2016 SBTB Gift Guide, Part 7: Temptations of the Tech and Style Variety

We’re back, and for what I am about to unleash upon you, I deeply apologize. It’s time to gather all the technology treats and marvelous temptations we’ve been loving into one convenient place.

If you want to catch up with previous editions of the 2016 SBTB Gift Guide, there are bookish and wonder gift ideas, fuzzy and soft items for comfort and self-care, creative ideas for all your crafty friends and family, an assortment of unique items that charmed many of you, plus cozy, adorable housewares. Then Amanda rocked the universe with the sexxytimes gift guide.

Grab your favorite charging cables – here we go!

Portable Power

I have Anker battery backups for every person in my family. We get in the car with four of them on every road trip, and take two when we travel by plan, because invariably, someone’s device bites the dust. Every year, Anker comes out with updated battery packs, and I love them, each and every one. Especially the ones that don’t weigh much!

The Anker Astro E1 Portable Charger is $16 for the black version, and $20 for the red or white version. This is their “candy bar” sized recharger, and it weighs about 4.2 oz/119g. I wouldn’t carry this in my pocket, but I do have one in my purse, and my children have one in their backpacks when we travel.

Added tip: You can write on them with a gold or silver permanent marker, to avoid ownership fights and to allow for rad customization.

The E1 can recharge a phone at least twice, and we’ve recharged a Nintendo DS and then a phone off one battery and still had some juice left over.

For daily recharging needs, I’ve recommended this Anker before and I’ll do it again. The Anker PowerCore+ mini comes in blue, black, pink, white, and gold, and weighs about 3 oz/85g.

At $13-16 it makes a terrific and easy gift for coworkers, or for those grab-bags where you have to bring a gift that’s $20 and under. It will charge a phone at least once, and is easy to have in your bag or pocket. My husband has one and likes that he can recharge his phone with both the phone and this battery in his suit pocket without uncomfortable amounts of extra weight (or weird bumps in the fabric).

Tinsel

I saw a few of these on Instagram and am fascinated. 

Tinsel’s The Dipper is a gold or gunmetal necklace with built in earbuds – as they say, “blending bold jewelry design with high-quality earbuds.”

The project to create them began on Indiegogo, and while they aren’t a cheap item at $199, I can think of at least six people who would love one of these.

Oh, who am I kidding – I know at least double that.

 

A/C to USB Wall Chargers 

I have the prior model of this USB wall charger, and we love it. It lives in the kitchen at the “charging station” where all devices go to replenish themselves.

The Anker 24W USB wall charger is $11 and turns one outlet into two USB charging ports. It also features a light on the front to tell you when the devices connected are all charged – that’s very cool.

I bring mine with me when we travel because I can turn one outlet into two USB charge ports for devices – and there are some with four ($26) or TEN ($40) USB ports, too.

Imagine checking into a hotel and instead of one lamp and a somewhat odd clock radio, there was a bank of eight or ten USB ports waiting for you. That would be awesome.

Kindle Cases

There are deals on and off right now for the various Kindle reading devices, so if you’re grabbing one for yourself, or for someone else, or both, there are some truly adorable cases to go along with your purchase.

The Fintie Composition book case is $19, and is ridiculously cute.

There are also several that look like leather bound books, which reviewers say feel lovely when you hold them – including this beautiful teal tooled leather cover at $18,

And the Walnew Leather Cover is $14 and comes in a very tempting collection of designs.

But I can’t mention devices covers without mentioning SBTB favorite, Oberon Designs.

They make hand-tooled leather covers for digital devices like Kindles and iPads, plus notebooks, messenger bags, and more. Their website is a trip into deep, deep temptation-land.

I’ve had two Oberon covers for my devices over the years, and they are truly gorgeous. And hey – one of the designs I had is on sale right now!

The Avenue of Trees in Fern is only $52, which is a pretty spiffy deal given that their covers are usually $70+ (but oh, so worth the saving up and the splurging.)

I know many of you have nifty reader covers – if you have recommendations, please do share!

Loungefly Bags

I have to thank Jennifer Estep for the heads up about these, as I’ve lost about six hours and several dollars looking at all the designs and picking out bags for people.

Loungefly makes incredibly cute, stylish and stupidly adorable bags with familiar themes – like Disney. Or Marvel. They’re vegan – they don’t from what I can tell contain any leather – and they’re pricey but, well… take a look at the designs.

For example, the Disney Villains Duffle ($60).

Or the Disney Female Villains & Roses Vegan bag ($64)

The Captain Marvel crossbody bag ($54):

My favorite, the Black Widow Mini Dome bag ($65). There’s also a matching wallet. (I’m sorry!)

And if you need more red, there’s a Deadpool Mini Dome bag at $42.

And there are also Star Wars designs, too:

Ok, I’ll stop now – I can hear you hollering at me.

No, wait, one more: Frozen, anyone ($53)?

Finally, I want to say a deeply felt thank you to everyone who has been using our affiliate links (conveniently hanging out at the top left of the page) for their holiday shopping. We appreciate it so very much. Thank you!

If you’ve got suggestions for the gift guide, please feel free to drop them in the comments, or email me. Happy shopping!