2018 holiday gift guide – Our Family Reviews

This holiday giving season, we’ve compiled our favorite family gift ideas which we’re sure will be a hit with the kids in your household, plus a special gift idea below for the parents who like to be prepared.

Jooki Smart Media Player For Kids

Jooki is a smart media player which is water resistant, durable and for the kids! Parents load up a playlist into each Jooki character and the child can choose which playlist to enjoy.

I can imagine my youngest son enjoying his favorite EDM music as he loves to dance and Jooki would make a perfect addition to our bedtime stories as well! Jooki gives kids options, choices and freedom to decide what they’d like to enjoy listening to while giving parents the ability to manage the songs and stories on Jooki via direct upload; Spotify Premium account or; web interface (for desktop users) at http://my.jooki.rocks/ . Jooki is also available on Amazon.

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Rescue Guard Life-Saving Backpacks

Rescue Guard kits are life saving backpacks, filled with gear to survive the worst of mother nature’s disasters. Available in three kits ($49.95, $99.95 and $179.95) exclusively on Amazon, having a Rescue Guard all-in-one disaster bug-out backpack kit, will put you at ease knowing that you’re prepared and safe.

The zipper backpacks contain food, shelter, blankets, water, first-aid kit and other life-sustaining essentials. The Advance Rescue Guard ($179.95) kit even includes a knife, lantern, gloves and many other survival tools. We plan to keep our Rescue Guard backpack in storage where we’ll know exactly where it’s stored for easy retrieval in case of an emergency!

Rescue Guard Basic Survival Kit • $49.95
Rescue Guard Intermediate Survival Kit • $99.95
Rescue Guard Advance Survival Kit • $179.95

Moosh-Moosh Super-Cuddly Plush Pillow Friends

In my household, we love plush animals and stuffed pillows! First we were crazy about Whiffer Sniffers and now we’ve discovered Moosh-Moosh plushies! These super cute and super cuddly plush pillow friends are perfect for me because I love to lay in bed or sit in my night chair and put a plush pillow friend behind my head to rest my neck.

Moosh-Moosh_Series-2-Large_Sparkle_L1_WEB

Moosh-Moosh_Series-2-Medium_Midnight_M-1_WEB

My boys and I are big fans of plush pillows and this Christmas my little dudes will find a few new friends under our Chris tree to cuddle—Moosh-Moosh! As a family, we enjoy plush pillow friends at bedtime, on the couch for TV or movie time or to play with for pretend play. Our favorite Moosh-Moosh plushies are Corey the Puppy, Midnight the Cat and Sparkle the Unicorn which are pictured above. Available in three sizes, clip-on (4 inch); medium (8 inch) and large (12 inch), grab a Moosh-Moosh plushie on Amazon or on their website!

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Not Parent Approved – An Inappropriate Game Kids Will Love

Games are big in our house! We often spend time on the weekend playing board games, card games, video games and so I know the Not Parent Approved game is going to make the perfect addition to our weekend fun!

I can’t wait to show the kids this game as I know that potty humor and other silly word games have been a huge hit for my boys and I as we spend silly family time enjoying each others laughs and giggles. Not Parent Approved is a game that lets kids unleash their silliness and suggested for kids 8 years-old and up! This is going to make the perfect Christmas present in my household of inappropriate boys!

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Gift ideas for use with Amazon Alexa enabled Echo Dot

Keller with Santa at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts Last Christmas, my daughter surprised me with an Amazon Echo Dot which I love using. Since then, I’ve purchased another Echo Dot which I use both Alexa enabled devices to stream music from Amazon Music, Pandora and I often connect my computer to my Echo Dots to play music from iTunes, YouTube and Google Play Music (thanks CG.) One of my favorite tricks with the Echo Dot devices is to create a group with more than one Echo Dot and have them all play the same music which fills my house with the same song. There’s currently over 50,000 Alexa Skills which are enabled via the Alexa app which connects to your Echo Dot.

I can’t forget to mention how amazing the “talk to me Alexa” feature is which taps into the Alexa Prize Socialbots (a collegiate AI Competition) allowing you to have a conversation, learn and be entertained by Amazon’s Alexa.

This post contains affiliate links which I use to keep the office lights on (and coffee.) Read the Disclosure, Terms and Privacy fineprint here, learn about the giveaway rules and note, no product samples were provided for this review and the opinions expressed here are original, unique and my ideas solely.

In the spirit of Amazon’s Echo Dot, below is my dream list of the 10 best Amazon Echo Dot gifts which all work with Amazon Alexa. The holiday giving season is very close and I prefer to get a huge jump start on the holiday shopping. I hope this Echo Dot gift list offers some fun and amazing gift ideas for you while not breaking the bank. It’s important to note for editorial reasons, the copy below is from Amazon.com.

Echo Dot Kids Edition – Alexa for kids
$69.99

“Introducing a hands-free, voice-controlled speaker with Alexa, designed with kids in mind. Echo Dot Kids Edition can play age-appropriate music, answer questions, tell stories, control compatible smart home devices, and more. Includes a black Echo Dot, a 1-year subscription to FreeTime Unlimited, a fun kid-friendly case, and a 2-year worry-free guarantee. If they break it, return it and we’ll replace it for free.”¹