Stuck on what to get Mom, Dad, or younger family members this holiday season? Maybe it’s time to get them more exciting gifts this year. So forget about those tube socks, ties and scarves, and find the perfect trendy tech gift that family members will love.

Need a few creative ideas to work with? Then check out eBay’s “What’s Trending This Wishing Season” list, which breaks down popular gifts by U.S. state. The list breaks down cool gift ideas, including tech (electronic) gifts. Current popular tech gift ideas include the Xbox One, iPad 2, PlayStation 4, iPod touch, Amazon Fire TV Digital HD Media Streamer and other tablets, smartphones and ingenious electronics.

Best Buy’s current best-selling tech gear includes FitBit, Apple Watch, GoPro – HERO4 Silver Action Camera and Nest Learning Thermostat. While Amazon’s top tech purchases include wearables, smart home and mobile devices.

And here are a few useful holiday tech gift ideas to consider:

For Mom and Dad

According to research from CP Consulting, U.S. shoppers are more inclined to purchase smart home devices this year, especially with millennials who are prone to pay for the latest gadgets and opt for cost-effective DIY installations. So, this year, why not gift smart home devices?

The Amazon Echo may be a good choice to start parents with the concept of a smart home. The device is voice controlled so they don’t need to learn complicated operations or even worry about setting it up to do things that they want. Just say, “Alexa,” to wake up the device, and Mom and Dad can now ask for the weather and traffic report, news or latest game score. Or they can ask for their favorite music to play from streaming services, such as Pandora, Amazon Music, Prime Music and more.

Also, if Mom and Dad do decide to install other smart home devices, such as lights or switches from Belkin WeMo, Philips Hue, SmartThings, Insteon and Wink, they can also use Amazon Echo to control them. Amazon also claims Echo is a learning device, so in the future, it Mom and Dad may be able to use it to perform more tasks, such as reading email or sending texts or emails. Echo is available at Amazon.com for $149.99.

For teens

Giving gifts to teens can be pretty tricky. You could spend hundreds of dollars on something, but they end up hating it, or spend just a few dollars, and they end up loving it. A “safe” gift for teens is a gift card, so they can buy the tech gadget they prefer.

But instead of just handing them a gift card, make it more fun for them. Put it in a Gift Card Maze and lock it in. To open the maze, the receiver must guide the ball through the maze and reach the end to unlock it. It’s like giving them two gifts in one. Get a Gift Card Maze at Scientifics Direct for only $6 (gift card not included).

For little kids

Little kids love to play games and sometimes, if they don’t have anyone to play with, they create their own little world, complete with imaginary people. To help them expand their imagination but also enhance their social skills, you can give them Fisher-Price’s Smart Toy. The Smart Toy comes in a bear, panda and monkey, all able to recognize voices and remember what kids like.

It comes with nine Smart Cards that it can recognize visually and delivers activities like stories, games and adventures. It also connects to Wi-Fi, which updates the toy so kids learn something new each time they interact; has an accelerometer that allows it to know when it is being thrown in the air and react accordingly; and knows the time of day, the weather and world events. It can also make up stories to enhance a child’s vocabulary and imagination, and it tells jokes. Plus, if the app is downloaded, more activities can be unlocked. The Smart Toy is available on Fisher-Price.com starting at $91.

Photo by blickpixel (Pixabay)