The 2016 Holiday Gift Guide: 5 great gifts for people you really love
Pryme Vessyl — $99
The Pryme Vessyl is a connected cup that helps people stay hydrated. The cup is connected to an iOS app that visualizes your daily water intake. The goal is to stay “pryme” aka at your peak hydration level throughout the day. The product is based on the notion that the traditional 8 glasses a day is short-sighted and your hydration levels are unique to you. It delivers on this by taking your profile as well as pulling data from fitness trackers like the Jawbone UP. Can one stay hydrated without a $100 cup? Yes. But this makes it much more fun. It sort of ‘gamifies’ the whole hydration process. I have undoubtedly consumed more water since buying the Vessyl. Plus, the cup looks really cool. Oh, don’t put booze in it.
Where to buy: Apple Store
Canary — $199
The Canary is a super cool and beautifully designed all-in-one security system. From a technical specs perspective, it’s all there. It’s got a 1080p HD camera, a 147-degree wide angle lens, automatic night vision and integrated motion detection. It also measures the health of your home by metrics like temperature, humidity, and air quality. The Canary connects to an app that sends notifications when there is motion in your home. It would be great for dog owners as well. We have ours set up at the front door — great for making sure the girls got home from school on time and assuring that the UPS guy is not shot putting our packages onto our front steps. The Canary has a free month-to-month plan as well as paid plans that allow you to store more videos for longer periods of time. From Dec. 13 through the 26th Canary is lowering its price to $179 in North America.
Where to buy: Canary.is
Luna & Stella birthstone jewelry — starting at $75
As we discussed in an earlier post, birthstone jewelry is the absolute perfect gift for your significant other, particularly the mom in your life. There are lots of charm based jewelry players in the game, but Luna & Stella has a single focus on birthstones and using the real estate around your neck, wrist and ring fingers to show how much your family means to you. Family first. We love the Luna & Stella pieces because they are elegant and timeless. We first heard about them via Oprah magazine. If Oprah likes it, we’re in. The company is based out of Providence, RI and led by a former Red Envelope and Victoria’s Secret executive. The birthstone necklace is a great starter piece and you can add birthstones for your kids and other loved ones. Our friends at Luna & Stella also gave us a code for our readers to get free shipping for the holidays. Use HOLIDAD when you order.
Where to buy: Luna & Stella
Anova Precision Cooker — $129 (Bluetooth), $199 (WI-FI)
It’s official. We are on the sous vide home cooking bandwagon. Hardcore. At this point, it doesn’t feel like there is any turning back. Sous vide is a method of cooking in which you place your food in a sealed plastic bag and then place the bag in a water bath. The water circulates around the bag so that your food is always cooked perfectly. We’re talking restaurant quality. I always dry out chicken breasts, so that is the first thing I cooked after purchasing the Anova. It was like butter. I’ll eat chicken breasts all day if they are sous vide’ed. The lovely thing about the Anova is that it makes the sous vide method of cooking relatively affordable for the home cook. In the past, these were big machines that were expensive and didn’t look good in your kitchen. The Anova clips on to the big pot that you already have. It also has an accompanying app that lets you control the device and temp from your phone. Think convenience of the crock pot juxtaposed with food that tastes like it came from a Michelin-starred restaurant. See why we’re so excited about the Anova?
Where to buy: Anova Culinary
Sonos — price varies
What more can we say about Sonos speakers? Sonos has changed our lives. Not even using hyperbole when I say that. Because of Sonos we now are used to music flowing through the house at all times. We use Sonos to help raise our kids. Seriously. It’s classical or jazz when we want them to calm down or get some homework done. It’s Justin Beiber on blast when we’re cleaning the house as a family. Sonos truly enables the soundtrack for our family. The speakers themselves are sleek and well designed and the app is integrated with almost every audio service you can imagine. Sonos with your family Spotify account is truly a game-changer. Each speaker also comes loaded with endless radio stations from around the world. You will never be without music again. Sonos — all day, every day.
Where to buy: Sonos
