Mother's Day Gift Guide 2024: The Best Tech Gifts For Moms

Peek at Amazon’s picks, or any standard tech gift guide for moms, and you’ll see clunky massage gadgets and gizmos aplenty for kitchen and cleaning. Self-care and cooking are no doubt important to parents, but let’s think more deeply about what mothers want and deserve, quality-wise and design-wise.

As a working mother, I thought about the technology that has had a purposeful presence in my life over the past half-decade. I also thought about what’s next, and how AI tools like ChatGPT can serve as a treasure trove of lifehacks for busy moms. Of course, AI can empower mothers beyond repetitive home tasks. For example, Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani recently launched PaidLeave.ai to give New York-based parents resources about their paid family leave benefits and their rights as working mothers. It’s only a matter of time before this resource goes national, then global.

In the meantime we’ve come a long way since the vacuum and food processor-filled gift guide for mothers. To ensure a well-rounded list of empowering tech for mothers, I also interviewed the cofounders of Hearth, all three of whom are moms with backgrounds in tech and edtech. (They developed a home touchscreen designed to lighten the mental load of mothers, a product that ultimately inspired the theme of this gift guide.)

We do too much. And corporate workplaces, public policies and traditional healthcare have done little to support us, so any bit of innovation that can help us along the way is worth sharing.

Airpods Gen 3

I take Zooms and Google Meets while running errands–and I’m able to fit in all these calls and meetings while tuning out any noise that might erupt in my lively home or a busy cafe. In the evenings while cooking, I also use that time to listen to webinars, podcasts and audiobooks. The wireless headphones and long battery life work for a mother’s busy, on-the-go lifestyle.

Tesla

Up until this spring I lived in Brooklyn, sans garage or driveway. I needed a car that could fit a family of five, yet can parallel park into tight spaces on the street. I found the Tesla Model Y to strike the perfect balance, as it was spacious enough to fit three safety seats across the back, including two Diono child safety seats and one Doona car seat stroller. Best of all the touchscreen has an arcade and toybox to keep my boys entertained whenever we are parked at a charging station.

Snoo

The smart bassinet uses white noise and continuous movement to soothe and rock a baby back to sleep. It sounds heavy and robotic, but the product is light in design and connects to an app to help you monitor your child’s sleeping habits. Dr. Harvey Karp is a pioneer when it comes to using tech to help mothers suffering from sleep deprivation, postpartum depression, recovering for childbirth.

Hearth Display

The centralized touchscreen combines hardware and software to help keep the whole family organized. The mounted wall display can streamline calendars, manage tasks and keep every member of the family up-to-date on their schedules. The frames are available in black, white or wood.

Siri and HomePod

“Hey Siri, play white noise.” “Hey Siri, what’s the weather today?” “Hey Siri, play today’s top headlines.” “Hey Siri, play Wheels on the Bus.” A digital assistant is a time-saver and one aspect of building a smart home. It plays our family’s favorite songs on demand, and offers lovely entertainment for the home, without the screen-time.

ZIIP

Caregivers deserve the best self-care, including beautifying facials. If they can only peel themselves away from their neverending to-do lists to sit at a luxurious spa for an hour each week! The Instagram-famous ZIIP Halo tool uses nanocurrent and microcurrent technology to deliver instant results in four minutes and lasting effects after three months.

Foxybae Rose Gold Blowout Dryer Brush

A weekly standing appointment at the salon would also be ideal. In addition to sprucing up a hairstyle, having your hair and scalp professionally washed is the most relaxing part of the experience. But if you can’t fit in a blowout, a styling tool like Foxybae’s blowout brush is the next best thing. It helps speed up the styling process and your locks will get some volume and bounce for the day.

Drybar Heated Straightening Brush

Some just want a polished look for the day ahead and this bestseller from Drybar manages frizz and keeps flyaway hair in check. When I travel, I love packing this reliable yet small styling tool in my luggage, as it combines a straightening iron and paddle brush into one.

Methodology

Sometimes, I just want someone to cook for me. When my schedule becomes jammed, and when I feel like I need a reset, I log into the Methodology app to view its weekly menu. It is a time-saver that delivers clean, nutritious and delicious meals. The abundant meals arrive in beautiful reusable jars and bento bowls, so it yields a lot less waste than other meal subscriptions.

Oura Ring

“Even before I became a mom, I relied on my Oura Ring to help manage stress and lifestyle as a founder,” says Susie Harrison, cofounder of Hearth. “While I was pregnant, Oura launched their Pregnancy Insights feature, which provided added insights into how I could best prepare for the stage over the past nine months.”

Hatch

Integrated tech can and should be beautiful. Hatch is a great example of this principle manifested. Building a restful routine for myself and my baby is a priority that’s easier to manage with the help of the Restore 2.

Pok Pok

With design-forward play for kids, Pok Pok allows kids to make magic on their own. “Instead of overly organized structure that squashes creativity, this app is a chance for creating calm and experimentation that parents love,” says Nathalie Stratton, Hearth cofounder.

Storypod

It’s incredible to see other brands in the family tech space channeling creativity to offer solutions for families of all ages. Screen-free and user-friendly, Storypod is incredible to tapping in help when coming up with a bedtime story is the last thing on your mind after a long day.

Bambino

Caregiving is an essential asset for so many families. Bambino brings the same kind of software innovation we’ve seen in other categories to the very real pain point of finding a trusted babysitter.

Nanit

“As a new mom, Nanit and other brands building family tech into the start of motherhood have been essential for me,” says Mei Lin Ng, CEO and cofounder of Hearth. “Nanit is so much more than a monitor, capturing memories and offering expert-vetted advice for sleep practices.”

4moms Cleanwater tub

If your little one loves bath time, but you’re also concerned about the efficient use of water, this tub is for you. “The design to circulate clean water is so smart and the integrated thermometer makes it so easy to use,” says Ng.

Lovevery

Its Play Kits & App supports kids at every level of learning and play. Lovevery takes the work of researching what’s best for kids at any given age and manages it for parents both in physical toys and in their app. Says Ng, “It gives me so much peace of mind to understand my baby’s milestones in a dynamic way.”