Gift Guide 2019: Tech, Both Fun and Useful

For this week’s 2019 SBTB Gift Guide, I’m collecting different tech tools and items I use almost every day, and some that make my life (or other people’s) a little easier. I’ve featured some of these before, and they’re among my most favorite things to give to other people, especially for grab bag or random gifting where I don’t know the recipient very well. Let’s get started!

NB: Some of the links are affiliate coded, so if you use them, we may earn a commission – and if you don’t use them, that’s totally cool, too. Thanks! 

This is hands-down one of my go-to gift options. I buy a few of these every year for the holidays – for neighbors, friends, grab-bag gift occasions, or any time I need a useful gift that will appeal to nearly everyone. This version doesn’t weigh much, and comes in red, blue, white, and black. You can put stickers on it. It doesn’t drag in your bag, and you can keep it in a pocket without feeling like your pants are falling down.

Sometimes, the Anker lipstick backup battery goes on sale, and then I buy a bunch of them, especially if they’re in fun colors. So it might be worth adding these to your wishlist or however you track price drops online.

We also own a few of these:

My older son keeps one in his backpack, and we make sure to bring two when we travel. They only weigh 6.3oz/180g, and again, carrying one doesn’t feel like there’s a brick in my bag, or that my trousers are dragging. They make a great all-around gift for anyone, and are uncommonly useful. (And can be personalized with stickers, or in my case, a gold paint pen, on which I drew names and decorations.)

An even slimmer version exists, too:

This version is 1/2 an inch thick – it keeps a very low profile. It’s great for keeping in those really narrow sleeves inside a bag or briefcase.

Want some solar charging, or know someone who hikes, camps, or travels a lot?

This solar power bank has two ports and can charge several devices multiple times after drinking in all that lovely solar energy.

Now this is not necessarily a very sexy gift, but for the writer or creator or any-computer-user in your life, may I suggest a backup hard drive? I’m pretty sure that those who have one are grateful every time there’s a problem.

I have this one on my desk, and I plug it in and let it do its thing whenever I’m working. It takes up so little room and makes very little noise, and does its essential job automatically now that I have backup software set up and running. It comes in black, red, white, and blue, if you like having color selections, but really, it’s a gift that becomes essential when all the things go wrong.

And speaking of unsexy – cables! Oh, yeah. Connecting all the things to the other things. A cable assortment, either with a variety of tips (hur hur) or in a variety of lengths (hur hur) is an option I turn to often when I need a housewarming, moving, or graduation/going away gift. Like a backup hard drive, not sexy, but SO flipping useful.

And they’re great to have in your house for guests, too. While everyone in my house has Android phones, I recently ordered a few iPhone cables for guests who have iDevices. Forgetting your charge cable is always annoying, so having some around for everyone makes visiting, especially at the holidays, easier.

Here are some options I’ve purchased in the past.

These shorter length cables are great for pairing with the portable chargers above.

I’ve purchased this set twice. Both times, I heard, ‘When are we going to need a ten foot cable?!’

Then, once we had one, I heard, “Mom, where’s that super-long charger cord?” It’s really bizarre how, once we had one in the house,  we found we needed a ten foot cable.

And you need to plug all those cables in sometimes, right? We do. I have two of these, and I never travel without one of them in my bag. This has saved us in so many hotels and places we’ve stayed:

For when you’re not traveling, and perhaps, like me at this moment, you’re parked at your desk, may I suggest a phone charging easel?

My phone is sitting in one of these right now. I use it to set timers for when I’m working or trying to beat the clock (or sprint through some writing). I can look at text conversations at a glance. I can keep pretty pictures rotating on my phone, if I want. It’s ridiculous useful and I love it.

If your phone doesn’t do wireless charging, there are other easel stands that allow you to connect a cord:

And there’s a portable option that folds up, too!

What about you? What tech devices and accessories can you not live without? Any you recommend as gifts? As always, please feel welcome to email me your gift guide ideas at sarah@smartbitchestrashybooks.com.