifts that I ever bought her. Over the course of the last couple of years, the use of essential oils has become more commonplace.

Their health benefits as well as just the fact that they just plain smell awesome have helped them make their way into our house.

I can highly recommend the Sierra modern home diffuser, as it is the one I bought for my wife. It runs for up to 12 hours without refilling and can be controlled or scheduled from your smartphone.

Big time win on this gift! You can check out their current price over here on Amazon.

Roomba

The mother of all smart home gifts for your mother!

I cannot state enough how much we have grown to love our Roomba. My wife especially.

This has cut down on the amount of house cleaning that needs to be done by an astronomical stretch!

We have ours set on a schedule so that it runs every night and the only thing we have to do is make sure that we empty the trap and change the filter every once in a while.

Probably the smartest smart home gift you will ever buy any woman in your life.

You can find usually find the best price over here on Amazon and the price varies. There are a lot of brands to choose from, but at the end of the day, Roomba is the way to go in my opinion. We have had our 800 series for several years now and it still runs like a clock.

Just read my article about the best smart robot vacuums on the market. I go into my experience on the matter a lot more in depth there.

Smart Home Starter Kit Gifts

Ahh, the smart home beginner. Someone who is just breaking ground and getting started with smart home technology.

You can save them a whole lot of time, energy and mistakes by getting them a Samsung SmartThings Starter Kit or an Amazon Echo. Well, maybe both depending on your wallet.

The beautiful thing about Samsung SmartThings is that they have a wide array of sensors and addon items that you can buy. The starter kit comes with everything you need to get going though, which takes most of the guesswork out of it.

You can find the Samsung SmartThings starter kit over here on Amazon.

Smart Home Kitchen Gifts

The kitchen is the one place that offers the widest array of smart home gifts! Depending on what the giftee likes to do in the kitchen, you may find something in this list that is perfect for just about anyone.

The Anova Sous Verde Precision Cooker

If your spouse or significant other is like me and doesn’t like to cook, then this is one sure fire way to get them on board.

The Anova Sous Verde Precision Cooker is the best way to cook things without even knowing what you are doing.

The food comes out without dry edges and cooks a restaurant quality meal right at home. It also links to your smartphone so that you can monitor the meal being cooked when you aren’t even standing next to it.

You can check the current price over here on Amazon. I call it dummy cooking. Which is perfect for me, since I usually live on the grill.

….speaking of the grill…..

MEATER

The Meater is the best smart thermometer you can buy for your grill. I swear by mine.

It is completely wireless. I haven’t found that with any other grill thermometer to date.

Setting things up is really simple. There are even tutorial videos on the app if you need instructions about how to cook something.

The Meater also has probes that monitor the heat of the meat you are cooking internally, as well as a sensor that monitors the external temperature around the meat.

That way you can grill in a really smart manner. You can check out their current price over here on Amazon.

Wireless Perfect Bake Pro

No more measuring! If you are someone who likes to bake then one of the biggest pains that you have to deal with is more than likely the measuring.

With the Wireless Perfect Bake Pro, you don’t have to worry about that anymore. You just place a bowl on the scale and pour!

This links up to your tablet or smartphone and shows you a virtual bowl with measurements so that you never measure wrong again. You can also tell the app what ingredients you have on hand and it will tell you what recipes you can actually make from what you have!

You can even make shopping lists within the app for the ingredients that you’ll need for whatever recipe you want to make.

This is probably one of the coolest smart gadgets I’ve seen for the kitchen… PERIOD.

You can check out their current price over here on Amazon.

Smart Home Gift For Pets

If you are anything like us, then your pets are like your kids and you usually don’t want to leave them out!

The cool thing is, this is actually a gift that your pets will use and not just another toy that they’ll eventually destroy or get tired of.

The Petsafe Smartfeed is probably one of the coolest gifts you could buy for your pet. It’s wi-fi enabled and works with both Android and iPhone.

This dispenses your pet’s meals on a schedule so that you won’t forget. You can schedule up to twelve meals and there’s also a “feed now” option so that you can fee them a little something extra if you need to.

This is the perfect gift when you can’t be home to feed your pet on schedule. It can be found over here on Amazon.

Best DIY Smart Home Gift

If you are looking for the best smart home gift for the expert geek, then there is no question that you should consider getting them a Raspberry Pi.

What is a Raspberry Pi you might ask? It is a small credit card sized computer that you can program yourself.

You can use it as a smart home hub or set it to do all kinds of different tasks for your smart home. For example, set your Christmas lights to music. The possibilities are really endless.

Personally, I own two of them and run a music and movies server on one. Typically you can find a Raspberry Pi starter kit over here on Amazon.

This is absolutely one of the best smart home gifts you can get for the DIY person in your family or perfect for that geek that you love!

Best Smart Home Christmas Gifts

Of course, all of the aforementioned gifts will work well for Christmas, but there are a couple this Christmas that you might want to look for early on as they are very hot items right now and you may want to buy them ahead of time to get a leg up.

GE Smart Microwave

How would you like to control your microwave with your voice using Alexa? Well, I’m sure you know someone who would. This would make the ultimate smart home gift for the kitchen and is fairly new on the market.

What does it do? – Basically, it will connect with Alexa and make it so that you can tell Alexa to cook your popcorn on high for 45 seconds or however long it takes.

Voice control has definitely been changing the way that we interact with our homes and the microwave is no different.

If you want to check them out, you can usually find them over here on Amazon.

AmazonBasics Smart Microwave

However, there is a new AmazonBasics 700watt Microwave that just arrived and it’s going to be a real game changer!

It connects to your Echo device via Bluetooth and has integrated Amazon Dash services right inside the microwave as well.

Of course, this has a built-in ask Alexa button so that you can directly ask Alexa to run for 30 seconds or whatever time you need it to run for!.

This is probably the best Amazon Alexa interface you’re going to find as well according to what I’ve seen.

You can order the AmazonBasics Microwave over here.

Fire TV Cube

This is the very first out of the box hands-free streaming media player. But it’s more than just a media player!

The Fire TV Cube has Alexa built in, so you can use it the same way you would use an Echo or an Echo Dot.

You can check the weather, listen to the news, or control any of the smart home devices you already have. You can even browse the internet on your tv with just the sound of your voice. Now that is innovation at it’s best.

The Fire TV Cube is one of the newest innovations from Amazon and clearly a hot ticket item for this Christmas. You can check out the current price for these over here on Amazon.

Wrapping Up

Gift buying is never easy, but with smart home technology, you can break away from the typical types of gifts you’ve been buying for years. There is almost no doubt that I will be updating this guide every few months.

In fact here are some of the current best selling smart home gifts over on Amazon for you to check out before you leave.

[amazon bestseller=”smart home gifts”]

FAQ

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